There are many policies by which the awarding and disbursement of financial aid are governed. Samford strives to abide by those policies in every transaction made for students receiving aid at the university. Below are several policies with which you should familiarize yourself.

Satisfactory Academic Progress

The ability to receive federal, state and some outside scholarship aid at Samford begins with each student making Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). Every student is measured against the SAP policy each May for the upcoming summer term, and the subsequent aid year. Students who do not meet the minimum SAP requirements are notified via their Samford email account of their unsatisfactory status and the steps necessary to appeal the status and retain aid eligibility.

There are three standards that must be met each May in order to qualify for federal, state and outside scholarship aid.

• First, a student cannot have attempted more than 150% of the hours necessary to earn their degree. (ex. 128 hours are needed for most undergraduate degrees. A student who has attempted 192 hours or more has failed SAP.) A student also becomes ineligible for aid if and when it becomes mathematically impossible for him to complete his program within the 150% timeframe.
• Second, a student must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA). For undergraduate students, as well as graduate level students in law, pharmacy and divinity programs, the standard is a 2.0 cumulative GPA. For all other graduate students the standard is a 3.0 cumulative GPA. It is the policy of Samford University to not round up GPAs (ex. A 1.99 GPA is not rounded up to a 2.0). Please note Samford scholarship requirements are calculated on cumulative Samford GPAs, while SAP is calculated based on the cumulative GPA. This difference allows students to earn credits at other colleges to help get them into position for meeting SAP standards. The same cannot be said for Samford scholarships.
• Third, a student must complete 67% of the credits attempted while working on their degree. Transfer credits earned at another institution and applied for credit at Samford will be counted as well. For example, if a student has attempted a total of 60 credits while working on their degree, but only 30 of those credits were completed successfully (due to withdrawals, failures, incomplete grades, etc.), the student would have a 50% completion rate, and would therefore not be passing the 67% completion standard for SAP. If that same student had earned 50 of 60 credits, their completion rate would be 83%, and the student would be considered passing the 67% completion standard for SAP.

Students not meeting the SAP standards will be offered the opportunity to appeal the decision. A successful appeal will be based on whether or not a student’s performance was affected by personal injury or illness and/or death of an immediate family member. An immediate family member is defined as mother, father, sibling, spouse, child or grandparent. Also, a successful appeal will outline what has changed in the student’s situation that will allow for him or her to be successful, academically, in subsequent academic terms.

The SAP appeal form is available under the "Financial Aid Forms" section of this site. Complete SAP appeal forms and supporting documentation should be submitted to the Samford One Stop. Students who have their appeal approved will be notified via email. Depending on the student's situation, the approval may include an academic plan, which is intended to assist in bringing the student back into a good SAP standing.

Grade Point Averages

As discussed in the SAP section, Samford does not round grade point averages when determining eligibility for certain types of aid. Receipt of most institutional aid requires that a student have at least a 2.0 cumulative Samford GPA. Some pieces of aid require a higher GPA standard. Please review your award messages in mySamford for specifics concerning your Samford aid.

Courses Outside Degree Program

Some courses taken outside of the student’s degree program may be accepted toward degree completion (those applied as electives, for example). However, courses taken outside of the student’s program that will not be applied toward degree completion are not eligible to be covered by financial aid. Please contact your financial aid adviser if you are considering taking courses that will not be applied to your degree program’s requirements.

Communication

All official communication will take place through one mode of communication—your Samford email address. While we will send some things to you through regular mail, we will always make sure a copy of everything we send goes through your Samford email as well. Please check your Samford email often for updates, requests and announcements concerning your financial aid at Samford.

Loan Cancellations and/or Reductions

Loans will be cancelled at the request of the borrower up to the point of disbursement. Once a Stafford, Parent PLUS or Grad PLUS loan has been disbursed, it is the responsibility of the borrower to work with the loan servicer to cancel the loan. For those wishing to cancel a loan prior to disbursement, our loan cancellation form may be found on the Forms page of this website.

Loans may be reduced before or after disbursement. Once a loan has disbursed, the borrower has up to 14 days to ask for a reduction. The loan reduction form may be found on the Forms page of this website.

Glossary of Terms

The financial aid process can be confusing and many of the terms used in this arena are not very familiar. Finaid.org provides exhaustive listings of financial aid terms. Please refer to that site for plenty of other information relative to financial aid.

Treatment of Title IV Aid in a Withdrawal

Federal financial aid funds are awarded with the expectation students will complete the entire period of enrollment. Students “earn” a percentage of the funds that are disbursed to them with each day of class attendance. When a student who has received Title IV aid from the U.S. Department of Education withdraws from the university during a semester or term, the university must determine the amount of Title IV aid the student may retain.

To calculate the amount that is to be returned, the university must establish when the student last attended class. That information/date is typically provided by the student, with the signature of approval by an academic adviser, on the withdrawal form submitted to the registrar. Samford will then utilize materials provided by the U.S. Department of Education to determine if any Title IV aid should be returned. When that date is not indicated on the form or if the student leaves the university without submitting a withdrawal form (an unofficial withdrawal), then the university will determine what date to use for the last day of attendance.

If any administrative office is made aware of a student who has unofficially withdrawn, the Office of Student Records will work with the student’s faculty to determine the last date of attendance or the last date of an academically related activity for the student and use, whichever is later. This could include: class attendance, turning in an assignment, activity in Canvas or any other class management software. If a last day of attendance or last date of an academically related activity cannot be determined, the midpoint of the term will be used. Furthermore, at the end of each term, Samford will review all students who have attempted at least one credit hour for the term but failed to earn any credits. The Office of Student Records will then contact the student’s faculty to determine the last date of an academically related activity. Once it has been determined a student has either officially or unofficially withdrawn from the university, the withdrawal process begins and will be completed within 30 days.

Samford utilizes materials provided by the U.S. Department of Education to determine if any Title IV aid should be returned. In an instance whereby aid must be returned, non-need– based student loans are returned first, followed by need-based loans, PLUS loans, then federal grants, including Pell and SEOG.

When or if any Title IV funds are required to be returned to the federal government on the student’s behalf, the student may be left owing a balance to the university. The student must pay in full the resulting balance to Samford before proceeding toward further enrollment at the university.

Verification

Verification is the process of confirming the accuracy of the data submitted on your FAFSA. It can be a complicated process, so we have provided a policies and procedures document to help answer some of the questions you may have related to verification. If you still need help with verification, you may always contact your financial aid adviser or access your student portal to gain further clarification.

Drop and Add Policy for All Students

Drops, adds and other changes in a student’s class schedule that do not involve complete withdrawal from school are subject to the following rules.

1. During drop/add, if a schedule change results in a reduction of the student’s total credits (less than full-time), tuition may be adjusted within 30 days. Any reduction in a student’s course load may also result in an adjustment in the student’s financial aid.
2. After the last day to drop course(s) without financial penalty, dropping course(s) will not result in a reduction of charges for tuition or fees.
3. There are no refunds of fees unless the course related to the fee is dropped, or one withdraws prior to the last day to drop without financial penalty. (Note: Fees associated with a service provided to the student prior to the last day to drop a course without financial penalty, such as a drug screening fee, will not be refunded, even if the student withdraws from the course associated with the fee prior to the last day to drop without financial penalty.).

Charges will be adjusted according to these financial policies and the credits taken by the student. Complete withdrawal from the university is covered under the refund and withdrawal policy. Dropping a class or withdrawing completely will more than likely have a negative impact on your ability to access federal aid for the next academic year. See Satisfactory Academic Progress policy above and check with your financial counselor before dropping a class or withdrawing.

Military Call to Active Duty

Students will be allowed to withdraw without penalty from the university and receive a 100 percent tuition remission (less any financial aid that the student may have received for the semester) upon presenting an original copy of their orders to the Registrar.

Alternatively, incomplete (INC) grades with no tuition reimbursement may be more appropriate when the withdrawal is near the end of the semester and INCs are agreed to by the instructor(s) and the student and approved by the dean of the school or college. In the latter case, the student will be allowed to complete the coursework according to a written agreement submitted to the Office of Student Records. Incomplete grades may affect your financial aid eligibility, so please notify your Samford One Stop adviser of your plans prior to your departure.

Refund Appeal

Students or parents who believe they have individual circumstances warranting an exception to published refund policies may appeal. The student or parent should contact:

University Registrar
Office of Student Records
Samford University
800 Lakeshore Drive
Birmingham, AL 35229

Return of Title IV Funds

Federal financial aid funds are awarded with the expectation that students will complete the entire period of enrollment. Students “earn” a percentage of the funds that are disbursed to them with each day of class attendance. When a student who has received federal financial aid (Title IV funds) leaves school before the end of the semester or period of enrollment, federal law requires the university to calculate the percentage and amount of “unearned financial aid funds that must be returned to the federal government.” This calculation may have the effect of requiring the student to repay funds that have already been disbursed to the student account.

The university will not reduce the amount a student has been charged simply due to of the loss of eligibility of financial aid as a result of withdrawal. Thus, withdrawal prior to completion of the semester may result in the student having to pay from personal funds the amount of financial aid required to be returned to federal sources, in addition to any institutional costs owed to the university. Students are urged to consider these financial implications prior to making the decision to withdraw from school. Please speak with your Samford One Stop adviser before finalizing your decision.

Tuition and Fees Payment Policy for All Students

Statement

Notification that a new statement has been generated will be sent to the student via the Samford University email account, which is considered the official means of communication with students, so it is important to check this account regularly. Paper billing statements will not be provided. Students and authorized users may also access the financial portal at any time via the Samford University web portal.

Students registering during the early registration period will receive a statement at least 15 days prior to the payment due date. The statement reflects activity up to the date the statement was generated. Any activity transpiring after the statement generation date can be viewed on the Current Activity section of the financial portal. The Current Activity page provides the current account balance that is due including any unbilled charges and payments. To review the detail by term, select the appropriate term from the drop down box. Payment for a term statement will be due in accordance with the schedule included within this policy. Students who register/make schedule changes/add room and board, etc., after the statement generation date must consult the portal to view their account summary and make payment arrangements for all charges by the due date for the term regardless of whether or not the charge(s) have been billed.

Registration Cancellation

Students not paying their bill by the due date are subject to having their registration cancelled until payment in full is received. Student financial services will forward a clearance slip to the registrar's office to re-establish the student's class schedule.

Students making changes to their schedule (usually at the beginning of a term or during drop/add) after the statement has been sent are required to immediately make payment in full. Statements  are generated monthly. Therefore, additional charges resulting from any of the changes mentioned above should be paid prior to receipt of the next statement notification in order to avoid registration cancellation. Failure to make full payment on or before the next business day after the end of the drop/add period as noted in the academic calendar for your classification, may result in registration cancellation.

Statement generation, payment and registration cancellation dates for each semester/monthly statement are noted on the payment schedule.

Make a Payment

Holds

Students may not register for the next semester, receive transcripts, participate in commencement or receive a diploma until past due amounts are cleared. A hold will be placed on a past due account, preventing participation in one or more of the activities mentioned above.

Collections

Past due accounts assigned to a collection agency may be reported to credit bureaus. Students are responsible for attorney fees, collection fees and interest associated with accounts assigned to a collection agency. The university may also charge interest on all amounts past due.

Withdrawal Refund Policy for All Students

Student Withdrawal

The University is required to contract for a substantial amount of goods and services in advance. Most of these expenses are fixed and are not subject to change on short notice. Under certain circumstances, refunds are available to students who officially withdraw from the University. A student desiring to withdraw from the University must obtain an official withdrawal form from the Office of the Registrar. The form must be submitted to the Office of the Registrar when it is completed.

This policy applies to all terms including fall and spring semesters, fall and spring A/B terms, and summer terms. If a student withdraws from all courses in a term, a portion of or all financial aid may be returned by the university to the original provider(s) of the funding. In such cases where the return of funds creates a balance due to Samford, the student will be required to reimburse the university for those returned funds and any associated fees. (See also Elective Withdrawal in the Academic Policies and Regulations section of this catalog.)

Withdrawal Refund Policy