Federal financial aid rules require that attendance be documented for students at colleges and universities that distribute federal aid funds. Financial aid will be adjusted if a student stops attending or does not attend a course for which they are registered. The financial aid awarded for the term was based on the number of credits a student was enrolled in at the time of disbursement. Once final grades are submitted, the collected information is reviewed to determine a student's attendance for the term.
If an instructor reports that a student did not attend the number of credits for which they were enrolled or has stopped attending all classes at any point during the semester, the Financial Aid Office must adjust the student's financial aid accordingly in accordance with federal regulations.
A student is reported as not attending all enrolled classes after the Add/Drop Period has ended.
- A student was enrolled full-time (12 or more credits), and their awards were based on full-time enrollment.
- Final semester grades were: B+, B, B, and F*
- An F* grade indicates when the student was last present in or last participated in the class.
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In this example, the F* grade indicates that the student did not attend or stopped attending during the 1st week of classes.
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- The student's financial aid will be adjusted to match their actual number of credits enrolled. Their financial aid awards will be updated to reflect enrollment in 9 credits instead of 12.
A student stopped attending all courses and did not file an Official Leave of Absence and/or Withdrawal from the university.
- A student was enrolled full-time (12 or more credits), and their awards were based on full-time enrollment.
- Final semester grades were: F*, F*, W, F*
- An F* grade indicates when the student was last present in or last participated in the class.
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In this example, F's grades indicate the student stopped attending classes during the 6th week.
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- Per Federal Return of Title IV Funds regulations, the student's financial aid will be adjusted to reflect their "Time In Seat" based on their last week of class activity.
What should I do if I think my attendance was incorrectly reported?
If a student believes their attendance was misreported for a course, they should contact their instructor directly. If the faculty member determines they made a reporting error, they must reach out to the Registrar's Office (using the faculty support email) to correct it. If an instructor cannot be reached, a student can contact the Student Navigation Center for help. A student might need to provide examples of the following:
- Latest class activity
- Latest graded homework assignments
- Latest test scores
- Email interactions with instructor or classmates (if working on group projects), etc.