Refund Policy
There may be times where you will need to request a refund from Elizabethtown College. They are:
Due to a credit balance:
If a credit balance occurs on a student account, a student may formally request a refund of the credit balance. Refunds are available to students after financial aid has been finalized and the student account shows a credit balance. All bookstore and miscellaneous fees will be deducted before the refund is processed.
Refund requests can be made by going to https://www.etown.edu/offices/business-office/forms.aspx and choosing "Refund Request" under the heading General Forms for Students. Checks and Direct Deposit requests are issued on Thursdays for valid requests received by 8:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. Student who request to pick up their check at the Business Office can do so after 9:00 a.m. on Thursday morning.
Withdrawal Policies
School of Graduate and Professional Studies (SGPS)
Traditional Semester, Internship, and Fieldwork
Traditional Program May Term, Online Winter Session, and Online Summer Session
Physician Assistant Program
Veteran's Education Benefits
If a registered student is receiving VA education benefits and withdraws from a semester, the VA will be notified of the student’s withdrawal date. The VA will determine resulting eligibility for VA benefits for that semester. Institutional charges and financial aid the student has received for the semester will be subject to a pro rata refund policy if less than 60% of the semester has been completed. If 60% or more of the semester has been completed institutional charges and financial aid will not be adjusted
Return of Military Tuition Assistance Funds
In the case of a withdrawal, military tuition assistance funds are returned proportionally up to the 60 percent point of the enrollment period. If a student withdraws after completing more than 60 percent of the enrollment period, they are considered to have earned the full amount of the military tuition assistance funds, with no funds being returned.
Return of Federal Student Aid*
The Department of Education, under HEA98, Public Law 105-244 stipulates the way funds paid toward a student's education are to be handled when a recipient of the Student Financial Aid (SFA) Program funds withdraws from school.
A statutory schedule is used to determine the amount of SFA Program funds a student has earned when he or she ceases attendance based on the period the student was in attendance.
Up through the 60% point in each payment period or period of enrollment, a pro rata schedule is used to determine how much SFA Program funds the student has earned at the time of withdrawal. After the 60% point in the payment period or period of enrollment, a student has earned 100% of the SFA Program funds. For both official and unofficial withdrawals, the withdrawal date used in calculating the percentage completed is based on the student’s last date of attendance at an academically-related activity.
In general, the Amendments require that if a recipient of SFA Program assistance withdraws from a school during a payment period or a period of enrollment in which the recipient began attendance, the school must calculate the amount of SFA Program assistance the student did not earn and those funds must be returned as soon as possible but no later than 45 days after determining the student has withdrawn. If a credit balance on the student’s account is created as a result of the calculation, the credit balance will be refunded as soon as possible and no later than 14 days after the calculation is completed.
The percentage earned is one of the following:
- If the day the student withdrew occurs on or before the student completed 60% of the payment period or period of enrollment for which the assistance was awarded, the percentage earned is equal to the percentage of the payment period or period of enrollment for which assistance was awarded that was completed.
- If the day the student withdrew occurs after the student has completed 60% of the payment period or period of enrollment, the percentage earned is 100%.
The percentage and amount not earned is the complement of the percentage of SFA Program assistance earned multiplied by the total amount of SFA assistance that was disbursed (and that could have been disbursed) to the student, or on the student's behalf, for the payment period or period of enrollment, as of the day the student withdrew.
For credit hour institutions, the percentage of the payment period or period of enrollment completed is the total number of calendar days in the payment period or period of enrollment for which the assistance is awarded divided into the number of calendar days completed in that period, as of the day the student withdrew.
If the student receives less SFA Program assistance than the amount earned, the school must comply with the procedures for late disbursement specified by the Department in regulations. If the student receives more SFA Program assistance than the amount earned, the school, or the student, or both, must return the unearned funds as required, and in the order specified.
The school must return the lesser of:
- The amount of SFA Program funds that the student does not earn; or
- The amount of institutional costs that the student incurred for the payment period or period of enrollment multiplied by the percentage of funds that was not earned.
The student (or parent, if a Federal PLUS loan) must return or repay, as appropriate, the remaining unearned SFA Program grant and loan funds. However, a student is not required to return 50% of the grant assistance received by the student that it is the responsibility of the student to repay.
The student (or parent, if a Federal PLUS loan) must return the unearned funds for which they are responsible to loan programs in accordance with the terms of the loan, and to grant programs as an overpayment. Grant overpayments are subject to repayment arrangements satisfactory to the school, or overpayment collection procedures prescribed by the Secretary of the Department of Education.
SFA Program funds for the payment period or period of enrollment for which a return of funds is required must be returned in the following order:
- Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans
- Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans
- Perkins Loans
- Federal PLUS loans
- Federal PELL grants
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants
- Other assistance under Title IV regulations
Post-withdrawal Disbursements
A student that receives less Title IV aid than earned will be offered a disbursement for the amount of earned aid that was not received. Post‐withdrawal grant disbursements will be disbursed to a student’s account within 45 days. Post-withdrawal loan disbursements will be offered to the student within 30 days, allowing the student at least 14 days to accept or decline the funds. All post-withdrawal disbursements are applied to the student’s account first, with any resulting credit balance being refunded within 14 days.