Withdrawal from All Courses

If you are thinking about withdrawing from all of your courses, it is highly recommended that you have a discussion with an academic advisor and One Stop/Financial Aid advisor to understand the options to re-enroll and the effect on course sequences, degree completion, and finances. 

To withdraw from all courses, you must follow the established University Withdrawal Process, which includes submitting an online withdrawal form. Although you are not required to put your withdrawal in writing for a Return to Title IV calculation to be performed, the online withdrawal form must be submitted to notify the Office of Financial Aid of your intent to withdraw.

Once classes begin and financial aid has been applied to your account, you must complete more than 60 percent of the semester, or you may be required to repay all or part of the financial aid disbursed to you for the semester.

Financial Aid Withdrawal Process

• After the Office of the Registrar has processed your withdrawal form, your academic record is updated.
• The Division of Student Accounting, Billing, Cashiering and Collections is notified, and the required recalculation of your semester charges is completed. You will be charged up to the date of your official withdrawal.
• The Office of Financial Aid will determine the portion of your original financial aid award for which you are eligible (earned) and the portion of your original financial aid award for which you are not eligible (unearned).
• You and Rutgers are jointly responsible for returning the financial aid funds for which you are not eligible.
• To calculate the percentage of the term completed, divide the number of days through your withdrawal date by the number of days in the semester. The count begins on the first day of the semester and ends on the last day of the examination period. Weekends and holiday breaks of less than 5 consecutive days are included in the count. Your withdrawal date is the day you notify the school of your intent to withdraw or the date the school determines that you have stopped attending classes.
• Unearned federal financial aid must be returned to program accounts in the following order:
  1. Unsubsidized Federal Direct Stafford Loan
  2. Subsidized Federal Direct Stafford Loan
  3. Federal Perkins Loan
  4. Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan
  5. Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan
  6. Federal Pell Grant
  7. Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)

Consequences of Withdrawing from All Courses

If you withdraw from all of your semester courses:

• all or part of your financial aid may be reduced or canceled;
• you may have a balance due on your account because your financial aid award will require adjustment;
• a hold will be placed on your academic records until you repay the amount owed to the university as a result of your withdrawal. You will not be able to:
  • register for subsequent semesters at Rutgers and/or
  • obtain a copy of your academic transcript;
• your credit history may be adversely affected when Rutgers reports your past-due account to an external credit agency;
• you may not meet the satisfactory academic progress (SAP) requirements for continued financial aid eligibility, so future aid eligibility may be jeopardized;
• you may have to begin repaying your student loans if you remain out of school longer than six months; and
• repeated withdrawals may cause you to reach loan aggregate limits more quickly and result in your ineligibility to borrow in future years
• students who request a Leave of Absence from academics are considered to have withdrawn for financial aid purposes.

Unofficial Withdrawals

Federal aid recipients whose semester record indicates a 0.00 semester GPA and any combination of DF, TZ, W, WP, WF, NC, IN, or “blank” grades may be contacted after the semester under review is completed to determine if the student unofficially withdrew from the University. If so, consistent with federal regulations, 50 percent of the student’s federal aid is considered unearned and may require repayment.

If the institution can document that the student participated in an academically related activity following the 50 percent point in the term, that date will be used in the calculation.

Adjusting Financial Aid

Institutional Financial Aid

Institutional financial aid is adjusted according to the university’s official refund schedule. Institutional financial aid consists of all Rutgers scholarships, Scarlet Promise Grant (SPG), and the Rutgers University Loan Program (RULP).

Fall 2024 Semester Adjustment Dates

Spring 2025 Semester Adjustment Dates

NJ State Financial Aid

If a state aid recipient is due a refund in accordance with the university’s refund policy, the University must return a portion of the student’s state award(s) to the state. The amount is calculated by multiplying the institutional refund by the following fraction:

amount of state aid awarded for the term/total amount of financial aid awarded for the period, excluding federal work-study earnings.

This amount is then proportioned back to the state programs from which the student received aid.

Private Education Loans

If after the Return to TIV calculation and the institutional refunds have been made, and the student still owes a balance to the university, funds from any private education loan will be used to pay that balance. After all institutional charges have been paid, any excess private loan funds will be returned to the student’s lender, student, or parent, depending upon the requirements of the lender.

All Undergrad and Non-Law, non-Rutgers Health Schools Refund Schedule for the Academic Year 2024-2025 for Return of Title IV Funds

Rutgers Law School Refund Schedule for the Academic Year 2024-2025 for Return of Title IV Funds