Federal Title IV aid is awarded to students under the assumption that they will attend
school for the entire semester for which the aid was awarded. When a student withdraws,
they may no longer be eligible for the full amount of aid that the student was originally
scheduled to receive. Students receiving federal financial aid who withdraw from all
of their classes during the first 60% of a term, may be required to repay a portion
of the federal grants that they have received. That is because a student must "earn"
their financial aid and federal aid is earned for each day you are enrolled and attending
classes for a particular term.
For example, if you enroll in the Fall semester on August 20 and withdraw from all
of your classes on October 22, you will have "earned" 63 days worth of financial aid
eligibility. The amount you have to repay will depend on the number of days you were
enrolled compared to the number of days in the semester. Because there are 121 days
in the Fall semester, you would have only earned 52% of the aid you received (63 days/121
days in the term = 52%). If you had received a $1500 Pell Grant award for the semester,
you would have only earned $780 of the Pell Grant ($1500 x 52% = $780). Because you
have received $720 more financial aid than you "earned" ($1500 - $780 = $720), you
may be required to repay half of the amount you did not earn. The amount you would
be required to pay back in this case would be no more than $360.
Students who stay in classes until 60% of the term is completed won't owe anything
back to the federal government. For the Fall of 2021, that means you must be enrolled and attending classes until October 27, 2021 to be eligible for all the financial aid you received. If you drop all of your classes
before October 27, 2021 you may be billed for a portion of the Pell Grant, SEOG and/or Direct Loan that you
received in the Fall. For the Spring of 2022, that means you must be enrolled and attending classes until April 20, 2022 to be eligible for all the financial aid you received. If you drop all of your classes
before April 20, 2022 you may be billed for a portion of the Pell Grant, SEOG and/or Direct Loan that you
received in the Spring.
Please note: If you fail all of your classes in a term, you will have only earned
50% of the Pell and/or SEOG that you received and you may be billed for the amount
you did not earn. This rule applies even if you were enrolled in classes for the whole
term.
If you are required to repay funds to the federal government, you will be billed and
you will have 30 days to repay the funds in full. You may be ineligible for any further
financial aid at any college in the United States until you have repaid the funds
in full.
Due to COVID-19 and the campus closure, the repayment process has been limited to mail-in services only. Please follow the directions below to repay your overpayment:
1. Make a check or money order out to Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District.
2. Include your Full Name, Student ID #, and write "Overpayment" on the front of your check or money order.
3. Attach your overpayment letter or email that was received to your payment.
4. Mail your payment to:
Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District
Attn: Lilian Keriakous, Accounting
8800 Grossmont College Drive
El Cajon, CA 92020
5. Once your payment has been received, you will be emailed an electronic copy of your receipt and your hold will be lifted.
If my letter says that I will have an institutional hold and I owe the school?
If my letter says that I have 30 calendar days to repay?
You can pay at the Cahier’s office, Financial Aid office, or send a check to the Accounting office
The acceptable payment methods are cash, check, and money order if you repay at the Cashier’s office and/or at the Financial Aid office
Check is the only acceptable payment method that can be submitted to the Accounting office
The full amount needs to be repaid to Grossmont College within the 30 calendar days to avoid being reported to the Department of Education
What happens if I get reported to the Department of Education?
If I’m paying with a check or money order?
We are not responsible for checks that do not arrive to Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District.
Money orders made for repayment need to include the student’ name and student ID number.