The Chicago School for Piano Technolgy

Financial Aid Information

School Code 041860

Title IV Refund and Return Policy

(Don't forget to go to the Virtual Financial Aid Office!)

 

SATISFACTORY ACADEMIC PROGRESS & STUDENT AID HOLD

Federal law (34 CFR 668.16(e)) defines and enforces standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). To receive and maintain eligibility for aid, a student must maintain a measured progress toward completion of the requirements of the curriculum of CSPT. See CSPT Policy for more information. At the end of each quarter, students will be expected to have completed the requirements for that quarter, or go into probationary status. At each period, for purposes of financial aid, the student will be deemed to be one of the following: Satisfactory, Probationary, or Hold.

Probationary means that aid will be released for the following quarter, but that the student must satisfy the probationary requirements. At the end of the probationary periods, a student who meets the requirements is removed from probation. A student who does not meet the requirements in the probationary periods will be placed on financial aid hold. The student is not eligible for financial aid until the requirements are satisfied, or an appeal is successful. A student may be placed on hold even before the completion of the probationary period if their progress toward completion of requirements is so slight or below requirements by scoring that the school cannot reasonably expect the student to make up the required differences along with other current academic work.

A student may appeal this financial aid hold (see Student Appeals), upon notification of it, by petitioning CSPT to adjust the student’s SAP by virtue of clearly stated extenuating, and perhaps unforeseeable, circumstances. This requires documentation.

Federal Financial Aid Refund

A student who paid their tuition and later is awarded financial aid will be refunded any credit balance within 14 days after the school applies financial aid funds to that student’s account. A student who has withdrawn from the school will have any credit balance on their account returned to the appropriate financial aid program. For a student who cancels their enrollment before attending or did not begin attendance, or cancels within the statutory period of cancellation, all aid already disbursed will be cancelled and returned to the appropriate aid program.

For official withdrawals, a student’s withdrawal date is the date that the student officially notifies the school of their intention to withdraw. For unofficial withdrawals, the student withdrawal date will be the date of the last class attended.

For example, if a student unofficially withdraws in the second week of the 2nd quarter, the withdrawal date will be the date of the last class attended in the 2nd week of the 2nd quarter. If the student withdraws, e.g., prior to the beginning of the second quarter, but after the end of the first quarter, the date of withdrawal will be the date of the last class attended in the prior quarter. Unofficial withdrawal, i.e. without official written notification from the student, will be determined by the school to have happened, except for emergencies, after the student misses classes for one week and does not pro-actively request and make arrangements for make-up classes within the following week.

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RETURN OF TITLE IV FUNDS

If a student leaves the school before completing the curriculum, during one of the four quarters of the academic year, they may have earned less aid than was disbursed to them. The unearned portion of the aid is refunded by the school and the student. For each period (each quarter) which is also called a payment period, a prorated schedule is used to determine the amount of Title IV funds that the student has earned. This percentage of a payment period is also referred to as “the percentage of earned aid”. The percentage of earned aid is calculated using the following formula:

Completed Clock Hours in the Enrollment Period/Total Clock Hours in the Enrollment Period X 100% = Percentage of Earned Aid

So, for example, if a student officially withdraws after 3 weeks, completing 72 clock hours (30% of the 10 week, 240 clock hours of a quarter), and there are 240 clock hours in that period (quarter), then the percentage of earned aid is:

72 completed clock hours/240 total clock hours X 100% = 30% (percentage of earned aid)

The school returns the amount of Title IV funds for which it is responsible no later than 45 days after the date of the student’s withdrawal or dismissal. For an unofficially withdrawn student, the school determines that student’s withdrawal date. If the student withdraws before the end of the period’s first week, 100% of the funds will be refunded. After 60% of the enrollment period has passed, a student has earned 100% of the federal aid awarded for that period, and Title IV funds will remain on the student’s account. Any break of 5 days or more is not counted as days in the term.

Refunds are allocated in the following order:

*When Title IV funds are returned, a student may owe an outstanding balance to the school.

If a student earned more aid than was disbursed to them, CSPT will send that student a letter offering a post-withdrawal disbursement. If the student is interested, they should request such disbursement within 14 calendar days of the offer. The funds would generally be disbursed within 30 days of the request and no later than 120 days of the student’s withdrawal date.

Once financial aid is awarded, the student must maintain eligibility and understand the following responsibilities:

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The Chicago School for Piano Technology admits students of any age, race, color, national and ethnic origin, gender or gender-preference or orientation, to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, national and ethnic origin, gender or gender-preference or orientation, in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and other school-administered programs.