To be eligible for financial aid, students must meet minimum enrollment requirements. A change of enrollment status at any point during a term could result in a revision of the financial aid package.

Contact your financial aid adviser if:

• You plan to take fewer hours than the minimum required for full-time enrollment
• You plan to take self-paced courses (e.g. Mizzou Online)
• You plan on dropping or withdrawing from a course(s)

Official Withdrawal

Official withdrawals are those which are processed through the Registrar’s Office during the term.

Federal regulations state that a student who withdraws from a term before completing more than 60% of that term must go through a process that calculates how much financial aid must be returned to the government. This process takes into account all financial aid a student has accepted and been awarded at the time of the withdrawal. At the University of Missouri, this process includes all state and institutional aid disbursed.

A student who withdraws is allowed to keep the portion of aid earned based on the amount of the term the student completed before withdrawing. Documentation of attendance or participation in all courses attempted before the student withdrew will be necessary before processing the return of funds in accordance with federal regulations.

Unofficial Withdrawal

A financial aid recipient who did not receive any passing grades for the term is considered an “unofficial withdrawal.” Unofficial withdrawals are reviewed at the end of each term after official grades are posted and may affect currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students who receive federal student aid during the term. As an example, grades posted as “F”, “U”, “I”, and “NR” are not considered passing grades.

A letter will be sent to the student at the end of the term notifying the student of the process and that information will need to be gathered about the student’s participation or attendance for the term, including the student’s last day of attendance. The financial aid office will use the last day of attendance reported to determine the amount of federal student aid earned by the student for the term.

If we are unable to receive documentation of participation or attendance for the term, our office, based on federal regulations will use the 50% point of the term to determine the amount of aid earned.

If the financial aid office receives documentation stating the student never began attendance in any courses for the term, all federal aid will be canceled.

Return of Funds

After the calculation is complete and the amount of earned aid is determined, the amount of unearned aid will be returned to the funding source on behalf of the student. The student will be responsible for any balance due based on the return of unearned aid, payable to the Cashiers office. The financial aid office is not responsible for late fees or other penalties a student may incur for failure to pay a balance due to the Cashiers office.

The student is responsible for making loan payments which may be due if the student begins loan repayment status based on the student no longer being enrolled in a degree seeking program (see the terms and conditions of your master promissory note).

It is extremely important that students who cease attending classes initiate formal withdrawal from the university by filing a withdrawal form.