Policies + Guidelines

RMCAD’s Institutional Refund Policy has been established in accordance with current state and applicable accrediting standards. The RMCAD Institutional Refund Policy is applied to determine what the STUDENT is charged for their attendance during the payment period that he or she failed to complete. Payments made during the payment period of withdrawal are applied to the charges for the same payment period to determine if a refund is due to the STUDENT or a balance is due to RMCAD. 

In the case of a withdrawal, tuition and fees for the term will be charged as follows:

Percentage of Tuition Charged 
100% of tuition charged

Drop/Withdrawal Date
After the drop period (refer to the Catalog for Add/Drop dates)

Withdrawals within the Add/Drop period 
STUDENT may drop courses within the Add/Drop period indicated in the catalog, in the following ways: (i) student-initiated drop; or (ii) administrative drop due to non-attendance or non-compliance with the Academic Catalog policies and receive a full refund of tuition. 

Withdrawal after the Add/Drop period 
If STUDENT withdraws after the Add/Drop period indicated in the Catalog, STUDENT will be responsible for the full cost of the withdrawn course(s). STUDENT may also be administratively withdrawn due to non- attendance or non-compliance with the Academic Catalog policies. 

In the event of a STUDENT’s prolonged illness, accident, death in the family, or other circumstances that make completion of the term impossible or impractical, RMCAD will attempt to make a fair and reasonable settlement. RMCAD reserves the right to modify these policies in order to remain in compliance with any changes in applicable state laws and accreditor’s standards. 

STUDENT-INITIATED WITHDRAWAL FROM RMCAD

Students who wish to initiate a withdrawal from RMCAD must obtain a form from the Office of Academic Advising. The withdrawal form requires signatures from the Student Accounts Office, Financial Aid and Academic Advisor, and the Registrar. No exception may be made to this policy.

If a refund is due to a student who has withdrawn from RMCAD, as determined by the Student Accounts Office according to the RMCAD refund policy, the refund will be mailed within 30 days of the student’s completion of the formal college withdrawal process.

OFFICIAL WITHDRAWALS

Students who withdraw for the term are considered “official” withdrawals for financial aid purposes, and the withdrawal date for the calculation will be the date that the school was notified of the student’s intent to withdraw, or the student’s last date of attendance from all courses within the term per RMCAD’s absence policy. Please see the “Attendance ” section for more information. The calculation for official withdrawals is based on the percentage of time attended in the payment period prior to the date of withdrawal. For students who officially withdraw and receive grades of W for all courses within a term, the amount of assistance earned is determined on a pro-rata basis using the date of withdrawal. For example, if a student completed 30% of the payment period, they earn 30% of the assistance originally scheduled to be received. Once more than 60% of the term is completed, the student earns all the assistance scheduled to be received for that period.

REFUND POLICIES AND PROCEDURES 

A course may be dropped on or before the seventh day (census date) of the term without penalty. If the student drops a course on or before the drop date for a term, the amount of tuition for the dropped course will be refunded to the student’s account.

Tuition and fees will not be refunded if the student withdraws from the course after the drop date for the term/semester.  If a student withdraws from their classes in the second term of the semester and before the drop date for the second term, tuition will be refunded for the second term but the semester fees will not be prorated or refunded.

The student will be responsible for unpaid tuition charges and the paid admission application fee will not be refunded. If a student drops a course(s) prior to the drop date for the term and has already paid tuition charges for the course, a refund will be processed within 30 days of the withdrawal.

The refund policy may be impacted by state law where a student resides, and RMCAD will adhere to any state-specific laws in the case of refunding tuition.

UNOFFICIAL + AUTOMATIC WITHDRAWAL TITLE IV INFORMATION

Students who fail to attend class during the official, seven-day Drop period will be withdrawn from their courses scheduled for that term, and no Title IV Funds will be requested from the U.S. Department of Education. Students who are assigned a “W” grade according to the attendance policy and those who have received an “FN” grade assigned by the Office of the Registrar according to the attendance policy may have a portion of their Title IV Funds returned to the U.S. Department of Education.

If the student did not receive all of the funds earned, they may be due a post-withdrawal disbursement. If a post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, the student must give permission before the funds can be disbursed.

If a student qualifies for a post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds, RMCAD will automatically apply these funds toward tuition and fees.

• The institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of your funds
• The entire amount of excess funds
• The school must return this amount even if it didn’t keep this amount of Title IV program funds. Funds that are returned to the federal government are used to reimburse the individual federal programs from which a student has received the aid. Financial aid returned (by RMCAD and/or the student or parent) must be allocated, in the following order, up to the net amount disbursed from each source:

Federal Unsubsidized Direct Loan

• Federal Subsidized Direct Loan
• Federal Direct PLUS (Parent) Loan or Grad PLUS Loan
• Federal Pell Grant
• Other Federal Loan or Grant Assistance

If RMCAD is not required to return all of the excess funds, the student must return the remaining portion. Returned loan funds from the student (or parent for a PLUS Loan) must be repaid in accordance with the terms of the promissory note with scheduled payments to the holder of the loan over a period of time.

Any amount of unearned grant funds that the student must return is called an overpayment. The maximum amount of a grant overpayment that must be repaid is half of the grant funds the student received or was scheduled to receive. Students are responsible to make arrangements with RMCAD or the Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds.

The refund requirements for Title IV program funds when a student withdraws are separate from any institutional refund policy of the school. Therefore, the student may still owe funds to RMCAD to cover unpaid institutional charges for any Title IV program funds that the school was required to return.

Students who have questions about Title IV program funds should call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FEDAID (1-800-433-3243). Text Telephone (TTY) users may call 1-800-730-8913. Information is also available on Student Aid at www.studentaid.gov.