Attendance Policy Waldorf College will verify your attendance in each registered course at the end of the first week. The discussion board posting or Unit I Assessment must be submitted to verify attendance and all Unit I assignments are due by the end of week one to receive credit. Students who choose not to attend the first week will be institutionally dropped from the course.
Enrollment Status Requirements The number of semester hours a student is enrolled during an 8-week term affects the amount of FSA the student will receive. Students must be enrolled on at least a half-time status in consecutive terms. Students not meeting the attendance standard indicated above in one or all of their courses will receive a reduction in their enrollment status. If a student does not meet the minimum enrollment status, FSA will not be disbursed. Please refer to the chart below for enrollment status classifications.
Dropping or Withdrawing from Courses Dropping or withdrawing from courses can affect a student’s enrollment status, which in turn affects eligibility for FSA. If a student’s status drops below half-time as a result of a drop or withdrawal during the term, the student may become ineligible for Federal Student Loans including funds that may have already been disbursed for the term. See the Term Enrollment Policies page for more information. Course Extensions Students may request a single 45 day extension for each course. Please visit the Term Enrollment Policies section of our website for more details about this policy. Students on extension will receive an "I" (incomplete) grade in their course until the extension ends or course is completed. A grade of “I” is equal to a grade of “F” for Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) calculations. Therefore, grades of "I" may affect a student's future registrations, grade point average and eligibility for FSA. Academic Year Students receiving FSA must follow an academic calendar consisting of an “academic year” that is made up of four terms; each term is 8 weeks in length. The academic year starts on the start date of the first term in which FSA is used. The academic year must be at least 32 weeks of instructional time for financial aid purposes. A full-time undergraduate student must be expected to complete at least 24 semester hours (6 hours each term) within the weeks defined in the academic year. Course Load Policy The program advisor must approve all course loads over seven semester hours. Students requesting course loads over seven hours must have a minimum GPA of 3.0. The maximum course load allowed is nine semester hours (3 courses). A student may not take courses in overlapping terms. Course grade reports will be issued at the end of the term. Note: A full-time load in an 8-week term is 6 hours for undergraduate programs. Leave of Absence Policy Federal regulations require Waldorf College to establish a Leave of Absence (LOA) policy for financial aid recipients who don't enroll in a term due to unforeseen circumstances. Students not using FSA need not request a LOA. This LOA policy is designed to provide students with the flexibility to take temporary breaks by not enrolling in a term without being considered “withdrawn” for financial aid purposes. Therefore, students must complete the current term they are enrolled and apply for a LOA to start the day after the term ends. Students who are unable to complete their current course should consider a course extension, special needs extension or course withdrawal. The Waldorf Office of Financial Aid is responsible for ensuring that all students who receive federal, state, and institutional financial aid are progressing in a timely manner towards completion of their program of study. The procedure for administering the LOA policy for each type of financial program is as follows.
LOA Application Procedure
Additional Information
Unofficial Withdrawal Policy If no assignments are submitted in the last 21 days of the term and the student receives a failing grade, the student will be withdrawn from the course and a grade of "WF" will be assigned. Grades of "WF" count in the calculation of the student's GPA the same as a grade of "F." "WF" also is counted in attempted hours. A charge will be posted to the student's account if the text was supplied through the Waldorf Book Grant. An email will be sent to the student providing a link to the Course Drop/Textbook Return Form. If an assignment has been submitted in the last 21 days of the term, the student will not be withdrawn and no action will be taken. The grade calculation will automatically occur as follows: Any non-submitted assignments will be given a grade of "0" and the final grade calculated. When determining "Last Day of Attendance" for financial aid purposes, the course mid-point or last assignment date, whichever is later, will be used. Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy (SAP)
Full-time students in the online program must earn a 2.0 grade point average, achieve a passing rate of at least 67 percent of all hours attempted, and complete their degree program within 150 percent of the term hour requirements for the degree.
Hours attempted include completed courses, repeated courses, withdrawals, and incompletes. Transfer credit, if applicable, is calculated in the completion ratio and quantitative progress. Students are evaluated at the end of every term for SAP once they have attempted two terms, which is equivalent to 16 weeks of instruction.
Full-time students who have not met the conditions for satisfactory progress will be place on warning for the following term.
If a student has less than a 1.00 GPA and less than 10 credits after attempting two terms, the student will be dismissed from the college.
All students on academic warning must take part in the Academic Support Program. If the student does not attain the minimum grade point average or the minimum cumulative credits by the end of the warning term, the student will be dismissed from the college.
The full-time student may appeal the dismissal to the Academic Progress Committee. The appeal must include the reason(s) why the student failed to meet satisfactory academic progress and what will change to allow the student to meet the standards at the next evaluation. The committee will make one of the following decisions regarding the student's appeal:
Students on academic probation or academic plan may be required to retake courses in which "F" or "D" grades were received, take a reduced credit-load, and/or become involved in special programs. They are also required to submit periodic academic progress reports.
A part-time student (carrying less than 6 term credits) shall be placed on academic warning if, at the end of any term, he or she has a cumulative grade point average less than 2.00 after attempting a total of 6 hours or more as a part-time student. During the next term, if the student does not receive a 2.00 gpa and/or complete at least 67% of their coursework, the student is dismissed from the college.
If a part-time student is dismissed by the college, the student may appeal the dismissal and follow the same appeals process found above in the full-time satisfactory academic progress appeals process.
If it apparent that a student is not profiting from attendance, the Vice-President for Academic Affairs may dismiss a student without any warning period.
Verification Process and Procedures Waldorf must check the accuracy of all applications the Central Processing System (CPS) selects for verification, up to 30 percent of our total number of federal aid applicants. The CPS will select applicants for verification due to edit checks which identify inconsistencies or potential errors, as well as randomly select applicants for verification. Waldorf College must also verify any application information that it has reason to believe is incorrect or discrepant. If the CPS selects an application for verification, it is required that Waldorf verifies five major data elements:
Students selected for verification are sent a letter including instructions regarding the documents that should be submitted to Waldorf within ten days. The file is held on a pending status and no award will be made until the requested documentation has been received and reviewed. Exceptions are granted for students that are only eligible for unsubsidized Stafford loans, and PLUS loans as these applications do not have to be verified. The data reported on the verification worksheet, federal tax returns, and other supporting documentation provided is checked against the appropriate data elements on the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR). Generally speaking, when the new information conflicts with the original information presented on the FAFSA, corrections, updates, and adjustments may need to be made and a new expected family contribution (EFC) calculated. The new EFC can be calculated by the school and only needs to be submitted to CPS for students eligible for Federal Pell Grants. Undergraduate Grade Level Determination Any student pursuing an undergraduate degree must be classified by grade level, as well as meet grade level progression in order to comply with the requirements of FSA and the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL). Graduate students do not have grade level requirements. Please refer to the table below to determine the grade level or the progression rate of an undergraduate student.
Grade level progression occurs after 24 semester hours are successfully completed. This is based off of the federal requirement that an academic year must meet minimum requirements. At Waldorf, this means a minimum of 24 semester hours and a minimum of 30 weeks of instruction.
Any new student entering Waldorf who wishes to use FSA must first be fully accepted into an approved program. The results of the evaluation will determine what credit will transfer into Waldorf, which will also determine the student’s current grade level. While attending Waldorf, the student will need to submit a course transfer request form if subsequent coursework is completed outside of Waldorf. Then the student’s grade level would be recalculated using the additional transfer credit to ensure that the student’s account and grade level will be accurate. Regarding loan limits associated with a student’s grade level, a student will only progress to a higher grade level once he/she begins a new academic year. Loan Entrance/Exit Counseling (Required) The U.S. Department of Education requires that any student receiving a FFEL complete loan entrance and exit counseling. Loan entrance counseling provides information to students concerning how to manage student loans, both during and after college. Exit Counseling is generally required once a student drops below half-time enrollment status, withdraws or graduates. The student must notify the Waldorf Office of Financial Aid prior to withdrawal or graduation for loan counseling. The purpose of loan exit counseling is to inform the student of their tentative total loans received while in attendance at Waldorf and to provide the student with an estimated payment schedule. Borrower Rights & Responsibilities When a student takes on a student loan he/she has certain rights and responsibilities. The borrower has the right to receive the following information before the first loan disbursement.
The borrower has the right to receive the following information before leaving school.
FSA Disbursements When a student applies for financial aid, the package awarded is based on an academic year. The academic year consist of 4 terms (32 weeks). FSA awarded for the academic year will be divided into four payment periods that will cover each term. Pell Grant disbursements will not post to a student’s account until after day 14 of the term. Excess Pell funds will be refunded to the student no sooner than 21 days after the term starts. After the first week of the term has ended, Waldorf will verify that first week of assignments have been completed in all courses enrolled for that term. It is very important that a student completes the first week of instructional requirements; otherwise it will result in the student being institutionally dropped from the course(s). Any Pell eligible student institutionally dropped from a course(s) will have an adjustment to their award. Federal loans for students will also not be disbursed to Waldorf until attendance has been confirmed. Excess loan funds will be refunded to the student (or lender if designated by the student) within 14 days of receipt by Waldorf or no sooner than 21 days after the term starts. Once federal funds have been disbursed, students will receive a disbursement notice via email from the Waldorf College Office of Financial Aid. Loss of Financial Aid Eligibility Federal regulations require Waldorf to establish and apply reasonable standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) for eligible students to receive financial assistance under the programs authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act. Waldorf students who wish to be considered for financial aid must:
SAP is a FSA eligibility requirement and is administered by the university in addition to the academic standards of performance required under the Waldorf Academic Progress Policy. The SAP policy is reviewed annually by the Waldorf Financial Aid Committee. For more information, please visit the Term Enrollment System Policies page. Suspension of Federal Student Aid By statute, students on Financial Aid Probation who do not meet SAP requirements after the probationary period are ineligible for Title IV Federal Student Aid programs. Students who do not maintain SAP or fail to meet the conditions of their Financial Aid Probation will be notified by Waldorf and suspended from receiving Title IV Federal financial aid. Students may appeal suspensions by completing the SAP Appeal Petition. Requests for reinstatement of eligibility must be made to the Waldorf Office of Financial Aid no later than one month prior to the term in which the student desires to enroll. Reinstatement following suspension is not automatic. Undue Hardship Students may appeal their suspension under SAP if they were unable to maintain SAP as a direct result of hardship or special circumstances, as provided by federal regulations. Personal situations such as the death of a student's relative, an injury or illness of the student, or other special circumstance may prevent a student from achieving satisfactory academic progress. As a result, a student may appeal his or her suspension of Federal Student Aid by completing the SAP Appeal Petition and submitting the Petition to the Financial Aid Office. If the Appeal is approved, a student will have a probationary period of 12 semester hours (attempted hours) during which he or she will receive financial aid and reestablish eligibility under SAP. The Financial Aid Director will submit completed SAP Appeal Petitions to the Financial Aid Appeal Board for review. The Appeal Board will make the final determination on all Appeal Petitions and forward all decisions to the Financial Aid Director for action. The Financial Aid Director will notify students of their appeal results. Financial Aid Appeal Procedure Students may appeal their suspension of financial aid if the student were unable to meet SAP requirements as a direct result of undue hardship or special circumstances, as stated in the federal regulations. Situations such as the death of a student’s relative, personal injury or illness sustained by the student, or other unusual circumstances may prevent a student from achieving SAP. As a result, students have the right to appeal their financial aid suspension by completing the SAP Appeal Form. The appeal will be reviewed by a committee and, if approved, the student will be notified in writing and granted an additional probationary period of 12 semester hours (attempted hours) in which they will receive financial aid and reestablish eligibility under SAP. Reestablishing Financial Aid Eligibility A student not making SAP may re-establish eligibility on his or her own, either because an appeal was denied or because he or she did not submit an appeal. A student can re-establish SAP on his or her own by completing enough hours with an acceptable GPA to bring their statistics back to an acceptable level. Return of Title IV Funds The Waldorf Business Office is notified by the Student Services Department or by the student of the student’s withdrawal. Based on this notification, the student file is pulled, the withdrawal information is reviewed, and an R2T4 calculation is performed if appropriate. All Leave of Absence (LOA) requests should be submitted no later than the student’s last day of attendance for consideration. If they are approved for an LOA then no R2T4 calculation is performed (unless the student fails to return). All withdrawal files must be reviewed within 30 days to comply with Federal Post Withdrawal Disbursement calculation regulations. If a student has received Federal Stafford/PLUS loan funds or Federal Grant funds during their current period of enrollment, and there is a break in their attendance that is considered a withdrawal, an R2T4 calculation is required to be performed. If a student has not yet been awarded, but has a valid ISIR for the current award year, and is Federal Grant eligible based on their ISIR, an R2T4 calculation is needed to discover potential Post Withdrawal Disbursements for the Federal Grant. When a student withdraws from Waldorf or is withdrawn by the institution where the break in attendance is greater than seven days and the student did not receive approval for an LOA, this is considered a withdrawal. These withdrawals require an R2T4 calculation if federal funds have been disbursed for the current payment period, or if the student is eligible for a post withdrawal disbursement of federal funds. For current financial aid recipients, a tuition percentage will be determined based on the return of Title IV funds regulations. The Waldorf Office of Financial Aid determines the return of Title IV funds percentage and informs the Business Office. Institutions are required to determine the percentage of Title IV aid “earned” by the student and to return the unearned portion to the appropriate aid program. This percentage is determined by the percentage of the enrollment period completed by the student, as outlined below. The return of funds policy follows these steps.
Waldorf College and the student are both responsible for returning unearned funds to the appropriate programs in specific loan/grant order. The institution must return the lesser of:
Amounts that must be returned will first be applied to federal loans and then to grants. Loan borrowers will be permitted to repay loans based on the terms of the promissory note.
The student will also be billed for any amount due to Waldorf resulting from the college's return of federal aid funds. For example, if Waldorf is required to return federal aid, which was used to pay a portion of the student’s charges for the enrollment period, the student is required to pay Waldorf for the unpaid portion of the charges.
If a student owes any money to the school resulting from the return of federal aid funds, the student will receive a bill from the accounting office. Any refund or repayment obligation will be clearly outlined for the student in writing and will also appear on their Waldorf bill.
Return the Title IV aid, based on the type of aid disbursed, in the following order:
If the contracted charges are adjusted downward by the Waldorf Business Office after the withdrawal was finalized, any credit balance will be refunded to the funding source in the order outlined above. The student's grace period for loan repayments for Federal Unsubsidized and Subsidized Stafford Loans will begin on the day of the withdrawal from Waldorf. The student should contact the lender if they have questions regarding their grace period or repayment status. The student's eligibility for future financial aid may change based on their withdrawal from Waldorf College and SAP standards. Post-Withdrawal Disbursements The requirements for a post-withdrawal disbursement are similar in many ways to the requirements under Subpart K – Cash Management of the Student Assistance General Provisions regulations. However, in some cases, the post-withdrawal disbursement requirements differ from the cash management requirements. Any post-withdrawal disbursement due must meet the current required conditions for late disbursements. For example, The U.S. Department of Education must have processed a Student Aid Report (SAR) or Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) with an official EFC prior to the student’s loss of eligibility. These conditions are listed in a chart on Late Disbursements in Volume 4 – Processing Aid and Managing Federal Student Aid Funds. A school is required to make (or offer as appropriate) post-withdrawal disbursements. A post withdrawal disbursement must be made within 180 days of the date the institution determines that the student withdrew. The amount of a post-withdrawal disbursement is determined by following the requirements for calculating earned FSA, and has no relationship to incurred educational costs. Procedures
Returning Unearned Funds Waldorf and the student could both be responsible for returning unearned funds to the appropriate programs in specific loan/grant order, depending on the result of the R2T4 calculation. Waldorf must return the lesser of:
Amounts that must be returned will first be applied to federal loans and then to grants. Loan borrowers will be permitted to repay loans based on the terms of the promissory note. The student will also be billed for any amount due to Waldorf resulting from Waldorf return of federal aid funds. For example, if Waldorf is required to return federal aid, which was used to pay a portion of the student’s charges for the enrollment period, the student is required to pay Waldorf College for the unpaid portion of the charges. If a student owes any money to Waldorf College resulting from the return of federal funds, the student will receive a bill from the Business Office. Disclosure of Preferred Lender List Waldorf acknowledges and explicitly states that borrowers always have a choice in selecting a FFELP lender. We cannot and will not deny borrowers of that choice. Our goal is to provide students with the best service available, so by developing a preferred lender list we feel that we have eliminated some of the student’s homework. Each of the lenders that Waldorf has chosen to be listed on the preferred lender list has been presented with a standard questionnaire that explains why they should be listed as a preferred lender for Waldorf. Below are some of the questions that each lender was required to answer.
These are just a few of the questions presented to each of the lenders on our preferred lender list. Waldorf prides itself on providing customer service at the highest level. The customer service these lenders provide to our students and school will greatly impact the success of our students achieving their educational goals. One of the most important things for a student to remember about getting loans to help pay for school, is that the student has the choice to select any lender they wish to use.