University Policies

The instructor has full authority to decide whether class attendance is required.

For more information, see the Attendance Policies section of the ACU Catalog.

Credit Balances

Customer payments to student accounts which result in a credit balance will be refunded ten (10) business days after a request has been received in writing. Refund requests will not be processed until a credit balance appears on the student’s monthly statement.

Title IV Credit Balances

A Title IV credit balance occurs whenever the amount of Title IV funds credited to a student’s account for a payment period exceeds the amount assessed the student for allowable charges associated with that payment period.

If federal student aid disbursements to a student’s account create a Title IV credit balance, Arizona Christian University will pay the credit balance directly to the student or parent as soon as possible, but no later than 14 days after:

• The first day of class of a payment period if the credit balance occurred on or before that day, or
• The date the balance occurred if the balance occurred after the first day of class.

Arizona Christian University will pay a Title IV credit balance by issuing a check payable to the student and/or parent as applicable.

ACU Student Accounts will notify you when your refund check is ready. Traditional campus students will be given a time frame to pick up their check in the Business Office before it is mailed to your primary address on file. If you are unavailable to pick up your refund check during the time frame allotted, please reach out to Student Accounts to schedule a pickup time. Failure to pick up your refund check within 21 days will result in it being mailed to the primary address on file.

All Online and Master Study student refund checks will be immediately mailed to the primary address on file. If you would like to pick up your refund check, please reach out to Student Accounts at the start of your semester to request a pickup timeframe.

Parent Loans (PLUS) Credit Balances

The law requires that any excess PLUS Loan funds be returned to the parent. Therefore, if PLUS Loan funds create a credit balance, the credit balance would have to be given to the parent. However, the parent may authorize Arizona Christian University (in writing) to transfer the proceeds of a PLUS Loan credit balance directly to the student for whom the loan is made.

Stale Dated Checks

Arizona Christian University processes all credit balances to students or parents via a paper refund check. Every 60 days, Accounting will review any credit balance refund check that has been processed through the ACU banking system.

Should a check not be negotiated in a timely manner (within 180 days), Accounting will notify the Office of Financial Aid. The Office of Financial Aid will evaluate the check(s) to determine if the check was issued due to a credit from Title IV funding. For those checks considered a Title IV credit, Accounting will void the check and the Office of Financial Aid will return the funds to the appropriate federal student aid program within 240 days of the initial check date.

Federal Student Aid randomly selects FAFSA applications each year for a review process called Verification, where schools are required to ensure that the reported information is correct.

To complete this process, schools are authorized to request certain documents such as federal taxes, W-2s, etc. If selected for Verification, a member of ACU’s Enrollment Management Services Team (EMS) will contact each student to assist them through this process.

Please note: For the Office of Financial Aid to disburse funds, the Verification process must be completed.

The employment guidelines for F-1 students are set down by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Designated School Official (DSO) is responsible for overseeing the F-1 visa students, being familiar with the laws international students must abide by, and reporting any violations of these laws.

There are limited work opportunities available in the United States for F-1 students. For more information, contact the Registrar’s Office.

Tuition Refunds

The amount of the tuition refund for a withdrawal from ACU is based on the student’s effective withdrawal date. Any tuition refund for reduction in course load is determined by the add/drop dates on the Academic Calendar.

Students who withdraw on or before the add/drop dates may receive a 100% refund of tuition. No tuition refunds will be granted after the add/drop date. Deadlines for withdrawals or course add/drop dates are published yearly in the Academic Calendar on the ACU website.

Refund of Fees

All fees, except fees associated with courses, are non-refundable. Music fees for applied lessons are refunded based upon the number of lessons scheduled. Fees associated with courses (lab fees, etc.) may be refunded if the class is dropped before the add/drop deadline.

Refund of Housing and Food (Room and Board)

Resident Housing and Food rates are based upon an entire academic year, commencing on the official move-in and ending on the official move-out dates. The student is required to fulfill his or her financial obligations as agreed to in the room and board agreement, even if the student physically moves off campus. The amount of the resident housing and food refund, if any, is based upon the date listed on the resident’s official checkout form, up to and including the add/drop date, and is calculated on a daily use, pro rata basis.

Commuter meal plans are fully refundable during the drop/add period.

Refund of Institutional Aid

In most cases, institutional aid (institutional scholarships, grants) is reduced when a student withdraws on or before the last Friday of the second week of the semester. Institutional aid is reduced by the same percentage of tuition refund.

For example, if a student has a $1,000 scholarship for the semester and withdraws within the first two weeks of the semester, the institutional award would be eliminated along with tuition charges. If a student withdraws after the second week of the semester, the student is accountable for 100% of the tuition charges. The full institutional aid will be credited to the tuition charges. Whenever a student’s total aid package exceeds the cost of education, the Financial Aid Office will adjust or reduce Institutional Aid.

The FAFSA Simplification Act helped to distinguish between different categories of professional judgments:

• Special Circumstances refer to financial situations (loss of a job, divorce, or separation, etc.) that justify an aid administrator adjusting data elements in the COA or in the EFC calculation.
• Unusual Circumstances refer to the conditions that justify an aid administrator making an adjustment to a student’s dependency status based on a unique situation (e.g., human trafficking, refugee or asylee status, parental abandonment, incarceration), more commonly referred to as a dependency override.

All requests for a professional judgment (PJ) will be submitted to the Director of Financial Aid (DOFA). The DOFA will review and either approve or deny the professional judgment request. Professional judgments will be conducted on a case-by-case basis. All circumstances will be considered on a case-by-case basis for conditions that differentiate an individual from a defined group of students, rather than for conditions that exist across a group of students.

Your EMS can assist you in getting the correct form to complete.

Students may only receive Federal financial aid funding for one repeat of a previously passed course. There is an exception for courses that require repeats (see examples below). Students taking a required repeat of a course should work with their EMS to ensure those credits are counted appropriately for financial aid eligibility. Please note that students may need to provide documentation if they would like to repeat a course previously passed to improve their overall GPA.

Examples

• Allowable: Repeated coursework may be included if the student received an unsatisfactory or failing grade. A student is only allowed to repeat the same course 3 times per university policy; however, the number of repeated courses is not determined for financial aid as long as Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) standards are met.
• Allowable: Repeated coursework may be included if a student needs to meet an academic standard for a particular previously passed course, such as a minimum grade (e.g., the student received a D in a course which requires a minimum grade of C).
• Allowable: The student is enrolled in 15 credits that include 3 credits repeating a previously passed course. The student’s financial aid eligibility is not impacted by the repeat because the student is enrolled in a minimum of credits that are not repeated.
• Not Allowable: Student receives a D in a course which does not have a minimum grade requirement for the major and decides to repeat the course in order to improve GPA. The student may repeat this passed course one time, but if the student wants to repeat it a second time, the second repeat will not count for financial aid eligibility.

All repeated courses affect financial aid SAP calculations. A repeated course, along with the original attempt, must be counted as attempted credits.

When a student repeats a course which may not be repeated for credit, only the highest grade earned in the course is used for the degree audit in determining the GPA. The grades for all courses taken in residence at ACU will remain on the student’s permanent record. The Incomplete (I), No Grade (G), Audit (AU), and Withdrawal (W) grades are not to be used as a substitute for a failing grade.

The U.S. Department of Education requires that to receive student financial aid under the programs authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act, a student must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) in the course of study being pursued according to the standards and practices of the institution in which the student is enrolled.

The Title IV programs administered by the university are Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, TEACH Grant, Federal Work-Study, Federal Direct Loan (subsidized and/or unsubsidized), and Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan. The Financial Aid Office monitors students for compliance with the three SAP standards: Qualitative, Pace, and Maximum Timeframe.

Traditional (On-Campus) undergraduate students and on-campus graduate students are reviewed at the end of every semester. Non-Traditional (Online) Students and online graduate students are reviewed at the end of every payment period. Payment period(s) consist of 12 completed credit hours.

Failure to meet these standards may result in the loss of federal financial aid eligibility.

Note: These standards apply to all currently enrolled students (enrolled at least half-time) who receive Federal financial aid and do not necessarily reflect the cumulative grade point average (GPA) or units required to maintain scholarships, advance grade levels, or maintain enrollment in the university.

Standards

Qualitative

Students must successfully meet the minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0. The following grades do not count toward the GPA: Incomplete, Withdrawn, Transfer credits, Remedial/developmental.

Pace

Students must successfully complete 66.7% of the cumulative units attempted. Pace = Cumulative number of credits successfully completed / Cumulative number of credits attempted.

The following courses do not count as attempted or completed units in the SAP calculation: Audit, Credit by exam, Non-credit remedial.

The following courses count as attempted but do not count as completed units in the SAP calculation: Incomplete, Failed, Withdrawn, More than one repeat of any previously passed course.

Maximum Timeframe

Students attending ACU must be making progress toward a degree. The federal government defines the maximum timeframe as 150% of the student’s program’s published length, as measured in credit hours. For example, a typical undergraduate degree requires 120 credits, which would result in a maximum timeframe of 180 credit hours (120 × 150%).

SAP Status Levels

• Satisfactory: The student has met all the SAP standards.
• Warning: The first time a student does not meet SAP standards, the student will be placed on financial aid “warning.” The student is still eligible for federal financial aid.
• Suspension: If a student is on financial aid warning and does not meet SAP standards, the student is immediately placed on federal financial aid “suspension.” The student will not receive federal financial aid, but this status may be appealed.
• Probation: If a student has successfully appealed a financial aid suspension, the individual will be placed on federal financial aid “probation” for one term. If the student meets the SAP standards at the end of the probation term, the SAP status will reset back to “Satisfactory.” If not, the student will be placed back into suspension.
• Over Hours Suspension: If a student has exceeded the 150% of the maximum time frame allotted for his or her program of study, the individual will be placed on federal financial aid “over hours suspension.”

SAP Suspension Appeal Process

If a student loses federal financial aid eligibility because of not meeting SAP Qualitative or Pace standards, the student may appeal to regain federal financial aid eligibility in the following way:

1. Submit a Federal Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) appeal form with supporting documentation. Typical reasons for appeal include death of a family member, illness or injury of an immediate family member, personal situation or emergency, or other special circumstances.
2. Students must also submit an academic plan showing changes that will be made to demonstrate how the student will succeed academically at the end of the next time frame when Federal Aid SAP will be reviewed.
3. If a student is also on academic suspension with Arizona Christian University, the student must also provide a letter from the Director of Academic Services approving his or her appeal for academic suspension and readmission.

If the SAP appeal is approved, the student will be placed on Federal Aid SAP probation and will be awarded federal financial aid for the following term and/or payment period subject to federal financial aid eligibility and the availability of funds. The student will be notified by email of the approval and the date the Federal Aid SAP will be re-evaluated.

If the appeal is denied, the student will remain in suspension status and will not be eligible for Federal Financial Aid funds. Students will be notified by email of the decision.

It is important to read the instructions on the SAP appeal form before documents are submitted to the Financial Aid Office.

Scholarship Eligibility

All scholarship eligibility (ACU’s institutional aid) is dependent upon completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Every year, Arizona Christian University will award scholarships to qualified students. All scholarships are awarded on the assumption that the individual will be accepted to ACU and enroll as a full-time student at the university.

Most scholarships are automatically renewed as long as renewal criteria are met. Scholarships are normally divided evenly between the fall and spring semesters.

Scholarships are awarded with the understanding that a student will complete the semester for which the award is received. A student must be in good standing and meet ACU’s academic standards in order to receive a scholarship. Scholarship eligibility is reviewed annually at the end of the spring semester. Students are required to maintain their full-time status and meet the minimum cumulative GPA published for the awards they receive. Failure to meet these criteria could result in the loss of the scholarship.

A student’s institutional aid (e.g., merit-based scholarships, music scholarships, or athletic scholarships) may not exceed the cost of actual tuition and is not adjusted based on tuition changes.

A student’s combined total of all awards, both institutional and external (i.e., scholarships, grants, and loans) may not exceed the designated cost of attendance of his or her program. If the combined total of all financial assistance exceeds the designated cost of attendance, then the award with the highest interest rate will be reduced.

Federal aid, state aid, and outside grants will be applied after ACU institutional scholarships.

Scholarship Renewal

GPAs are not rounded up but must minimally be at the required level. For example, 2.99 is not rounded up to 3.00.

Scholarship renewal requirements are reviewed at the conclusion of each spring semester only after all spring grades have been posted. If a scholarship is removed, a new financial aid award letter will be provided to the student along with a notification of his or her next steps.

Academic Scholarship Appeal

Every student will have the opportunity to appeal against the loss of a scholarship:

• A student has 30 days from the date of the initial email notification that a scholarship is removed due to not meeting requirements set forth by the university.
• Students must complete an ACU Scholarship appeal form and provide an explanation for the exception.
• All appeals will be reviewed by the ACU Scholarship Committee.
• The student will be notified in writing of the committee decision.

Academic Scholarship Discretion

All scholarships awarded at ACU and their renewal requirements are at the discretion of ACU’s Vice President of Enrollment or their designee. The process outlined in this catalog may be adjusted on a case-by-case basis and considerations in various factors such as academic performance, leadership qualities, extracurricular involvement, and community engagement may be considered to waive or alter the conditions of a scholarship offer or renewal requirement.

All Student-Athlete Institutional Scholarships awarded at ACU and their renewal requirements are at the discretion of ACU’s Athletic Director or their designee.

A report is provided to the university’s financial aid department at the end of each term (8 or 16 weeks) listing students who received a failing grade in all classes enrolled in for that term. The report lists the date of the student’s last academic engagement in each class. The financial aid department will use this report for the evaluation of earned/unearned F’s according to the current Department of Education regulations.

The Return of Title IV policy establishes the processes for returning federal funds for students who completely withdraw from the institution and/or withdraw from all courses in a given period of enrollment. Federal Financial Aid (Title IV aid) is awarded under the assumption that a student will complete attendance for the entire period of enrollment for which aid was awarded.

When R2T4 Applies

Federal regulations require a recalculation of financial aid eligibility if a student:

• Completely withdraws from all classes
• Stops attending before the term’s end
• Does not complete all parts of the term (modules) in which the student enrolled as of the start date of the period of enrollment/payment period

Note: ACU’s institutional refund policy is separate from the federal R2T4 regulation to return unearned aid.

R2T4 Calculation

A percentage of Federal aid must be returned to the Title IV program(s) if a student withdraws on or before completing 60% of the semester and/or payment period. The percentage of Title IV aid to be returned is equal to the number of calendar days remaining in the semester/payment period divided by the number of calendar days attended by the student in the semester/payment period. Scheduled breaks of more than five consecutive days are excluded.

If the student completes 60.01% or more, the student earns 100% of aid.

R2T4 Exemptions (Module/Online Courses)

A student is not considered to have withdrawn if:

• Completed the program of study: A student who completes all the requirements for graduation before completing the scheduled days in the period is not considered to have withdrawn.
• Completed half-time enrollment (modules only): The student must successfully complete Title IV-eligible coursework equal to or greater than what the school considers to be half-time enrollment.
• Completed modules spanning 49% of countable days (modules only): A student is not considered to have withdrawn if the student successfully completes one module or a combination of modules that include 49% or more of the number of countable days in the payment period.

Order of Return to Federal Aid Programs

ACU must return Title IV funds to the financial aid programs from which the student received aid during the payment period/semester, in the following order, up to the net amount disbursed from each source:

1. Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan
2. Federal Direct Subsidized Loan
3. Federal Direct PLUS Loan
4. Federal Pell Grant
5. Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants
6. Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
7. Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant

Withdrawal Date Determination

Official Withdrawal

If a student expresses intent to withdraw from the university, the withdrawal date is the date the student provided notification to the Enrollment Management Specialist.

Unofficial Withdrawal

Students who do not notify the university to withdraw are considered unofficial withdrawals. The withdrawal date will be the student’s last day of academic related activity. If a last day of academic related activity can’t be identified, the withdrawal date will be the mid-point of the semester (or payment period).

Post-Withdrawal Disbursement (PWD)

A Post-Withdrawal Disbursement (PWD) may be required if the total amount of the Title IV aid earned as of the withdrawal date is more than the amount that was disbursed to the student.

To be eligible to receive a PWD, a student must have a complete financial aid file (verification completed and all tracking requirements satisfied) and meet all eligibility requirements.

Grants from a PWD may be credited to the student’s school account without obtaining student permission; however, it may only be credited for tuition, fees, and room and board (if the student contracts with the school) or disbursed directly to the student. ACU must obtain the student’s authorization to credit a student’s school account for charges other than current charges.

The university must obtain confirmation from the student, or from a parent for a Direct Parent PLUS Loan, before making any disbursement of loan funds.

Written Confirmation for Module Courses

Students who provide written confirmation to the Office of Financial Aid at the time of ceasing attendance in a part of the term, but who plan to attend another course later in the same payment period, are not considered to have withdrawn from the term.

Note: Written confirmation of a later class is required; registration alone does not meet the requirement. If the student does not provide written confirmation of plans to return to the university later in the payment period or term, ACU considers the student to have withdrawn and begins the R2T4 process. However, if the student does return in the same term, even if he or she did not provide written confirmation of plans to do so, the student is not considered to have withdrawn and is eligible to receive the Title IV funds for which the student was eligible before ceasing attendance.

Loan Repayment Information

The loan grace period begins on the withdrawal date from the institution or when a student ceases to be enrolled at least half-time. If the student does not re-enroll as a half-time student within six (6) months of withdrawal, or enrolls at less than half-time, the loan(s) enters repayment. The promissory note signed by the borrower outlines the repayment obligations. The student should contact his or her loan servicer to make repayment arrangements.

A student can initiate a withdrawal from ACU by contacting his or her Enrollment Management Specialist (EMS) via a phone call, electronic submission, in-person meeting, or someone else authorized to act on the student’s behalf. Upon completion, the Office of Financial Aid has 45 days to complete the review of all federal aid and submit any unearned funding to the student’s lender. Students are required to meet with their assigned Enrollment Management Specialist (EMS) to discuss any outstanding financial obligations.

Students who are no longer attending at least six credit hours at the time loan funds are scheduled to be disbursed are not eligible to receive those funds. The loan will be canceled, and all loan funds returned to the Department of Education.