Financial AID policies
The Office of Student Financial Services has policies and procedures in place for the assessment of need and eligibility for financial aid. If you cannot find what you are looking for and still have questions about your financial aid, please contact us at sfs@greensboro.edu.
Enrollment Policy
Undergraduate Students pursuing their first bachelor’s degree are expected to be enrolled full-time (at least 12 credit hours per semester) when applying for financial aid. Less than full time enrollment may impact a student’s eligibility for certain types of financial aid.
Federal and State-funded financial aid may be offered to students enrolled less than full time, but the aid amount may be reduced according to a student’s actual enrollment status. Students must be enrolled at least half time for a Federal Direct Loan (6 hours).
If a student is planning to enroll less than full time, they are expected to notify the Office of Student Financial Services so that their financial aid can be evaluated and adjusted, if necessary.
HOUSING POLICY
New Students
Students applying to Greensboro College are required to state their housing plans. Financial Aid Offer Letters explicitly state whether the offer is based on a student living on campus, off campus, or commuting from home. If a student decides to change their housing plans, they must notify both the Residence Life Office by email at (reslife@greensboro.edu and the Office of Student Financial Services by email at sfs@greensboro.edu. Students will be notified if their financial aid offer will be affected.
Returning Students
If a student decides to change their housing plans, they must notify the Resident Life Office by email at reslife@greensboro.edu. You can find more information about the requirements to live off campus by clicking here.
WITHDRAWAL POLICY
Students who are planning to withdraw before completing a term must start the withdrawal process with the Office of Student Development Office (located in Office 312 of Main Building). The student will be required to fill out an Official Withdrawal Form and have it signed by the Student Accounts and Financial Aid Offices before returning the form to Student Development.
Failing to withdraw officially from Greensboro College could affect future attendance and eligibility for financial aid. Students who do not officially withdraw and are registered will also be billed by Student Accounts as a “no show” and be responsible for the balance.
Once the withdrawal form is completed by all parties, the Office of Student Financial Services will complete a R2T4 (Return of Title IV Funds) through the Department of Education’s (DOE) software. The DOE will want to know basic information about the student, the most important being the effective withdrawal date. Depending on when the student withdraws, our office may be required to return financial aid to the Department of Education and/or the state.
If there is a 90, 75, 50 or 25% adjustment to the student’s charges, the same will happen with any type of institutional aid. After the amount that must be refunded to the Title IV programs is determined, the financial aid will be returned in the following order:
- Unsubsidized Federal Direct Loan
- Subsidized Federal Direct Loan
- Federal Direct PLUS Loan
- Federal Pell Grant
- Federal SEOG
- Other Title IV programs
- Other federal, state, private programs
- Institutional programs
- Student/Family
UNOFFICIAL WITHDRAWAL POLICY
For information regarding our Unofficial Withdrawal Policies, please refer to our Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Catalogs. Our Registrar will determine the date that a student unofficially withdrew. Depending on this determination, the Office of Student Financial Services may be required to complete a R2T4 (Return of Title IV Funds) through the Department of Education’s (DOE) software and may be required to return financial aid to the Department of Education and/or the state.
Standards of Academic Progress (SAP) Policy
Students are required to maintain satisfactory academic progress and to remain in academic good standing to retain eligibility for financial aid. Students who are applying for financial assistance are expected to be enrolled full-time each semester during the academic year.
Full-time enrollment is defined as 12 credits or more per semester. Students enrolled less than full-time must notify the Office of Student Financial Services and may be subject to reductions in financial assistance. Federal regulations require a College’s Standards of Academic Progress (SAP) to include the following:
Quantitative Measure
To remain in good academic standing and retain eligibility for financial aid, students must successfully complete at least two-thirds of all hours attempted including Pass/Fail, withdrawals, repeated courses, incompletes, and courses dropped after the last day to drop a course without penalty (as published in the academic calendar).
Qualitative Measure
Students must maintain the following minimum cumulative grade-point average (GPA) on all attempted hours:
Undergraduate Students pursuing
1st Bachelor’s Degree
| Hours Attempted | Minimum GPA Required |
|---|---|
| 28 or Fewer | 1.6 |
| Between 28 and 60 | 1.8 |
| 60 or Greater | 2.0 |
Graduate Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA.
All Other Students must maintain a 2.0 GPA.
Maximum Time Frame
Institutional Programs: Greensboro College undergraduate programs are structured to be completed in four years; therefore, our non-transfer students are allowed eight semesters (or until degree requirements are met, whichever is first) of eligibility for institutional financial aid programs. For transfer students, the number of semesters of eligibility for institutional programs allowed is based on a student’s class level at the time he or she is admitted to Greensboro College.
Federal Aid Programs:
For undergraduate programs of study, the maximum time frame for receipt of federal financial aid must be no longer than 150% of the published length of an educational program. At Greensboro College, it takes 124 credits hours to receive a degree; therefore, students are allowed up to 186 attempted hours (including all transfer hours accepted toward completion of a student’s program) to be considered for federal financial aid.
For graduate programs of study, the maximum time frame for receipt of federal financial aid must be no longer than 150% of the published length of an educational program.
The maximum time limits for both graduate and undergraduates includes all hours attempted regardless of whether or not financial aid was received.
Please Note: Grades of W (Withdrawal), WF (Withdraw Failing), WN, FN, and U are not considered satisfactory completion of a course and therefore are not earned hours. However, they will be count as attempted hours. Incompletes (I) are not counted as attempted or earned hours until final grade has been assigned to the course in question. Greensboro College does not offer remedial or developmental courses, and transfer credit is not awarded for any courses that are designated as such. The following chart demonstrates a student’s required ratio of attempted hours to earned hours to be considered as progressing toward degree completion within the maximum 150% limit.
| When Total Hours Attempted Equals | Students Must Have Earned |
|---|---|
| 35 hours | 24 hours |
| 65 hours | 44 hours |
| 95 hours | 64 hours |
| 125 hours | 84 hours |
| 155 hours | 104 hours |
| 186 hours | 124 hours |
Transfer Students: Transfer students are evaluated based on the number of hours accepted by Greensboro College. Once transfer credit has been evaluated by the Registrar’s Office and the student has been awarded credit hours, then that student will fall under the same quantitative and qualitative requirements as previously mentioned based on that designated classification. Transfer grades are not factored into the student’s cumulative GPA for SAP proposes. The maximum time limits for eligibility for federal financial aid also apply to transfer students based on the number of credits accepted by Greensboro College.
Note Regarding Federal Loan Eligibility
It is imperative that students who receive Federal Direct Student Loans realize that there is a maximum aggregate amount they may borrow in their undergraduate career. Students who are enrolled for more than four years or eight semesters (the time frame normally associated with completion of degree requirements at Greensboro College), and who receive federal loans during that time, are in jeopardy of losing their eligibility for federal student loans.
Standards of Academic Progress (SAP) Procedure
Academic Review Process
Academic progress is reviewed at the end of each spring semester. Any student not making Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) for financial aid will receive a letter from the GC Financial Aid Office stating that he or she is no longer eligible to receive aid from any federal or state program. At this point, that student will have two options.
- Attend Greensboro College using the student’s own financial resources and without financial aid, until the minimum requirements of the College’s Satisfactory Academic Progress policy have been met.
- Submit a letter of appeal stating the reason(s) why he or she has not met the minimum standards along with any supporting documentation that verifies the circumstances that affected his or her ability to meet the minimum standards. Additional information on the appeal process is provided below.
It is imperative that any student not making Satisfactory Academic Progress understand that failure to submit a successful appeal for Financial Aid Probation or an approved Academic Plan for Improvement to the Appeals Committee will mean that no additional financial aid will be awarded to that student for future semesters of enrollment. It is necessary that immediate action be taken upon a student’s receipt of the notification that he or she is not making Satisfactory Academic Progress.
Appeal Process
A student may submit a written statement of appeal for additional financial assistance if he or she feels that special circumstances prevented him or her from meeting the minimum standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress. Any supporting documents or statements should also be submitted that will provide the Appeals Committee with additional information pertinent to its review.
The student must complete and submit the Greensboro College Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal Request along with the written statement to the Office of Financial Aid. The Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeals Committee will review the request, the written statement, and any other submitted documentation to determine if the student can meet satisfactory academic progress standards by the end of the next term and thereby be placed on Financial Aid Probation for one term.
If the Committee determines that the student cannot meet the required standards after completion of one term, he/she will be given the option of submitting an Academic Plan for Improvement. Additional information on the Academic Plan for Improvement is provided below. All students will be notified in writing of the Appeals Committee’s decisions.
Please note that if approved, only one semester of financial aid eligibility can be offered without the submission of an Academic Plan for Improvement. The student must meet the minimum standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress by the end of the approved semester to retain eligibility. If the student does not improve the deficiencies within that approved semester, the student will no longer be eligible for financial aid from the College until the minimum requirements are met or an Academic Plan for Improvement is submitted and approved.
Academic Plan for Improvement
If the student does not have valid reasons for submitting an appeal based on special circumstances, or if more than one semester is needed to bring up his or her academic progress deficiencies, then submitting an Academic Plan for Improvement is strongly encouraged. The student must contact the Assistant Vice President for Academic Administration to set up an appointment to develop his or her academic plan for meeting the minimum standards of academic progress.
FINANCIAL AID OFFER TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Your financial aid offer from Greensboro College is subject to these Terms and Conditions
