Non-term Financial Aid Delivery ISFAA Spring Conference 2014 Thomas Ratliff & Craig Kirkwood Indiana Wesleyan University

The Normal Financial Aid World Terms Fall, Spring, Summer Perhaps Quarters, a May Term or a J-Term Consistency Identical start and end dates Rules Generally black and white with a mix of gray

A Different Financial Aid World Nonterm Student driven – everything Unpredictability Special rules Yet limited guidance A similar mission and purpose, but requires a different way of looking at the world

Term-based Academic Year Generally two semesters (fall / spring) or three quarters (fall / winter / spring) All student’s academic calendars are said to start and end on the same dates, even if their actual classes begin after the designated start or their last final is before the term end date This offers consistency between students

Non-term Academic Year Academic Year must be defined by the school Can differ per academic program The minimum definition for undergraduate students is 24 credits earned over 30 weeks of instruction or 900 clock hours in 26 weeks

Non-term Academic Year In practice, the academic year is unique for each student based upon their academic plan Both the minimum credit hours and the minimum number of weeks must be met before a new academic year starts Exception: If the student has less credit hours remaining before earning their degree than the minimum definition of an academic year for that program of study, the remaining portion is their final academic year

Term Course Structure Terms – Set start and ending dates that generally apply to all students However, courses that overlap the start or end dates can change the character of the term Although some overlap is explicitly allowed by the US Dept. of Education

Non-term Course Structure Payment Periods rather than set Terms Two payment periods make an academic year Payment periods must be fully completed before a student can move on to a new payment period Students must earn half the credit or clock hours over at least half the weeks of instruction before receiving subsequent aid disbursements

Non-term Course Structure For example: Students must earn 12 credits over at least 15 weeks of instruction before receiving subsequent aid disbursements

Non-term Aid Awarding Can use either FAFSA for academic years that cross over July 1 Pell Formula 4 is required Full-time Pell disbursement schedule is used Direct Loans – Borrower-based Academic Years (BBAY) is necessary

Non-term Aid Awarding Students cannot be given loan increases within an academic year due to grade-level progression Overlapping academic years are a very common issue for students transferring in to non-term programs This might limit the student’s loan eligibility during their first academic year

Direct Loans - more Minimum loan period for term-based programs is the term Minimum loan period for non-term programs is the academic year

Direct Loans – and more 150% Subsidized Usage Limit Applies (SULA) Full AY: Loan period and academic year dates match Remaining portion: Loan period matches enrollment, however, their academic year end date is projected out for the purpose of determining their Subsidized usage calculation See GEN-13-13 examples 9-13 (12 and 13 are examples of projecting out)

Satisfactory Academic Progress For term-based programs, SAP must be checked at the end of either every term or annually SAP is checked for non-term programs at the end of each payment period SAP calculations are needed much more often with student-centric calendars A delay is needed after the end of a payment period to ensure the student passed all their classes

R2T4 Modular rules apply for non-term programs The Intent to Return notification process has a 45-day limitation that term-based programs do not have The dates for payment periods, breaks and university charges will all be student-centric, making programming R2T4 calculations very challenging

R2T4 If the university requires faculty to take attendance, you must use the student’s last date of attendance as the withdrawal date

Re-entry within 180 days Students who withdraw from a non-term program and later return to the same program within 180 days return to the same payment period Students who create lengthy gaps between classes can stretch a single academic year to span multiple years This often requires schools to re-open closed years with the US Dept. of ED

Regulations Federal policies and regulations are primarily written for term-based programs and, to a lesser degree, for non-standard term academic programs Often it seems these rules are then adapted to non-term programs Sometimes rules are not referenced for non-term situations so the administrator must interpret what they think is expected

Non-term Financial Aid Delivery Student-centric Flexible time frames Unique rule applications Extra administrative requirements Significant manual processing steps are necessary due to the individualistic characteristics of the academic calendars

Discussion