General Financial Aid Information

Confidentiality

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student educational records. This law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. All information provided on the application and used in the determination of financial aid eligibility will be kept in strict confidence. Information will only be released upon receipt of written permission from the student.

How Financial Aid is Determined

Several factors must be examined in determining the amount and type of assistance students may receive. First, financial need is calculated. This involves subtracting the amount of money the student and/or the family is expected to contribute toward their own education from the institutional "Cost of Attendance" (COA) budget. The federal government through an extensive analysis of all information provided on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) determines the expected family contribution. Program eligibility and the number of credit hours a student is enrolled in also influence the amount and type of assistance. A third factor involves the availability of funds. The amounts of local, state and federal dollars available in any given year will of course, impact heavily on the assistance offered students. Finally, it should be noted that St. Louis Community College gives priority consideration to early applicants with the greatest need.

Cost of Attendance (COA) to STLCC - Budgets for HEA Title IV Programs

2024-2025 Estimated Budget (Nine Months) 

In district at St. Louis Community College, we include the following components.

Cost Per Credit Hour Fall 2024 – Spring 2025

Financial support of St. Louis Community College by the taxpayers of the Junior College District and the state of Missouri enables resident students to obtain an excellent education for which they pay less than one-third of the total cost.

• In district (Residence of St. Louis, St. Louis County and portions of Franklin and Jefferson Counties): $122
• Out of District: $171
• Out-of-state: $233
• International: $243

These fees (which are subject to change without notice) include maintenance fees, a $6.50 per hour activity fee and $11 per credit hour fee for the support of instructional technology.

Payment Of Maintenance Fees & Other Fees

If you have met all of the requirements for the Federal Pell Grant award, your classes will be paid through an automated electronic process.

Please Note: If your Pell Grant award is not enough to pay for your maintenance fees and other fees (formerly called tuition and fees), you are required to pay the balance of your maintenance fees and other fees. If your Pell Grant award exceeds the amount of maintenance fees and other fees, the balance of your Pell proceeds will be refunded to your selected refund preference with BankMobile Disbursements, a technology solution, powered by BMTX, Inc. to purchase books, supplies and other educational expenses.

Eligible Courses

In order to be funded with federal financial aid, a course must apply to an eligible program of study. Also, if a student does not receive a passing grade, only the first repeat of a course can be funded with federal aid. Most distance learning courses are eligible for federal and state funding. Most scholarships also will pay for distance learning courses. Students who are enrolled in distance learning courses may have additional limitations on eligibility for financial aid program funds. Contact the Financial Aid office for more information on distance learning courses.

Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards for Financial Aid Recipients

The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended by Congress in 2006, mandates institutions of higher learning define, establish and enforce minimum standards of satisfactory progress to receive financial assistance. A student who does not meet these standards is not eligible to received federally funded financial aid. St. Louis Community College shall make these standards applicable to all federal and state programs for the purpose of maintaining a consistent and reasonable financial aid policy. This policy does not override any other policy that may have more stringent requirements for renewal set by the governing body for that award.

Students are required to make satisfactory academic progress toward a degree if they want to receive the federal and state financial aid funds. A student is making satisfactory progress if successfully meeting the three basic standards that are qualitative and quantitative:

• A student must maintain academic standing, derived from grades, that is consistent with graduation requirements at the college. CGPA 2.0
• A student must complete a reasonable number of credit hours toward a degree each academic year.
• A maximum time frame of 150 percent of the required hours for the degree is met.
• At 81 hours for a student in an Associate program and 85% for the students in certificate programs, students will be reviewed for pace to make sure they can graduate before reaching the maximum time frame of 150%.

Procedure:

1. Students will be evaluated at the end of each fall, spring and summer semester. GPA’s and attempted hours will be measured each semester. Students are required to maintain a CGPA of a 2.0 and complete 66.67% of their attempted hours.
2. Students will be notified in writing and by email when they are not meeting the Standards of Academic Progress.
3. Students will receive a semester of warning prior to having their aid suspended.
4. Students who fail to meet the requirements after a warning semester will be placed on suspension and will not be eligible for financial assistance.

Students Who Fail to Meet the Standards of Academic Progress

Students who fail to meet the standards of academic progress may be placed on:

1. Warning – If you fail to meet all parts of the SAP policy, you'll receive a financial aid warning. You may continue to get financial aid for one semester, but you must meet all parts of the SAP policy by the end of the warning semester.
2. Suspension – If you fail to meet the minimum required GPA or completion ratio in your warning semester, your financial aid will be suspended. While in a "termination or ineligible" status, students cannot receive financial aid.

Students who are ineligible for federal aid may:

1. Appeal the termination of financial aid to the Appeals Committee documenting all extenuating circumstances.
2. Continue to enroll at their own expense until the standards of academic progress have been satisfied.
3. Withdraw from classes before the first day of the start of the semester.

To receive funding from federal and most state programs, students must maintain satisfactory academic progress as defined by the institution. For additional information regarding Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards for Financial Aid Recipients, please contact the Financial Aid office.

Refunds

For students who receive financial aid and withdraw from college, any refund to which they would have otherwise been entitled may be redeposited with the program(s) that provided aid. For example:

• If a student was awarded Pell Grant, the refund will be applied back to the Pell Grant fund.
• Refunds for St. Louis Community College will be made in a timely manner in compliance with federal guidelines.

Overpayment/Default

If a student owes an overpayment to a federal grant program or if a student is in default of a student loan, St. Louis Community College will not make an additional financial aid award to that student. Any default or overpayment must be settled before any request will be considered.

Delinquent Indebtedness

Students must be clear of all delinquent indebtedness to the college before diplomas or transcripts can be issued or before financial aid can be disbursed.

Official/Unofficial Withdrawal From Classes

• All students who enroll and are federal financial aid recipients must attend all classes for which they originally enrolled.
• Students who withdraw from classes must officially withdraw. Total withdrawal may result in termination of eligibility for future financial aid and may cause a repayment.
• If you cease to attend one or more of your classes (unofficially withdraw), you may have to repay money to the federal government.
• If you cease to attend all of your classes or officially withdraw from all of your classes prior to completing 60 percent of the semester (time frame), you will owe money back to the federal financial aid program(s).
• Repayment is made to federal programs based on U.S. Department of Education criteria.

Overpayment & Canceled Classes

The amount of the Pell Grant award is determined in part by the number of credit hours in which you enroll.

• If you do not attend one or more of your classes or if a class is canceled but not replaced, you may be required to pay back some or the entire grant you received.
• Students are responsible for the repayment of over funds even when the reduction in credit hours is due to a class being canceled. If for any reason you wish to withdraw from a class or must stop attending a classes, we highly recommend you consult the Financial Aid office before doing so.

Non-Attendance

• All students who are federal financial aid recipients must attend all classes for which they are enrolled. If you do not attend one or more of your classes during the first two weeks of the fall or spring semester or the first week of the summer session, you may be reported for non-attendance.
• If you fail to turn in assignments for online courses, you may be reported for non-attendance. Students reported for non-attendance will generally have to repay money to the federal government and/or the college.

Missouri Debt Offset

Debts not paid in a timely manner may be turned over for collection or your Missouri state income tax refund may be intercepted to collect all or a portion of the debt until paid in full.

Return of Unearned Title IV Funds

When the federal Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965 was amended in 1998, a new concept was established with regard to HEA Title IV student financial aid programs. The new concept is that students earn their Title IV federal financial aid. If they do not stay enrolled long enough to earn all of their aid, then some of the aid has to be returned to HEA Title IV programs as unearned Title IV aid. Colleges were required to implement the return of unearned Title IV funds policy beginning Oct. 7, 2000. Refunds to all Title IV recipients, who withdraw during an enrollment period for which they have been charged will be identified and processed to comply with federal regulations.

Title IV financial aid programs include Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Work Study (FWS), and Federal Stafford Loans.

Title IV law and regulations concerning the return of unearned federal financial aid does NOT affect Federal Work Study earnings. Only grants and loans are affected by the new policy.

Students who want to withdraw from a course(s) should officially withdraw from the course(s) by using the appropriate form that is submitted to the Admissions/Registration office. The Admissions/Registration office is the department designated for students to officially withdraw from their classes. Pursuant to federal requirements, St. Louis Community College accepts oral as well as written withdrawals. The return of unearned Title IV funds policy will impact students who withdraw from all of their courses before 60 percent of the semester is completed. The policy also will affect those students who do not officially withdraw from their course(s) but simply cease to attend classes. Pursuant to federal guidelines, the college will determine a last date of attendance for those students.

Unearned Higher Education Act Title IV funds are returned to the Title IV programs based on a federally mandated formula. Under this formula, colleges are obligated to return unearned funds used for institutional charges to the U.S. Department of Education (USDE),and students are obligated to return unearned funds beyond the institutional charges to USDE.

When colleges have to return unearned Title IV funds from institutional charges, the money is returned to programs in the following order: Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans, Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans, Federal Plus Loans, Federal Pell Grant, Federal SEOG other Title IV assistance.

The Charles Gallagher Student Financial Assistance program (Missouri State Grant) potentially falls in the category of other Title IV assistance, since State Grant programs may receive some of their funds through HEA Title IV.

When a student has to return unearned Title IV funds that he/she received beyond the institutional charges, the money is returned to programs in the following order: Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans, Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans, Federal PLUS Loans, Federal Pell Grant (times 50 percent), Federal SEOG (times 50 percent), other Title IV assistance (times 50 percent for grants).

Note that student's responsibility for repayment of unearned Title IV grant money is reduced by one-half. If a student owes unearned Title IV funds from a federal loan, the money is returned (repaid) in accordance with the terms and conditions of the promissory note.

If a student owes unearned Title IV funds from a federal grant, the college must notify the student within 30 days of determining the student's withdrawal. The student retains eligibility for Title IV funds for a 45-day period, during which time the student either should repay to USDE the unearned Title IV funds or make satisfactory arrangements with USDE to repay the funds. The student also needs to repay the college the money that the college pays to USDE for the unearned institutional charges.

The institutional charges (tuition and fees) incurred by the student are considered to be paid by HEA Title IV funds for the purpose of the formula, even if the institutional charges were directly paid by a source other than Title IV funds.

USDE gives colleges the option of billing students for the unearned HEA Title IV funds that the school has to repay as part of institutional charges.

The following is an example of the HEA Title IV return of unearned Title IV funds formula supplied by USDE:

A student withdrew from all courses with 40 percent of the days in the semester completed. The student paid $1,000 in institutional charges (tuition and fees). This student received $3,000 in HEA Title IV aid -- $1,000 in a loan and $2,000 in grants. The student earned $1,200 of the Title IV aid (40 percent times $3,000). The unearned Title IV aid is $1,800 ($3,000 minus $1,200).

Because only 40 percent of the HEA Title IV aid is earned, the college has to return $600 of the $1,000 paid in institutional charges to Title IV programs ($1,000 minus $400). Since loans are prioritized for return of unearned funds, the $600 is paid to the student's federal loan.

The student now owes $1,200 in unearned Title IV funds, the difference between the $1,800 total of unearned Title IV funds and the $600 that the school has paid back from institutional charges. Because loans are prioritized for the return of funds, $400 is paid to the federal loan, the difference between the $1,000 loan total and the $600 paid to the loan by the school for unearned institutional charges.

The remaining $800 in unearned Title IV aid (the $1,800 minus the $600 in unearned institutional charges paid to the loan and the $400 in unearned aid to the student paid to the loan) is owed to the federal grants. Because the student's liability for return of unearned Title IV aid to grants is reduced by 50 percent, the student owes $400 to the federal grant programs.

For additional information regarding the return of unearned Title IV funds, please contact the Financial Aid office.