Student Financial Services: Withdrawal Policies

A tuition adjustment policy has been established for those students who process a complete withdrawal from the University. Adjustments are for tuition charges only; deposits and fees are not adjusted or refunded.  Adjustments are based on the semester dates, not session dates. 

No adjustment will be made for students suspended for disciplinary reasons.

The Office of Residence Life requires separate withdrawal notification.

To be entitled to a tuition refund, you must officially withdrawal from all classes by either:

  • Completing the Notice of Withdrawal form at Academic Services or the Center for Student Success
  • Contacting Academic Services for special arrangements

The actual withdrawal date is the date this is accomplished. Non-attendance and/or nonpayment of tuition charges does NOT constitute an official withdrawal.

All financial aid recipients receiving Title IV federal financial aid will be subject to the Title IV Refund Calculation. The allowance of funds must follow those outlined by federal regulation. Exit Counseling/Repayment must be completed by students receiving a Stafford or Perkins loan.

Please refer to the Academic Calendar for the last day to withdrawal.

Complete Withdrawal
Week % to Adjust
1 100%
2 75%
3 50%
4 25%
5-12 0%

Doctorate Program

Students will be permitted to drop a course at no charge prior to the first day of the course. Once the course begins, only withdrawals are permitted, where there will be no tuition adjustment.

Title IV Refund Calculation

Tuition Adjustment: Federal

The Higher Education Amendments of 1998 changed the formula for calculating the amount of aid a student and school can retain when the student totally withdraws from all classes. The Financial Aid Office encourages you to read the following policy carefully. If you are thinking about withdrawing from all classes PRIOR to completing 60% of the semester, you should contact your Financial Aid Counselor to see how your withdrawal will affect your financial aid.

Federal financial aid is returned to the federal government based on the percent of unearned aid using the following formula:

  1. Students who withdraw from Robert Morris University before more than 60% of the term has passed will be required to repay a percentage of federal grant(s) or loan(s) received.

  2. Financial Aid Office is required by federal law to recalculate federal* financial aid eligibility for students who withdraw, drop out or are dismissed prior to completing more than 60% of a term.

    1. Recalculation is based on the percent of earned aid using the following formula:

  3. Federal financial aid is returned to the federal government based on the percent of unearned aid using the following formula:

    1. Aid to be returned = (100% - percent earned) x the amount of aid disbursed toward institutional charges.

  4. In accordance with federal regulations, refunds are allocated in the following order:

    1. Unsubsidized loans

    2. Subsidized loans

    3. Perkins loans

    4. Plus loans

    5. Pell Grant

    6. Academic Competitiveness Grant

    7. National SMART Grant

    8. FSEOG

    9. Other Title IV aid

  5. When aid is returned, the student may owe a debit balance to the University. The Student Financial Services Office will invoice the student for amounts payable to Robert Morris University. Students are responsible for any portion of their institutional charges that are left outstanding after Title IV funds are returned. Any credit balances will be refunded within 14 days in accordance with federal regulations.  Students will receive a letter outlining the calculation and aid that will be returned by the Financial Aid Office.

  6. RMU must return the amount of title IV funds as soon as possible but no later than 45 days after the date of the institution’s determination that the student withdrew from RMU.

  7. Students who stopped attending without officially withdrawing will be subject to a return of federal funds reviewed at the end of the semester based on the withdrawal date/last documented date of attendance as determined by RMU.  Please see Unofficial Withdrawal Policy.

  8. If a post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds is due the student, and they have an outstanding balance on their account, the grant funds will be applied to their student account to pay the outstanding bill, and/or disbursed directly to the student.

    In the case of a post-withdrawal of loan funds, the student or parent would be notified in writing within 30 days of the date that the institution determined that the student withdrew.  The written notification would identify the type and amount of loan funds, explanation that student or parent can except, reduce or decline the loan, as well as their obligation to repay the loan funds.  It would also be explained that the loan funds would be applied to their student account.  If the student did not owe a balance to the school, the student would be encouraged to cancel the loan and reminded it is a loan and they have to repay it. 

    Upon receipt of a timely response from the student or parent (in the case of a Parent Plus loan), RMU will disburse the funds as soon as possible, but not later than 180 days from the date of determination.

  9. In the case of an overpayment, Robert Morris University will return both federal grant funding so no overpayment exists for the student.  If federal funds are returned to the US Department of Education on the student’s behalf in lieu of overpayment, it may result in a balance owed to the University.

Please refer to the institutional refund policy for the adjustments to tuition.

Tuition Assistance Program

Once the Tuition Authorization form is received by the Center for Veteran’s and Military Families (CVMF), the student’s tuition account will be adjusted to show the expected TA payment. If the student drops or withdraws from any course where TA was used to pay for the course credit hours, the student must notify CVMF, so that the student’s tuition account can be adjusted. The DoD will be invoiced for earned TA amounts after 60% of the semester has passed.

If a course is dropped during the regular drop/add period of a session, 100% of the tuition will be credited, the expected TA payment will also be adjusted.

If a course is dropped after the drop/add period of a session, but before the 60% class completion point, a proration calculation will be used to calculate the percentage of unearned TA. The calculation used will be based on the number of days that the student was enrolled in the session and the total number days in the session. The DoD will be invoiced for only earned portion of the award.

Beyond the 60% class completion point, the TA will not be prorated for unearned portions.

Effective July 2024