Policies and Resources

Do I Have to Provide My Parents’ Information on the FAFSA® Form?

All applicants for federal student aid are considered either “independent” or “dependent.”

INDEPENDENT STUDENT

If you answer YES to ANY of these questions, then you may be an independent student. You may not be required to provide parental information on your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^®) form.

DEPENDENT STUDENT*

If you answer NO to ALL of these questions, then you may be considered a dependent student and may be required to provide your parents’ financial information when completing the FAFSA form.

Will you be 24 or older by Jan. 1 of the school year for which you are applying for financial aid? For example, if you plan to start school in August 2022 for the 2022–23 school year, will you be 24 by Jan. 1, 2022 (i.e., were you born before Jan. 1, 1999)?
Are you married or separated but not divorced?
Will you be working toward a master’s or doctorate degree (such as M.A., MBA, M.D., J.D., Ph.D., Ed.D., etc.)?
Do you have children who receive more than half of their support from you?
Do you have dependents (other than children or a spouse) who live with you and receive more than half of their support from you?
Are you currently serving on active duty in the U.S. armed forces for purposes other than training?
Are you a veteran of the U.S. armed forces?
At any time since you turned age 13, were both of your parents deceased, were you in foster care, or were you a ward or dependent of the court?
Are you an emancipated minor or are you in a legal guardianship as determined by a court?
Are you an unaccompanied youth who is homeless or self-supporting and at risk of being homeless?

*If you don’t answer “yes” to any of the questions above, you’re still considered a dependent student for purposes of applying for federal student aid even if you don’t live with your parents, are not claimed by your parents on their tax forms, or are paying for your own bills and educational expenses.

For more information, visit StudentAid.gov/dependency.

Federal Student Loan Cohort Default Rate

Goldey-Beacom College’s fiscal year (FY) 2019 Cohort Default Rate is 3% compared to the national cohort default rate of 2.3%. In FY 2019, 192 undergraduate students borrowed from the federal student loan program and entered repayment.

Federal Verification Policy

Verification uses a student’s documentation to confirm that the data provided on a student’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is accurate. The Federal government requires all colleges and universities participating in Title IV aid programs to verify or confirm the data reported by a student and their parent 1/parent two on the FAFSA. The verification process ensures that eligible students receive all the Federal financial aid to which they are entitled and prevents ineligible students from receiving financial aid for which they do not qualify.

The Federal government randomly chooses students. If the FAFSA a student submits is incomplete or inconsistent with other documentation provided to the Financial Aid Office, the student and parent 1/parent two will be asked to update the data on the FAFSA. Verification is a Federal regulation, and the items to be verified may change each award year. The Financial Aid Office may request additional supporting documentation should questions arise after a review of the Student Aid Report (SAR).

The Financial Aid Office will notify the student if selected for verification. Before finalizing financial aid awards, a student must submit all federal verification documents. Students who have yet to complete the verification process before the start of a given semester must contact the GBC Business Office at (302) 225-6268 to receive direction on how to proceed with making an out-of-pocket payment.

The Financial Aid Office encourages students and their parents to speak with a Financial Aid Counselor to learn more about this critical step in the financial aid awarding process.

Financial Aid Appeals

As a friendly reminder, the Financial Aid Office at Goldey-Beacom College would like to remind you of our office’s professional judgment tool when reviewing your financial aid package. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) determines eligibility for financial aid using financial information from two years before estimating a household’s current circumstances. Due to the pandemic’s disruption to the economy, the Financial Aid Office at Goldey-Beacom is mindful that your household may have experienced changes in come or other finances that no longer reflect the information submitted on your FAFSA form.

When some unique situations or circumstances impact your federal student aid eligibility, federal regulations give a financial aid administrator discretion or professional judgment on a case-by-case basis and with adequate documentation to make adjustments to the data elements on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form that impacts your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) to gain a more accurate assessment of your family’s ability to contribute to your cost of education.

As you prepare for the 2023-24 academic year, please note that the Financial Aid Office remains committed to ensuring the best financial aid package possible to help make your education affordable at Goldey-Beacom College. If your household’s income level or financial situation has changed, don’t hesitate to contact the Financial Aid Office to discuss your next steps in the professional judgment process.

Still, trying to figure out what your next steps are? The Financial Aid Office understands the federal aid process can be nerve-wracking; that said, do not hesitate to reach out to us to discuss your next steps. We aim to help you in any way we can to make your education as affordable as possible. You can reach us by emailing [email protected] or by calling 302-225-6264.

Outside Scholarships

You can deduct outside scholarships from your tuition balance. To do so, you will need to provide the Business Office with a copy of the scholarship letter. The Financial Aid Office will post your outside scholarships to your account after the Business Office receipts the scholarship.

Return of Title IV Funds

Upon a Title IV financial aid recipient’s withdrawal from the College, the following will apply:

When Title IV funds were disbursed to a student who withdraws from the College during the institutional refund period according to the drop/add policy, the following rules apply to both new and returning students:
- The institutional refund, which is calculated according to the refund schedule in the drop/add policy will be used to restore money to all or some of the financial aid programs from which the student received funds. Federal law defines a distribution formula for restoring funds to aid programs.
- The student receives a cash refund only when a negative balance exists after the financial aid programs are fully funded.
The College is required by federal regulations to determine how much financial aid was earned by students who cease attendance in all Title IV eligible classes in a payment period prior to completing 60% of the given period of enrollment. The calculation is based on the percentage of earned aid using the following Federal Return of Title IV funds formula:
- Percentage of payment period or term completed = the number of days completed up to the withdrawal date divided by the total number of days in the payment period or term. (Any break of five days or more is not counted as part of the days in the term). This percentage is also the percentage of aid earned.
- Funds are returned to the appropriate federal program based on the percentage of unearned aid using the following formula: Aid to be returned = 100% minus the percentage of aid earned, then multiplied by the total dollars of aid that was or could have been disbursed.
- If a student earned less aid than was disbursed, the College is required to return the amount of unearned aid to each respective Title IV aid program. This may result in a balance owed to the College.
- If a student earned more aid than was disbursed, the College is required to offer a post-withdrawal disbursement. This only applies if the student had Title IV aid award originated that was not disbursed prior to withdrawing.
- The College must return the amount of Title IV funds that were unearned within 45 days of the date of determination that the student withdrew.
For a student who withdraws after the 60% point-in-time of a given payment period or term, there are no unearned funds. This means that no funds are required to be returned to the respective Title IV aid programs, however a calculation is required to document and determine the following:
- The student did, in fact, complete at least 60% of the payment period or term and;
- The student is eligible for a post-withdrawal disbursement (only applies if the student has federal aid awards that were packaged and were not disbursed to their student account).
Return of funds to the Department of Education are made in the following order:
- Unsubsidized Federal Direct Loans
- Subsidized Federal Direct Loans
- Federal Direct Grad PLUS Loans
- Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loans
- Federal Pell Grant
- FSEOG
- TEACH Grant
- Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant
Financial Aid Counselor will notify the student when the R2T4 process has been completed with the outcome of the calculation (for example a balance is owed, or a refund is due). The written notification will be sent to the student’s GBC Email within ten (10) business days of completing the R2T4 process.
Students who have questions about the R2T4 refund calculation are directed to the Financial Aid Coordinator.

Items to note: (1) The SAM License is non-returnable and non-refundable. Therefore, it is counted as an excludable cost in the R2T4 calculation, so it is assessed as a 100% charge. (2) Online bookstore purchase charges for books that are required for students to purchase and are sold exclusively by GBC’s online bookstore will be included in the R2T4 calculation. The Business Office maintains a list of courses in which this would be applicable. (3) This Title IV Refund Calculation Policy supersedes the housing cancellation fee established by the Office of Residence Life.

Satisfactory Academic Progress

2023-24 SAP Undergraduate Policy

Annual Review and Definition of Good Standing

Goldey-Beacom College is required by the Department of Education (DOE) under CFR 34 § 668.34 to establish a Standards of Academic Progress Policy (SAP). An annual review of each student’s academic progress will occur at the conclusion of every Spring semester. In order to be considered in good standing, Undergraduate students must:

Achieve at least a 2.0 cumulative grade point average (GPA). (This is the College’s requirement for degree conferral at the Undergraduate level).
Earn at least 75% of the student’s cumulative attempted credits. (This satisfies the maximum timeframe to complete requirement).

Impact of Grading Scale on Academic Progress

In accordance with the College’s Undergraduate grading scale, the following grades are considered passing and add to the student’s earned credits and factor into the student’s cumulative GPA: A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, P

In accordance with the College’s Undergraduate grading scale, the following grades are considered not passed and impact the student’s academic record adversely as follows:

F – Failing grade which results in a negative impact to the student’s cumulative GPA and is considered unearned in the student’s cumulative credit count.
W/X – Withdrawn grade which results in no impact to the student’s cumulative GPA and is considered unearned in the student’s cumulative credit count.
I – Incomplete grade which results in no impact to the student’s cumulative GPA and is considered unearned in the student’s cumulative credit count. This grade is subject to change based on reporting by the faculty member to the Registrar’s Office, at which time it impacts the student’s cumulative GPA and credit hour count according to the new grade.

In accordance with the College’s Undergraduate grading scale, courses that are repeated and subsequently passed with a higher final grade remove the original course’s assigned grade from the cumulative GPA and attempted credits.

Outcomes of SAP Review

The following outcomes are possible after the annual review of the student’s academic performance:

Good Standing – The student has met both the cumulative GPA and cumulative earned credit requirements and is considered in good standing.
Financial Aid Warning – The student has not met the cumulative GPA and/or earned credit requirements and is placed on Academic Warning. The student is placed on an academic plan that defines the academic expectations of the student in the subsequent semester. Students on Financial Aid Warning are able to receive forms of financial aid assistance, both federally and institutionally.
Financial Aid Probation – A student on Financial Aid Warning who did not meet the terms of their academic plan and are still not meeting the cumulative GPA and/or earned credit requirements. The student is no longer eligible for any form of financial aid assistance.

Depending on the outcome of each academic year and/or semester, students may shift from one status to another.

Regaining Financial Aid Eligibility

Students who were placed on Financial Aid Probation are able to regain eligibility for financial aid assistance by petitioning for reinstatement of financial aid through the Financial Aid Office. Once a petition of reinstatement is received by the Financial Aid Office, a review of the student’s academic transcript occurs. If the student is meeting the minimum cumulative GPA and earned credit requirements, the student may regain eligibility under Financial Aid Warning statuses.

2023-24 SAP Graduate Policy

Annual Review and Definition of Good Standing

Achieve at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average (GPA). (This is the College’s requirement for degree conferral at the Undergraduate level).
Earn at least 75% of the student’s cumulative attempted credits. (This satisfies the maximum timeframe to complete requirement).

Impact of Grading Scale on Academic Progress

In accordance with the College’s Graduate grading scale, the following grades are considered passing and add to the student’s earned credits and factor into the student’s cumulative GPA: A+, A, B+, B, C+, C, P

In accordance with the College’s Graduate grading scale, the following grades are considered not passed and impact the student’s academic record adversely as follows:

F – Failing grade which results in a negative impact to the student’s cumulative GPA and is considered unearned in the student’s cumulative credit count.
W/X – Withdrawn grade which results in no impact to the student’s cumulative GPA and is considered unearned in the student’s cumulative credit count.
I – Incomplete grade which results in no impact to the student’s cumulative GPA and is considered unearned in the student’s cumulative credit count. This grade is subject to change based on reporting by the faculty member to the Registrar’s Office, at which time it impacts the student’s cumulative GPA and credit hour count according to the new grade.

In accordance with the College’s Graduate grading scale, courses that are repeated and subsequently passed with a higher final grade remove the original course’s assigned grade from the cumulative GPA and attempted credits.

Outcomes of SAP Review

The following outcomes are possible after the annual review of the student’s academic performance:

Good Standing – The student has met both the cumulative GPA and cumulative earned credit requirements and is considered in good standing.
Financial Aid Warning – The student has not met the cumulative GPA and/or earned credit requirements and is placed on Academic Warning. The student is placed on an academic plan that defines the academic expectations of the student in the subsequent semester. Students on Financial Aid Warning are able to receive forms of financial aid assistance, both federally and institutionally.
Financial Aid Probation – A student on Financial Aid Warning who did not meet the terms of their academic plan and are still not meeting the cumulative GPA and/or earned credit requirements. The student is no longer eligible for any form of financial aid assistance.

Depending on the outcome of each academic year and/or semester, students may shift from one status to another.

Regaining Financial Aid Eligibility

Student Aid Recipient Rights and Responsibilities

Goldey-Beacom College students have the right to:

Know the types of aid programs available to you.
Confidentiality of all personal, family, and financial information.
Know how your financial need is being met.
Know the deadlines for submitting applications for all available financial aid programs.
Request a financial aid appeal when your financial situation changes.
Understand all loan conditions.

As a Goldey-Beacom College student, it is your responsibility to:

Reapply for financial aid every year by the specified deadlines.
Review your financial aid package annually.
Report all outside scholarships or grants that you receive to the Financial Aid Office.
Repay any loans you receive.
Remain in good standing with Satisfactory Academic Progress.
Submit verification documents in a timely manner.

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