Financial Aid Policies

The Federal government has specific criteria on determining whether a student is considered dependent or independent for financial aid. If extenuating circumstances exist between you and your parents (i.e., abuse, abandonment, etc.), you can request a review of your dependency status by submitting a Dependency Override form.

A parent's unwillingness or refusal to contribute to educational costs, a parent's unwillingness to provide income information, parents not claiming a student on their taxes or a student's self-sufficiency, are not individually or in any combination the sole basis for review.

Financial aid will not credit to the student's account unless all eligibility requirements have been met and verification has been completed. In addition, if the student is taking out a student loan, the student must have completed entrance loan counseling and completed a master promissory note for the respective loan program.

Pending financial aid (aid in memo status) is a temporary status and is used for financial planning purposes only. Pending financial aid allows the student to be able to set up a Pending Financial Aid Payment Plan (PFAPP). This allows the Business Office to defer payment of student's tuition, fees, and bookstore charges until the financial aid is finalized and credited to the student's account. Students are responsible for making payment for the difference between institutional charges and financial aid awards by the designated due dates established by the College.

Aid that is authorized will reflect as a payment to the student's account after the pay date passes. This is approximately one week after the end of bookstore charging.

Financial aid awards are not final until they have credited (been paid) to the student's account. Financial aid will only move to paid for classes that have begun attendance (see below for second 8 week example).

Pell and Loan students enrolled in second 8 week classes may charge against the full amount they are eligible for during the semester. (For example, if you are registered for six credit hours during the 16 week semester and are registered for three credit hours during the second 8 weeks, you will be able to charge against the eligibility for nine hours.)

However, when aid is adjusted after the start of classes, it will be adjusted to reflect what your actual enrollment is on that day (as in the above example, the adjusted aid will show as aid for six hours (authorized) and 3 hours (memoed). It may seem as though you were allowed to overcharge.

If your second 8 week class is canceled, your financial aid will be adjusted accordingly. If you charged in excess of your financial aid you will be responsible for all charges incurred. If you have a PFAPP set up, your financial aid may not be enough to cover all of your charges by the PFAPP date. However, once the second 8 weeks starts, the remainder of your financial aid will move to paid.

The CCC Financial Aid Office will use students CCC e-mail address as its official means of communication with you. This will allow us to communicate with you in a more timely fashion and allow you faster and more convenient access to your financial aid information. Check your CCC email account regularly for important dates, updated information, etc.

An "overaward" occurs when your need based awards exceed your financial need, or the total of your awards exceed your cost of attendance. If you have been overawarded, federal regulations require CCC to adjust your awards, which may result in a bill.

Possible reasons an overaward can occur:

• You receive additional awards
• Your residency status changes
• Your housing status changes
• The verification process results in changes made to your FAFSA data.

Overpayment of federal and state aid, if they occur, are resolved when CCC makes subsequent adjustments to the student's account. If, in the event that CCC cannot adjust the student's account, CCC will refer the overpayment to the proper federal and/or state agency.

Pell Grants are recalculated based on the following situations.

Policy

• Change in EFC

If a student’s EFC changes due to corrections, updating, or an adjustment and the EFC would change the amount of Pell award, CCC recalculates the Pell award for the entire year.

• Change in enrollment status between terms

CCC recalculates a student’s payment for each term based on the enrollment status for that term as of the freeze date.

• Student doesn’t begin attendance in all classes within a term

If a student does not begin attendance in all of his or her classes and this results in a change in the student’s enrollment status, CCC recalculates the student’s award based on the lower enrollment status.

For on campus classes - a student is considered to have begun attendance in all of his or her classes if the student attends at least one day of class for each course in which that student’s enrollment status was determined for Federal Pell Grant eligibility.

For online classes - a student is considered to have begun attendance in all of his or her classes if for each course in which that student’s enrollment status was determined for Federal Pell Grant eligibility, the student participates in at least one academically related activity (required online discussion, submission of homework, participation points, quiz, test, etc). Merely logging into the course does not constitute an academically related activity.

Process

Instructors are asked to notify the financial aid office of any student who is not considered as having begun their course. Financial aid is adjusted accordingly.

• Change in enrollment status within a term

Each semester Financial Aid will establish a FREEZE date. Financial aid will be adjusted upwards or downwards until this date. After this date, there will be no adjustments to awards. Students enrolling in late start classes must be enrolled by this date to have their enrollment figured into their Pell calculation.

Title IV funds are awarded to a student under the assumption that the student will attend CCC for the entire period for which the aid is awarded. When a student withdraws or ceases attendance prior to the planned ending date, the student may no longer be eligible for the full amount of Title IV funds that the student was originally scheduled to receive.

Only students receiving Title IV aid, who have withdrawn from or failed all classes are subject to the return of Title IV funds calculation.

If a recipient of Title IV grant or loan funds withdraws from CCC after beginning attendance, the amount of Title IV grant or loan assistance earned by the student must be determined.

Students earn their Title IV federal financial aid by attending class. If the student is not enrolled long enough to earn all of their aid, the “unearned” portion must be returned to the appropriate Title IV program.  Once a student completes more than 60% in the semester, they are considered to have earned 100% of their scheduled Title IV funds for that semester.

Note: Federal Work-Study earnings are not affected by Title IV regulations concerning the return of unearned federal financial aid. Only grants and loans are affected by this regulation.

Situations that would not require college to perform a return of Title IV funds calculation include, but are not limited to a student who: was awarded Federal Work-Study only; dropped classes but did not completely withdraw; never began attendance in any classes; or for whom the institution cannot document at least one day of class attendance.

A list of financial aid programs to which the return of Title IV funds requirements apply include the following:

• Federal Pell Grants
• Federal SEOG
• Federal Direct Subsidized Loan
• Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan

Students who wish to charge tuition, fees, books, and supplies to their financial aid and are eligible, must set up a Pending Financial Aid Payment Plan. When a student registers, payment arrangements are required to be made the same day. The establishment of this plan will insure students are not dropped for non-payment.

Work very closely with your academic advisor! Students can repeat a previously passed class one time and receive financial aid for that repeated course.

Students who are withdrawing from a course may do so online or by obtaining a withdrawal form from the Admissions and Records Office. Students who do not officially withdraw from school may receive "F" grades for all courses.

If a student does not begin attendance in all of his or her classes and this results in a change in the student’s enrollment status, CCC recalculates the student’s award based on the lower enrollment status.  If Financial Aid is informed at any point in time, that a student has not begun attendance in class, their aid will be adjusted accordingly.  If the student has received a refund check, they will be responsible for the overpayment to the school.

For on campus classes - a student is considered to have begun attendance in all of his or her classes if the student attends at least one day of class for each course in which that student’s enrollment status was determined for Federal Pell Grant eligibility.

For online classes - a student is considered to have begun attendance in all of his or her classes if for each course in which that student’s enrollment status was determined for Federal Pell Grant eligibility, the student participates in at least one academically related activity (required online discussion, submission of homework, participation points, quiz, test, etc).  Merely logging into the course does not constitute an academically related activity.