Withdrawing from the University is an academic issue; however, it is your responsibility to understand the financial implications of this decision.
Withdrawing from the University may jeopardize future student aid eligibility, including grant, scholarship & student loan programs. Students who withdraw and have received federal Title IV financial aid will be required to repay to the federal program the amount of unearned financial aid funds disbursed to them as of their withdrawal date.
Title IV programs include:
Federal Pell Grants, Academic Competitiveness Grants, National SMART Grants, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG), TEACH Grants, Federal Perkins Loans, Subsidized Loans, Unsubsidized Loans, Parent PLUS Loans, and Graduate PLUS Loans.
The unearned amount of federal Title IV funds are calculated based on the percentage of the semester completed before the date of withdrawal.
Both the University and students are required to return unearned Title IV financial aid to the federal government. The University is required to return the unearned portion of the Title IV funds it received from withdrawing students which were used to pay institutional charges such as tuition, fees, housing and other educationally-related expenses assessed by the institution.
If funds are returned to the federal government by the University, those amounts will be credited against the student's total liability of unearned funds. Students will owe the university the amount returned to the federal government for institutional charges and must repay the unearned Title IV funds to any Title IV loan program in accordance with the terms of the loan.
Charges owed to the University can be paid in full or through a payment plan with Student Finance. However, entering into a payment plan does not mean the student is eligible to register for additional classes or receive a transcript, etc.
For more information please visit Dean of Students - Withdrawal Services.
Frequently Asked Questions
A withdrawal is when a student ceases enrollment in all their courses in a term. In terms of impact, it MAY result in you owing back some funds to the school, depending on what aid you have and what point in the semester your effective date of withdrawal is. 100% of Bright Futures will need to be paid back, regardless of when in the semester you withdraw, but federal funds will only need to be returned if you haven’t completed at least 60% of the semester.
Like any other Accounts Receivable charge, you will not be able to register for courses or request transcripts until the charges have been paid.
Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized Loans, Direct Graduate PLUS Loans, Direct PLUS Loans, Federal Pell Grants, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOGs), TEACH Grants, Federal Perkins Loans, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants.
Students who stop engaging in academically related activities during the term, without officially withdrawing from the courses, are subject to the R2T4 calculation. At the end of every term, when final grades post, our office reviews all students who received federal aid but did not receive at least one passing grade in a course that term. In such cases, the last date of academically related activity, as determined by the university, is used as the withdrawal date for the term. If a student seeks to dispute the last date, they may do so by reaching out to our office at fa-withdrawal@fsu.edu.
While medical/mental health withdrawals may result in fee liability being waived, there is no guarantee that the student will receive any refund. The student will show up on a weekly report due to the credit on their account, and a review will be made by our office to determine if a refund will be issued or not. NOTE – there is also no guarantee that students will not owe any charges after the approval of a medical withdrawal or mental health withdrawal. Always check with our office before assuming a refund is on the way.
Federal regulations require the Office of Financial Aid to apply a formula established by the U.S. Department of Education, titled R2T4, to determine the amount of federal financial aid a student has earned as of the student’s withdrawal date. The amount of the federal financial aid returned to federal aid programs is determined by the amount of time a student spends in academically related activity. After 60% of the term has passed, students have earned 100% of the federal financial aid disbursed to them. Students withdrawing from any course(s) in the term prior to the completion of 60% of the quarter/semester may find that funds are owed to the university as a result of the R2T4.
Any students who received Federal Title IV funds and drop enrollment (whether officially, or through an unofficial withdrawal).
Every student that is calculated for R2T4 will be notified by our office via email that they’ve been calculated. Regardless of if you owe any charges or not, you will be notified of an email. The email does not specify if you owe charges, so you would need to either check your account or consult with our office to determine if you owe any funds back.