Students Making Class Changes

Students may add and/or drop classes until the last day to add or drop; these dates are listed on the Academic Calendar. After the final drop deadline, there will be no refunds given for class withdrawals.

APU realizes that extenuating circumstances may sometimes impact a student’s ability to complete the semester. After a student begins attendance in a term and then stops attending all of his or her classes during the term, depending on the circumstances, it may be classified as a “withdrawal,” “leave of absence,” or “dismissal” from the university. For the purpose of charges assessed and financial aid eligibility listed below, a leave of absence and a dismissal will be handled the same as a withdrawal from the university.

Official Process: Withdrawal or Leave of Absence

Contact the Student Services Center. Before ceasing attendance during the term, students are advised to consider how much they might be charged, how much financial aid they might receive, and how not completing courses might impact their ability to receive financial aid in future years (see the Satisfactory Academic Progress policy).

Withdrawing Prior to the 60-Percent Point in the Semester

If a student drops a class on or before the drop deadline, no tuition will be charged for that class. After the drop deadline, if a student withdraws from one or more classes but is still attending other classes, the student will be charged tuition for all of his or her classes (including the withdrawals). However, in the event a student withdraws from all of his or her classes after the drop deadline, charges and financial aid will be calculated as follows:

Charges

Tuition: prorated per day
Fees: not refundable
Room: prorated weekly, based on the 16-week term
Board: prorated weekly, based on the 16-week term

Financial Aid

Financial aid: prorated per day (assuming the student has completed all requirements, the admission file and financial aid file are complete, and all loan application steps have been completed prior to the last date of attendance)

On extremely rare occasions, the university will decide to reduce or remove a student’s tuition. When this happens, the university also reserves the right to reduce or remove the institutional aid that was awarded.

Withdrawing On or After the 60-Percent Point in the Semester

The student will be charged in full.

Financial Aid

The student will receive full financial aid (assuming the student has completed all requirements, the admission file and financial aid file are complete, and all loan application steps have been completed prior to the last date of attendance).

On extremely rare occasions, the university will decide to reduce or remove a student’s tuition. When this happens, the university also reserves the right to reduce or remove the institutional aid that was awarded.

The Federal Government’s “Return to Title IV” (R2T4) Policy

If a student withdraws from all courses in a traditional 16-week term or doesn’t complete all the sessions of a modular (sequential) course schedule, in some cases the student only earns a portion of the financial aid already received. APU is required by federal law to use a prescribed formula to calculate the unearned portion of the financial aid received and return it to the federal government’s Title IV programs.

Traditional 16-Week Semester R2T4 Policy

The percentage of Title IV financial aid earned is determined by dividing the number of days the student completed in the semester, by the total number of days in the term. If the student attended 60% or more of the days in the semester, the student may keep all of the aid originally received. If less than 60%, the Department of Education determines how much Title IV aid the student earned (the percentage multiplied by the total amount of Title IV aid received).

Example

If there were 109 total days in the semester and the student completed 54 days, the student would earn 49.5% of the Title IV aid received (54/109 = 49.5%). If the student originally received $7,471.00 of federal aid for the semester, per the Department of Education's formula, the student earned $3,698.00 (49.5 percent x $7,471 = $3,698). Next, APU determines the amount of aid that must be returned to the Title IV programs which is the amount of aid originally received less the amount of aid the student gets to keep based on attendance in the semester. In this example, the student originally received $7,471.00 and it was determined that based on their attendance they get to keep 49.5% so the amount APU would return is $7,471.00 - $3,698.00 = $3,773.00.

Please note that when Title IV funds are returned the student is responsible for any owing balance this may cause on the student’s APU account.

Treatment of Unofficial Withdrawals

If a student fails to officially withdraw and receives a combination of all Fs, FNs, INs, and NCs as grades for the semester, the U.S. Department of Education considers the student to have unofficially withdrawn from classes. APU is required to investigate and determine when the student actually last attended class, and then perform the required R2T4 calculation. If the date of withdrawal cannot be confirmed, the R2T4 calculation is computed using a 50-percent completion rate. This process is usually completed well after the end of the semester, once grades are submitted.