Refunds

Dunwoody participates in the U.S. Department of Education Student Aid programs and the Minnesota Financial Aid Program and complies with federal and state regulations which require the College to have a fair and equitable refund policy. Institutional refund calculations are based on one of the following policies:

Refunds for students who withdraw from a course or courses (but not complete withdrawal) during the first five school days of the semester will receive a 100% refund for the course. There is no refund for individual courses withdrawn after day five.

Minnesota State Grant

The amount of a MN State Grant that a student may be eligible for has a different value available for each number of credits enrolled. For example: the same student may qualify for $856 if enrolling in 15 credits but only $604 if enrolled for 14 credits. Students who are considering reducing their schedule during the drop/add period (first five school days of the semester) to less than 15 credits are strongly encouraged to visit the Financial Aid Office for information about how awards may be impacted.

Complete Withdrawal From All Courses

Under federal law, Dunwoody must calculate a Return of Title IV Funds for students receiving federal financial aid; which includes the Pell Grant, SEOG, Subsidized Direct Loan, Unsubsidized Direct Loan, and Parent Direct PLUS Loan. Although those funds, upon disbursement, are applied in full to a student’s account, the student earns his or her Title IV funds by attending classes and Dunwoody may be required to return all or a portion of those funds upon withdrawing from all courses. The amount earned by a student has no relationship to the student’s incurred institutional charges.

• Date of Withdrawal Determination
  The date of official withdrawal is determined through notification by the student of intent to withdraw, by the student's Program Manager/Dean, and/or attendance records showing the last date the student attended class or completed academically related activity. The financial aid date for processing the return of funds is the official notification date of withdrawal from the Registrar’s Office.
  • Student Initiated Withdrawal: Students who want to withdraw from all classes must notify their academic program director/dean, or the Student Affairs Department, who will submit a Complete Withdrawal form on behalf of the student.
  • Institution Initiated Withdrawal: Dunwoody reserves the right to terminate the enrollment of students. Reasons for termination include, but are not limited to: non- attendance/no contact; frequent absences or tardiness; academic dishonesty; unsatisfactory academic progress and pace (completion) rate; aggressive, harassing, or discriminatory acts against other students or employees; failure to pay tuition by stated deadlines; failure to follow school procedures and policies; intentional damage to school property or theft, insubordinate acts against faculty or other Dunwoody employees. The withdrawal date used will be the last date of academic attendance or academically related activity. The date of determination (notification date) will be within 14 days of the withdrawal date.
  • Unofficial Withdrawal: If a student is absent for 14 days without contacting Dunwoody personnel, and they have not gone through the withdrawal process, Dunwoody personnel will begin the process to withdraw the student from the college. The withdrawal date used will be the last date of academic attendance or academically related activity.
• The Federal Pro Rate Refund Calculation
  If the student has attended less than 60% of a term, a pro rate schedule is used to determine the amount of Title IV funds the student has earned at the time of withdrawal based on the number of days attended. If the student has attended 60% or more of a term, the student is considered to have earned 100% of the Title IV funds.
  • Example: Student attends 44 days of a 124 day term, the student will have earned 35.5% of their Title IV aid. This would result in a return of approximately $1876 of a $2908 Pell grant disbursement. This same example would lead to all funds distributed from the Subsidized and Unsubsidized loans being returned.
• Refund calculation
  Dunwoody’s Financial Aid Office will divide the number of calendar days attended by the total number of calendar days in the semester, less any scheduled break of 5 days or more. The resulting percentage will then be multiplied by the total federal funds that were disbursed. This calculation determines the amount of aid that the student is allowed to keep. The unearned amount of aid is returned to the federal government. If in this calculation the student is required to return funds due to funds already disbursed (overpayment), the student will be notified. The calculation is completed within 30 days of the notification date with all funds being returned within a 45 day maximum time period.
  • Total Federal Fund Calculation – In this calculation the total amount of Federal Pell Grant and SEOG will be included, the net for Direct Subsidized Loans, Direct Unsubsidized Loans and Direct Parent PLUS Loans. Federal Work Study will not be included in the return calculation.
  • Late Arriving Funds – If a student withdrew during a subsequent payment period, and aid for a previous payment period is received, the funds are not included in the return calculation. Late disbursements may be made if the conditions for those disbursements are met.
  • Post-Withdrawal Disbursements – If a student withdrew before all Title IV aid was disbursed, the student may be eligible for a post-withdrawal disbursement. The amount will be determined by following the requirements for calculating earned Title IV aid and has no relationship to the student’s incurred institutional charges. Any post-withdrawal disbursements will be made from available grant funds before available loan funds. A school is permitted to credit a student’s account with the post-withdrawal disbursements of grant funds without permission from the student up to the amount of outstanding charges. In the case of post-withdrawal disbursements from federal loans funds, confirmation will be obtained from the student before any funds are disbursed. The information provided in the notification will include the information necessary for the student, or parent for a Direct Parent PLUS Loan, to make an informed decision as to whether the student or parent would like to accept any disbursement of loan funds and will be provided within 30 days of the date of determination that the student withdrew.
  • If the withdrawal calculation results in a credit balance on the student’s account, it will be disbursed as soon as possible and no later than 14 days after the Return of Title IV calculation (R2T4).
• Based on this calculation, a withdrawing student may owe larger payback to Title IV fund sources than what is calculated as the institutional refund amount. Dunwoody is required by law to make these paybacks to the appropriate Title IV program, so the student may owe money to the College after all refunds and returns are calculated.
• In the case of prolonged illness or accident, death in the family, or other serious circumstances that make it impractical to complete the program, the student should contact the Office of the Dean of Students.
• The date of withdrawal determination is explained here.

Refund Calculation

Military Tuition Assistance (TA) is awarded to a student under the assumption that the student will attend school for the entire period for which the assistance is awarded. When a student withdraws, the student may no longer be eligible for the full amount of TA funds originally awarded. To comply with the new Department of Defense policy, Dunwoody will return unearned TA funds on a prorated basis through at least 60% portion of the period for which the funds were provided. TA funds are earned proportionally during an enrollment period, with unearned funds returned based on when a student stops attending.

Fall and Spring Semesters (16 Weeks)