Dropped for Non-Attendance? You Need to Review your Financial Aid Package Pronto

Did you fail to begin enrollment in one of your courses? Non-attendance drops are becoming a growing concern in financial aid, and failure to initiate enrollment in a class can jeopardize your financial aid package and billing situation for the semester it happens in.

Whenever a student enters a new semester or session, the student’s faculty members are responsible for conveying attendance information to the Registrar’s Office. In some cases, courses may have an engagement deadline built into them to gauge whether a student is actively attending the class. This period can be brief, lasting only a week or a few weeks into the semester. During this period, the faculty member will alert the Registrar’s Office to any students who have not initiated enrollment in the course (i.e., did not attend any class meetings or complete the syllabus acknowledgment—if enrolled in an asynchronous course).

When a student fails to begin enrollment in a course, the Registrar’s Office or the student’s assigned academic advisor will typically drop the student from the non-attended course. At this point, the financial aid and business offices receive notification of the adjustment to the student’s course schedule.

If the drop results in the student transitioning to a new enrollment status, such as from full-time to part-time enrollment, the financial aid office will carefully review the student’s financial aid package to determine which financial aid the student no longer qualifies for due to the enrollment status modification. Additionally, the business office will review tuition charges and make any necessary adjustments to the account.

For example, Hannah is a sophomore student enrolled in a generic business degree program. Hannah is enrolled in 12 credit hours—just enough to make her enrollment status full-time. She attends her first three courses of the week punctually. However, she forgets that she enrolled in a Thursday night course and does not remember signing up for it until a week passes. Hannah’s faculty member notifies the registrar’s office, who correspondingly alerts the student’s academic advisor. Both the faculty member and academic advisor agree that the student failed to enroll in the course, which results in the academic advisor dropping the course due to non-attendance.

The financial aid office receives notification that Hannah is part-time, not full-time. Twelve credit hours is the bare minimum Hannah needs to enroll in to receive her institutional scholarships and grants. Concurrently, the business office updates the students’ ledger to reflect the adjustment in tuition charges. Now, Hannah may feel a sense of reprieve because her account statement is smaller than it was a week ago. Shortly thereafter, the financial aid office makes the necessary adjustments, which result in Hannah owing more for the semester than she did when she was a full-time student.

What options does Hannah have in this scenario? Well, Hannah’s first stop should be her academic advisor. Suppose Hannah was unable to attend the first class meeting due to unforeseen circumstances outside of her control. In that case, her academic advisor may be able to find alternative course options, such as a course that starts later in the semester. Students must avoid non-sequitur reasons for their absence—fibbing about the actual reason for missing the first few classes may do more harm than good.

If Hannah can find another course to return to a full-time enrollment status, the financial aid and business offices will make the appropriate readjustments to her account. If that’s not the case, then Hannah needs to chat with the financial aid office about the status of her revised financial aid package. It’s crucial to do this on time, as an unanticipated tuition bill may hinder Hannah from enrolling in the next semester or session. In some cases, there are other sources of financial aid that a student can use when their enrollment status changes to part-time. There are also alternative payment arrangements a student can use in the business office to satisfy an outstanding account balance. Without speaking to these two entities, though, a student misses out on their opportunity to remedy the issue before it becomes a glaring problem.

Now, there is one giant caveat in this whole plot that will twist the story upside down. Suppose the census date passes, and Hannah fails to initiate enrollment in another course during the semester. In that case, Hannah may be able to keep her federal and state financial aid, but not institutional aid. A financial aid freeze date, which corresponds to the census date, locks in a student’s enrollment for the term. In this scenario, a student facing this situation must consult with the financial aid office about their options and educate them on the negative consequences this action can have on their satisfactory academic progress.

Failing to begin enrollment in a course can have negative consequences on a student’s academic progress. It can hinder their ability to graduate on time or maintain an adequate financial aid package. Most importantly, it can lead to surprise tuition bills that make it harder to enroll in future semesters. Beginning enrollment can prevent all these issues from transpiring. So, next semester, take the time to successfully initiate enrollment in your course—whether it’s in-person, hybrid, or completely virtual. Your future self will thank you for that proactive action.