Withdrawal Procedures
To be entitled to a refund of tuition and fees, students on both the Wallace and Sparks Campuses must officially withdraw by initiating the online withdrawal form. Students can access the online withdrawal form here. A How to Video tutorial can be viewed here.
Complete Withdrawal
Students who officially withdraw and have never attended any class(es) are refunded the total tuition and other refundable fees. Students who officially withdraw and have attended class(es) are refunded tuition and refundable fees calculated from the actual date of withdrawal. Refunds are calculated based on the following schedule:
Complete Withdrawal Refund Schedule
- During the First Week – 70% Refund
- During the Second Week – 45% Refund
- During the Third Week – 20% Refund
- After the Third Week – 0% Refund
Refund check(s) are made payable to the student and mailed to the student’s home address as recorded in the registration file. Refunds for credit card payments will only be issued to the original credit card used for payment. An administrative fee of 5% of tuition and other institutional charges is assessed for each withdrawal within the period beginning the first day of class and ending at the end of the third week of class. The total amount charged for this service will not exceed $100. Financial Aid students are subject to the Return of Unearned Aid, Responsibility of the Student policy.
Partial Withdrawal
Students who do not completely withdraw from the College but drop a class during the regular drop and add period are refunded the difference in tuition and fees paid and tuition and fees applicable to the reduced number of hours, including fees appropriate to the classes dropped. No refund is due a student who partially withdraws after the official drop and add period.
Students who have not attended class by the fifth class day of a term are removed from that class. Students who have not attended any classes by the fifth class day will have their registrations voided and will not be registered for that term. It is the student’s responsibility to attend class. If an emergency should occur, Wallace Campus students are to contact the Office of the Director of Enrollment Services/Registrar at 334-556-2470, and Sparks Campus students should contact the Student Affairs Office at 334-687-3543, Ext. 4282, prior to the fifth day of a term. Students at other College locations should contact the designated College official.
Ineligibility for Refund
Students who are withdrawn by the College for disciplinary reasons, nonpayment of charges, or other similar reasons are not eligible for a refund.
Return Of Title IV Funds (Return)
Institutional Attendance Statement
Wallace Community College is not an “attendance-taking” institution. The College does not require faculty members to record or maintain student attendance, except as required by federal guidelines. Two occasions are specifically noted when faculty are required to provide dates of student class attendance:
- The US Department of Education requires that all students receiving Federal Financial Aid attend at least one session of each class in which they are enrolled. This is a condition of eligibility to receive federal funding. Faculty members must document that these students actually attended at least one session of each class.
- The US Department of Education requires that in the event a student receives all “F” grades, and has not officially withdrawn from their classes, the institution must document that student’s last date of attendance. Grades and last date of attendance must be maintained for a period established by the US Department of Education. Failure to maintain such records could result in forfeiture of funds to the Department of Education.
General
When a Pell and/or SEOG Grant recipient completely withdraws from the College, the Business Office must determine the amount of the grant(s) that the student earned as of the student’s withdrawal date.
The student’s date of withdrawal is either of the following dates:
- The date, as determined by the College, that the student began the withdrawal process prescribed by the College.
- The date, as determined by the College, that the student otherwise provided official notification to the College, in writing or verbally, of his or her intent to withdraw.
Note: If the student ceases attendance without providing official notification to the College, the midpoint of the payment period or the last date of an academically related activity in which the student participated is used as the date of withdrawal.
Calculation of Earned Title IV Assistance
The amount of Title IV assistance earned by the student is calculated by dividing the number of days (total calendar days) attended by the total number of days (calendar days) in the payment period. The total number of calendar days in a payment period includes all days within the period, except scheduled breaks of at least five consecutive days, which are excluded from the total number of calendar days in a payment period and the number of calendar days completed in that period. If the student’s withdrawal date occurs after 60% of the payment period, none of the Title IV aid has to be returned. Otherwise the College, the student, or both must return a portion.
Return of Unearned Aid—Responsibility of the College
The College must return the lesser of the amount of Title IV funds that is not earned by the student; or the amount of institutional charges that the student incurred for the payment period multiplied by the percentage of funds that was not earned. The percentage not earned is determined by subtracting the percentage of Title IV aid earned from 100%. Because of this requirement by the U.S. Department of Education, the College Refund Policy does not apply to students who receive Title IV assistance. If a student receives Pell or SEOG, regardless of who actually paid the tuition and fees, the return or refund created by the withdrawal according to provisions will be made to the Pell and/or SEOG Grant programs subject to the maximum amount of the award for the payment period. Therefore, no sponsoring agency that pays tuition and fees (for a student who receives Pell and/or SEOG Grants) will receive a refund if the student withdraws from the College until all monies due the Pell and/or SEOG programs have been returned.
Return of Unearned Aid—Responsibility of the Student
The student will be held responsible for all unearned grant aid that the College is required to repay to the U.S. Department of Education. The initial amount of unearned Federal Student Aid due from the student is determined by subtracting the amount returned by the College from the total amount of unearned Title IV funds to be returned. This is called the initial amount due from the student. The amount of grant overpayment due from a student is limited to the amount by which the original grant overpayment exceeds half of the total Title IV grant funds disbursed and could have been disbursed to the student. If a student completely withdraws or ceases to attend all classes before completing 60% of any term and has received Pell Grant or SEOG funds—whether by check or charged tuition, fees, or books—and the College has to return any funds paid on behalf of the student, the student will be responsible for repaying funds to the College.
Pell Withdrawals and Mini Terms
A student who ceases to attend a class must provide written confirmation at the time of withdrawal that he or she will attend a mini term class that begins later in the same semester. This confirmation must be given to the business office at the time of withdrawal, even if the student has already registered for subsequent courses. Without confirmation of future attendance, a school must assume a student who has ceased attendance is a withdrawal, and begin the Return of Title IV Funds process.
It is important that students enrolling in multiple mini-sessions withdraw from or drop a subsequent mini-session prior to completing the previous one if they do not intend to return. This will prevent the student from being subject to
Return of Title IV Funds process.