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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

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

10. 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

11. 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

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

13. 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 examples 9-13 (12 and 13 are examples of projecting out)

14. 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

15. 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

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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. Discussion