Refund Policies

Institutional Refund Policy

Refunds will be awarded only in the case of approved withdrawals (described in the Academic Policies, Withdrawals section of the catalog) from the college. The refund schedule below applies to tuition and fee charges, applied music, and other fee courses. A student, who moves from a residence hall after the semester begins, or fails to move into a room reserved for second semester, will be refunded room charges for the smaller of 40 percent or that determined by the refund schedule below. Board charges will be prorated on a weekly basis as of the date of withdrawal, except for a minimum charge of $100 per semester.

The percentage of charges refunded is based on the passage of total days of instruction commencing with the official first day of classes for the semester on through to the date of official withdrawal.

The first day of instruction: .............................................. 100%    Day 17 through day 21: ....................................................... 40%

Day two through day 11: ..................................................... 80%    Day 22 through day 26: ....................................................... 20%

Day 12 through day 16:....................................................... 60%    After day 26: ........................................................................... No refund

Off-Campus Studies Refund Policy

If a student withdraws from an off-campus studies program, any refund of tuition will be based on Whitman's standard refund schedule using the first day of classes on the off-campus studies program as day one for calculating the refund. Refunds of off-campus studies room and board fees will be based on the refund (if any) provided by the off-campus studies program itself. Any refund to a student of a program’s tuition or room and board fees will be further limited to the amount originally charged by Whitman College. Withdrawal from such programs may also impact a student’s financial aid. Financial aid recipients should contact the Whitman Office of Financial Aid Services to determine the extent of that impact.

Federal & State Aid Refund Policy

To determine the amount of funds that must be refunded to federal student aid programs, the institution must determine the percentage of time the student has been in attendance during the semester. The maximum amount of time a student may attend classes and have funds returned to any of the federal programs is 60 percent.

The calculation for the return of federal student aid funds to the programs is completely separate from the calculation of charges and refunds with regard to Whitman scholarship. The following is an example of how the college would calculate the percentage of refund and the amounts to be returned to each program.

Jane, a sophomore, last attended class on October 21. They have attended 52 days of classes, and the percentage of her charges will be 52 percent (total number of days attended, 52, divided by the total number of days in the semester, 100). The amount of the refund (total costs for the semester less actual charges) is then 48 percent.

The funds that are to be returned to the various programs must be returned in a certain order. The following is a list of federal programs, in order of refund.

For students who receive Washington College Grant and/or College Bound Scholarship, refunds are calculated independently of federal aid. If the student began attendance in all the enrolled classes for which the Washington College Grant and/or College Bound Scholarship were calculated, no adjustment to the State aid is required and counts as a semester of eligibility utilized. However, failure to complete all of the courses for which State aid was based upon may impact Satisfactory Academic Progress for the semester in question and the student may be placed on financial aid probation for the following semester.

In this example, the college would not reduce the amount of the student’s nonfederal scholarship. The college’s Institutional Refund Policy would govern the return of nonfederal funds.