Financial Aid Policies

The following courses are not eligible for financial aid funding:

• Running Start
• Continuing Education, Community Education, Quest, or Kids College
• Certified Nursing Assistant
• High School Completion
• High School Equivalency Exam
• Adult Basic Education
• CDL Program
• Programs that are less than two quarters in length
• Any audited class

In addition, the credits from these courses will not count toward the minimum requirements to receive financial aid funds or towards completed credits for Satisfactory Academic Progress purposes.

• Conditions of Awards

In order to receive your financial aid each quarter, the number of credits you are registered for in the student registration system must match the enrollment level with financial aid. Financial aid awards are initially based on full-time enrollment of 12 or more eligible credits. Therefore, if you are registered for 12 or more credits, you do not need to do anything.

If you do not plan to enroll in 12 or more eligible credits for a quarter, you should notify the Financial Aid Office in writing after you have completed your registration for that quarter. If you do not notify our office at least 7 business days prior to the start of the quarter, you will experience a delay in receiving your aid.

For students taking less than 12 eligible credits, Federal Pell Grant, Washington College Grant and College Bound grant will be reduced proportionately to match the students’ enrollment level. However, in order to remain eligible for Federal Student Loans, you must be enrolled in a minimum of 6 eligible credits towards your degree. Students who enroll in less than 3 credits will not be eligible for any Financial Aid.

Census Day Enrollment Count

Enrollment levels for all students who received financial aid (either financial aid paid tuition or fee charges and/or a financial aid disbursement was received) will be re-evaluated after the end of the 10th business day of the quarter. Due to changes taking place for the 2024-25 Aid Year, student enrollment will be evaluated as Enrollment Intensity, meaning grant funding adjusts with each credit hour up to 12 credit hours.  What does this mean for you?

If you increase your enrollment on or prior to the 10th instructional day of the quarter, your financial aid grants can be revised, as appropriate, by notifying the Financial Aid Office in writing. A revised award will be available to view in ctcLink and emailed to you.

If you decrease your enrollment on or prior to the 10th instructional day of the quarter, your financial aid grants will be revised, as appropriate, and a revised award will be available to view in ctcLink. This will occur even if your aid has already been disbursed. If your aid was already disbursed, you will owe a repayment of aid to the college.

If your grant aid is revised in accordance with this policy, your number of attempted credits will be based on the number of credits you were enrolled in as of 11:59 pm on the 10th business day of the quarter.

Repeated Courses

Students can repeat courses for which they receive financial aid two times. Each time a class is repeated, whether or not financial aid paid for the course, the credits are counted toward the time limit requirement. Each time a remedial course (Math and English courses below the 100 level) is repeated, whether or not financial aid paid for the course, it counts toward both the time limit requirement and the 45 credit limit on remedial courses.

Change in Program of Study

Students who start pursuing a new program of study without completing their first program are considered to have changed programs. The attempted credits from the first program will not be counted toward the credit limit requirement for the new program.  Students who change programs may not be able to complete their new program within the maximum allowable timeframe for financial aid.

• Reinstatement Policy 2024-25

The Higher Education Act (HEA) prohibits an institution of higher education from engaging in a “substantial misrepresentation of the nature of its educational program, its financial charges, or the employability of its graduates.”  20 U.S.C. §1094(c)(3)(A). Further, each State must have “a process to review and appropriately act on complaints concerning the institution including enforcing applicable State laws.”  34 C.F.R. § 600.9.  The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) maintains a process to investigate complaints of this nature brought by community and technical college students in the State of Washington. For more information, contact the SBCTC Student Services Office at 360-704-4315.

Consumer Protection (Title IV) Student Complaint Process

The National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) is the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED’s) central database for student aid.  Title IV federal loan information for student and parent borrowers will be submitted to NSLDS, and will be accessible by guaranty agencies, lenders, and schools determined to be authorized users of the data system.

Financial aid grants, tuition waivers and loan funds that have been accepted will be disbursed to student accounts and used to pay outstanding tuition and fees approximately 1-2 business days before the first day of the term. Students who are enrolled less than full-time (12 credits) will need to complete an Enrollment Change Form to confirm their credit load and request to have their aid adjusted to their planned enrollment plan before funds can be disbursed.

Any credit balance of financial aid funds remaining after payment of tuition and fees will be refunded to students after the start of the quarter. Walla Walla Community College does not issue financial aid refunds prior to the start of class.

We partner with BankMobile to deliver financial aid credit balance refunds. Funds are sent to BankMobile who in turn issues a refund according to the refund option selected by the student. Additional information can be found online at the BankMobile website.

For questions regarding refund of payments prior to disbursement and tuition balances, please contact the Cashiering Office.

• 24-25 Federal and State Aid Return of IV Repayment Policy

• Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy 2024-2025

A financial aid recipient has the right to:

• access to accurate and timely information on financial aid deadlines and procedures.
• access to personal financial aid records and information as defined by the Buckley Amendment of 1974.
• the choice of accepting all or only part of the assistance offered with Federal Student Loans and/or Work Study if eligible.
• ability to request a review of the award package should the student’s financial situation change by completing an Aid Adjustment and providing all the necessary documentation needed for such request.

Along with these rights, students have the following responsibilities:

• to provide accurate information to be used in the aid process. Misrepresenting information is a violation of the law and could result in indictment under the U.S. Criminal Code.
• to inform the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office of any significant changes to a student’s financial situation (scholarships, gifts, earnings, finding, ect.) in excess of $200 that were not listed in the FAFSA application, or any other change in circumstances, such as a change in student status or marital status, that may influence the award. Failure to report these changes can result in federal legal action to recover aid funds.
• to understand the loan obligation. With a loan as part of the student’s package, future earnings are pledged to pay present school costs. Loan conditions should be read carefully; ask questions if they arise.
• to maintain academic satisfactory progress and attendance toward the completion of your program of study.
• to repay any financial aid received when students were not eligible.
• to continue receiving financial aid, students MUST reapply each academic year. It is HIGHLY encouraged to complete by or before the Priority Deadline for each upcoming academic year.

Verification is a review process where the Financial Aid Office ensures the accuracy of information reported on the FAFSA. Students are selected for verification by the Department of Education at the time they complete the FAFSA. Documents required for verification may include: Income Verification Form, Household Verification Form, tax transcripts or copies of 1040 tax forms and schedules, W-2 forms, verification of non-filing, and identity verification. Other documents may be requested as needed to resolve conflicting information found during verification.

Students who are selected for verification will be notified of the documents required through their “To Do” list in ctcLink. All required documents should be turned in by the priority processing date to complete your file. Financial aid funds will not be awarded until verification is completed.  Information found to be credibly fraudulent will be referred to the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Education by the Financial Aid Director or Asst. Director.

Forms and more details on what is required for each type of verification can be found on the Financial Aid Verification web page.

Students who have received State aid (Washington College Grant, College Bound Scholarship, Passport, Bridge Grant) have the following policies applied to them:

1. Students who fail to attend classes or who receive funding based on fraudulent information will be required to repay 100% of the funds received.
2. Students who make enrollment status adjustments (up or down) after disbursement and after the start of the term will be subject to completion of satisfactory academic progress requirements outlined under 250-21-010 (12) (a-e). Enrollment status increases must include WCG awards based on that enrollment and may not exceed need. However, students may not receive more WCG than the cost of their tuition and fees. If a student’s enrollment is adjusted during the tuition refund period and tuition is reduced, the grant must be reduced to not exceed the cost of tuition and fees.
3. Washington State funds are calculated using Grant Repayment Policy requirements as set forth by the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC). If a student makes a change to their enrollment on or before the 10th day of the quarter, their state aid eligibility must be recalculated to reflect their new enrollment status.  If a student fails to attend one or more of their registered classes of which they were funded by state funding, WWCC utilizes the Grant Repayment Calculator on the WSAC portal website to determine the amount of money to return for each Washington grant program the student received.

Note: For this section, “state grant” refers to all state grant and scholarship programs.

• Official Withdrawal – When a student contacts the Office of Admissions at WWCC and requests to withdraw from all of their classes in any given quarter of attendance. This request must be in person or via email. A student cannot completely withdraw online. It is the student’s responsibility to withdraw themselves from their classes, NOT their advisors nor instructors.
• Unofficial Withdrawal – When the student ceased attending classes and did not begin the official withdrawal process or provide notification of their intent to withdraw to the Office of Admissions. The date that WWCC determined that the student withdrew would be the date the school became aware that the student ceased attendance. In most unofficial withdrawal cases, student’s will receive all F’s at the end of the quarter and the last date of attendance will be the date the instructor will provide to the Registrar’s office. If an instructor does not enter a date or there are conflicting dates, the financial aid office will contact instructors to determine the last date of attendance from each instructor and will use the latest date provided as the last date for R2T4 purposes. For online classes the last date of attendance would be determined by the student’s last login date. 
• Leave of Absence – WWCC does not offer students leave of absences. If a student needs to miss their class(es) for an extended period of time they are encouraged to either take an Incomplete grade or withdraw for the quarter. If the student chooses to take an Incomplete grade, they will need to sign a contract for completion with their instructor(s), failure to complete the contract will result in the student receiving an F in that class. If the student chooses to withdraw or the student does not complete the class, they would go through the withdrawal process and could be subject to the return of Title IV aid that is laid out in this policy.