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Withdrawal Policy

Withdrawing From The College and Its Effects on Financial Aid

Federal and State regulations determine the treatment of financial aid awards for a student who withdraws.

If you are a financial aid recipient and you withdraw, you may no longer be eligible for all of the financial aid you have received. The amount of aid you are eligible to receive for the semester depends upon the number of days that you attended and the type of financial aid that you received.

The portion of the semester that you do not attend (due to your withdrawal) represents the portion of aid that is determined to be unearned. The TCNJ Financial Aid Office is required by law to re-compute your aid eligibility in the event of a withdrawal from school.

Any student withdrawing prior to the 60% point in the term should expect to have to repay financial aid in a percentage roughly equivalent to the percentage of the term not in attendance. After the 60% point, no aid has to be repaid. Therefore, if you depart from school prior to the 60% point, your aid eligibility will be reduced on a pro-rated basis. If the amount of aid already disbursed to you for the semester exceeds the reduced eligibility, it will be necessary for payments to be made to TCNJ to repay the aid amounts.

The exact financial impact of your withdrawal may not be known until several weeks after your withdrawal because it will be necessary to determine by how much your aid has been reduced based on the results of the withdrawal calculation.


Will you owe a repayment to your financial aid award?

  • Determine the percentage of the semester completed
    • Days attended ÷ Days in the semester = Percentage completed.

If the calculated percentage exceeds 60% then you have earned all of the Title IV funds for the semester and no further action is required. If not, proceed to the next step.

  • Apply the percentage completed to the amount of Federal and State aid awarded to determine eligibility for aid prior to withdrawal.
    • Total aid disbursed × Percentage completed = Earned aid
  • Determine the amount of unearned aid to be returned to the appropriate Title IV aid program(s).
    • Total aid disbursed – Earned aid = Unearned aid you will repay

Please note this is meant to be a very basic estimate to help you budget how much you may potentially owe to the College. Until a final calculation is done we will not know the exact amount you will owe, if any.

It is highly recommended that if you are considering a withdrawal from the College that you contact the Financial Aid Office prior to your withdrawal to discuss what impact your withdrawal may have on your current and future aid package. You will be notified via e-mail (sent to your TCNJ e-mail account) when the calculation has been completed and your account has been updated. You will then be able to review the results in PAWS.

Loan Exit Interview Requirements

Students who withdraw from TCNJ, even for just one semester, and borrowed a student loan, will be required to complete a “Loan Exit Interview” to comply with College policy and federal regulations. Students who do not complete a Loan Exit Interview may have registration and transcript holds placed on their academic records. You will be notified by our office as to the appropriate steps to follow in order to fulfill this requirement.

Additional Consequences to Withdrawing

Your student aid for the future academic year may be in jeopardy if you fall below the minimum credit expectation for satisfactory academic progress, which affects your eligibility for most student aid programs. Academic progress is calculated using the number of credits you attempt and earn each semester. These credit requirements are completely separate from those determined by your academic college or department.

In addition, Federal, State and Institutional grants, loans and scholarships carry lifetime eligibility limits which will also be impacted by your withdrawal.

Contact

Office of Financial Aid
Green Hall, Room 101
The College of New Jersey
P.O. Box 7718
2000 Pennington Rd.
Ewing, NJ 08628

osfa@tcnj.edu
Tel. 609.771.2211
Fax. 609.637.5154

Office Hours: 8:30 A.M. – 4:30 P.M.
Monday through Friday

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