Scholar Forum

General Financial Information
Code of Conduct For Institutional Financial Aid Professionals
Financial Information
The Financial Aid Office would like to take this opportunity to wish you success in your endeavors while enrolled at CACC. It is our policy and mission to offer you financial counseling and assistance to help you pursue your educational goals.
Central Alabama Community College is approved to participate in the following programs:

• Federal Pell Grants
  
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG)
  
• Direct Stafford Loans
  
• Federal College Work Study (FCWS)
  
• Federal Community Service Work Study
  
• Alabama Student Assistance Program Grant (ASAP)
  
• Vocational Rehabilitation
  
• The Alabama Workforce Investment Act
  
• Trade Adjustment Act
  
• Academic Competitiveness Grants (ACG)
  

In addition to the above listed programs, Central Alabama Community College also participates in institutional scholarships, privately sponsored scholarships, and benefits for veterans and dependants of veterans. (Contact the Financial Aid Office for more information.)
Our offices would appreciate the opportunity to assist you in applying for financial aid. Even though we cannot assure you that you will qualify for assistance, we would like to encourage you to take the first step by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) online at www.fafsa.gov.
If we can be of assistance to you while enrolled at CACC, please don’t hesitate to contact our offices.
Sincerely,
Cindy Entrekin
Director of Financial Aid
 
FINANCIAL AID OVERVIEW
The Financial Aid Office administers student financial aid programs, which provide financial assistance for students who, without such aid, would be unable to attend Central Alabama Community College. Financial aid is designed to assist in the financing of the student’s educational expenses. Eligibility for assistance is based primarily on financial need. Need may be defined as the difference between the total cost of education (expenses such as tuition, fees, room, board, books, supplies, etc.) and the amount which the student and the students family can afford to pay as determined by the Federal Methodology Calculation. Financial aid workshops are offered at area high schools and at Central Alabama Community College locations each year to assist students and parents in understanding financial aid options.
Central Alabama Community College is approved to participate in the following programs: Federal Pell Grants; Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG); Direct Stafford Loans; Direct PLUS Loans; Federal College Work Study (FCWS); Federal Community Service College Work Study; Alabama Student Assistance Program Grant (ASAP); Vocational Rehabilitation; Workforce Investment Act; and Trade Adjustment Act.
In addition to the above listed programs, Central Alabama also participates in institutional scholarships, privately sponsored scholarships, and benefits for veterans and dependents of veterans.
A brief overview of the basic programs administered by the Financial Aid Office is as follows:
 
        I.            Federal Pell Grants are awarded to students who need money to pay for their education after high school. A Pell Grant is not a loan, so it does not have to be paid back as long as all requirements are being met. The award of a Pell Grant is calculated using the Department of Education’s Federal Methodology Calculation. The award is dependent upon the student’s and/or family of the student’s financial circumstances, the student’s cost of attendance, and whether the student is attending full-time or part-time. To be considered for a Pell Grant, a student must be an undergraduate student who does not already have a bachelor’s degree. Application is made directly to the Department of Education by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Pell Grants are not automatically renewed from one academic year to the next. Therefore, all Pell Grant recipients must reapply each year after completion of the Federal Income Tax Returns. In accordance with federal regulations, a student will only be eligible to receive 12 full-time semesters of Pell Grant funding during the student’s lifetime. For more information about Pell Grants, contact the Financial Aid Office.
 
      II.            Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
FSEOG program is for undergraduates with exceptional financial need. Pell Grant recipients with the lowest expected family contributions (EFC’s) will be considered first for a FSEOG. Just like Pell Grants, the FSEOG does not have to be repaid as long as all requirements are being met. To receive a FSEOG, a student must be an undergraduate student who does not already have a bachelor’s degree. Also, the student must be enrolled in at least six credit hours each semester. Financial need is determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Students need only to complete the FAFSA to receive consideration. Since funds are limited, not all eligible students will receive this grant. For additional information about the SEOG grant, contact the Financial Aid Office.
 
    III.            Direct Stafford Loans
The Department of Education administers the Direct Loan program. Subsidized loans are awarded on the basis of financial need. Interest is deferred prior to repayment beginning and during authorized periods of deferment. Unsubsidized loans are not awarded on the basis of need. Interest is charged from the date the loan is disbursed until the loan is paid. Parents can borrow a PLUS loan to help pay the educational expenses of their dependent undergraduate student who is enrolled at least halftime in an eligible program. Parents must have an acceptable credit history to receive a PLUS loan.
Interested students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) before receiving consideration for a Direct Loan. Borrowers at Central Alabama Community College (Central Alabama) are required to complete an online entrance counseling session and a promissory note online at www.studentloans.gov. Funds are sent directly to Central Alabama and posted to the student’s account. Balances due to the student will be disbursed by Central Alabama’s Business Office after all institutional charges have been paid. Students must be enrolled for a minimum of six semester hours to be eligible for loans.
 
    IV.            Federal College Work Study
Federal Work Study is part-time employment on and off campus. It allows students to earn a portion of the money which is needed to finance their education. Students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and a Central Alabama Community College Work Study Application to receive consideration. For more information about Federal Work Study, please contact the Financial Aid Office.
 
      V.            Alabama Student Assistance Program (ASAP)
The Alabama Student Assistance Program (ASAP) is a state aid program that provides financial assistance to Alabama residents for postsecondary education at participating colleges within the State of Alabama. Students make application by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). To be eligible, students must have demonstrated financial need. The student must be enrolled in at least six credit hours each semester to receive consideration for this grant. Since funds are limited, not all eligible students will receive this grant. For more information concerning the ASAP program, please contact the Financial Aid Office.


Federal and/or State Aid
Applying for Financial Aid: 
Students applying for financial aid must complete the following steps:
     I.            Students must apply for admission to Central Alabama Community College and complete all enrollment requirements prior to receiving financial aid awards. This process includes submission of official high schooltranscripts, GED scores and certificates, and official transcripts from all previously attended colleges to the Office of Enrollment Services. Transient students are not eligible to receive federal financial aid.
     II.            Students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at www.fafsa.gov  and list the Central Alabama federal school code (001007) on their applications. This application should be completed as soon as the student and/or the parents of a dependent student complete their Federal Income Tax Returns each year. Students are responsible for checking their MyCACC accounts frequently to determine if any additional documentation is required to complete the processing of their financial aid awards.
    III.            Approximately one-third of all financial aid applications are selected by the Department of Education for a process called verification. Documentation requirements will be posted to the student’s MyCACC account. Students are responsible for checking their CACC e-mail account and their MyCACC account frequently.
    IV.            Once all required paperwork has been received and verified, financial aid awards will be posted to the student’s MyCACC account. Financial aid payment is prorated based on student enrollment status and program of study. The LPN program is paid based on clock hour conversions. Questions regarding the conversion process should be addressed to the Financial Aid Office. To be considered for a Federal Direct Stafford Loan, the student must be enrolled for at least six semester hours.
 
IMPORTANT NOTICE:  Students are expected to attend all classes for which they are registered. Students ARE NOT eligible to receive financial aid for classes never attended or for audit courses.

Disbursement of Financial Aid Funds
On the first official day of class, tuition, fees, books, and supplies may be charged up to the total amount of the student’s financial aid award. Students are expected to attend all courses for which they are registered. Students who fail to attend a course(s) prior to the published required attendance date will be deleted from their course(s), which may result in an adjusted financial aid award.
Students’ Financial aid refund checks will be calculated by the Business Office. Tuition, fees, and bookstore charges will be subtracted prior to refund checks being mailed by the Business Office to the students’ address on file in the Office of Enrollment Services. The dates for mailing refund checks will be posted on the College web site. It is the responsibility of the student to ensure contact and mailing information is accurate and/or updated with the Office of Enrollment Services at least one full week prior to the scheduled date for mailing refund checks.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:  Students ARE NOT eligible to receive financial aid for classes they have not attended or for audit courses.

What does SAP stand for?

Central Alabama is required by the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, to establish standards of satisfactory academic progress (SAP) for students receiving financial aid under the Title IV Programs (Pell Grant, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, Work Study, and Direct Loans. Central Alabama students receiving financial aid from a Pell grant, the Federal College Work Study Programs, a Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, or any other Title IV Program must comply with the following standards of satisfactory progress:

• Program of Study
  

Students receiving financial aid must be enrolled as a regular student in a program of study leading to a degree or eligible certificate at the College. A regular student is someone who is enrolled or accepted for enrollment in an eligible institution for the purpose of obtaining a degree or certificate offered by the College. Some programs offered by the College are not federal aid approved. Inquiries about eligible programs should be directed to the Financial Aid Office. In order to receive federal financial assistance, all coursework must be required for the student’s declared program of study at Central Alabama. It is the responsibility of the student to make sure his or her declared program of study is accurate at all times in the Office of Enrollment Services. Students are responsible for meeting with advisors for guidance in course selection. Identification of courses not required for the student’s declared program of study at Central Alabama will result in cancellation or reduction of the student’s financial aid award.
 

• Program Completion
  

The maximum time frame allowed to complete a program of study without financial aid penalty cannot exceed 1.5 times the published length of a specific program. All hours attempted, including transfer hours, will be included in the maximum time frame calculation. For example, a student in General Studies, which is 64 semester hours in length, may attempt a maximum of 96 hours. The lifetime limit for Pell Grant funding is 12 full-time semesters. Students are responsible for making sure their declared program of study is accurate at all times in the Office of Enrollment Services.
 

• Required Grade Point Average and Credit HoursStudents enrolled in long-term certificate programs or degree programs (AS, AOT, or AAS) must achieve the following:
  

After Attempting:0-21 semester credit hours

Minimum Cumulative GPA:1.5
Completion Rate : 58%

After Attempting:22-32 semester credit hours
Minimum Cumulative GPA:1.75
Completion Rate :62%

After Attempting33 or more semester credit hours
Minimum Cumulative GPA: 2.0
Completion Rate :67%

Students enrolled in short-certificate programs (24 – 29 credit hours) must achieve the following:

After Attempting:0-12 semester credit hours
Minimum Cumulative GPA:1.5
Completion Rate: 58%

After Attempting:12 or more semester credit hours
Minimum Cumulative GPA:2.0
Completion Rate: 67%
All hours attempted, including transfer hours, passed courses, failed courses, incomplete courses, developmental courses and withdrawn courses, will be counted as credit hours attempted in determining completion rates and maximum time frame requirements.
Grades accrued at other regionally accredited postsecondary institutions, including other Alabama Community Colleges, are not included in the Minimum Cumulative GPA requirement. However, developmental (remedial) coursework received from Central Alabama will be included in this calculation for Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) purposes only.

• Financial Aid Warning
  

 If a student fails to achieve the required cumulative GPA or does not successfully complete the required percentage of hours, he/she will be placed on financial aid warning. Students on warning will be allowed to receive aid and will be notified of their warning status on their MyCACC account. Warning will be lifted in the subsequent term if the student attains the required cumulative GPA and/or successfully completes the required percentage of hours for the next term. If the student successfully completes his/her first warning semester, the student will be allowed to continue until he/she falls below the overall standards.
Financial Aid Suspension
If a student does not have the required GPA and completion rate after his/her warning semester, he/she will be suspended from federal financial aid. The student cannot use federal funding to pay for future courses until he/she regains eligibility by reaching the minimum standards of academic progress. If placed on academic suspension, a student is NOT eligible to receive financial aid for the duration of suspension, even if he/she is readmitted to Central Alabama upon academic appeal. The student may regain eligibility for financial aid when the overall satisfactory academic progress requirements are obtained.
A transfer student who has been suspended from another institution is not eligible for student financial aid until the student has completed at least 12 cumulative semester hours at Central Alabama or another regionally accredited institution. A student’s grade point average for those 12 semester hours must be a 2.0 or higher in order to receive consideration by Central Alabama for federal financial aid.

• Monitoring Progress
  

Academic progress will be monitored at the end of each semester, even at the end of a semester during which financial aid was not received. Students who do not meet the SAP guidelines at the time of the review will not be eligible for federal aid.

• Developmental Courses
  

A student may receive financial aid for up to 30 attempted developmental credit hours. If this number is exceeded, financial aid cannot cover any additional developmental courses. Students may not enroll in the same developmental course more than three times and continue to receive financial assistance for those courses. If a student needs to register for a developmental course more than three times, the student will be required to pay for the course.

• Repeated Courses
  

Courses assigned a grade of A, B, C, or D may be repeated with financial aid eligibility one additional time, assuming all other eligibility provisions are being met. Course assigned a grade of S, SA, SB, SC, U, UD or UF may be repeated up to three times. Courses assigned a grade of F may be repeated an unlimited number of times. However, all hours will be included in the satisfactory academic progress calculations.

• Incompletes
  

For financial aid purposes, a grade of I (Incomplete) is calculated the same as a grade of F (Failure) in determining grade point averages and in determining the minimum number of hours earned for completion of the program.

• Audit Courses
  

Audit courses are not considered credits attempted or earned. A student WILL NOT be paid financial aid for audit courses.

• Transient Students
  

A transient student is a student who attends another college and seeks credit for transfer back to that parent institution. Transient students are not eligible to receive financial aid at Central Alabama.

• Transfer Credit
  

Grades accrued at other regionally accredited postsecondary institutions are not included in grade point average calculations, but courses passed ARE counted in completion of the program requirements. (See the Transfer Student section under Academic Policies and Regulations for additional information applicable to all students enrolled at Central Alabama.)

• Official and Unofficial Withdrawals  Students who receive federal financial aid (Pell Grant, SEOG, and Direct Loans) may have their financial aid adjusted if they have a complete withdrawal during the semester. In addition, students who have a complete withdrawal status prior to the disbursement of aid for the semester may also result in an adjustment. This adjustment would be made based on assistance earned up to the point of withdrawal. Once a student has completed more than 60 percent of the semester, the student is considered to have earned all of their federal aid.
  

A student’s official withdrawal date is defined as the date the student officially withdraws from all classes for that semester.
A student is considered to have unofficially withdrawn for financial aid purposes when (1) the student does not complete the official withdrawal process; AND (2) the student earns failing grades (F, UD, or UF) in all courses for which he/she is registered for that semester. The student’s unofficial withdrawal date will be defined as the student’s last date of classroom attendance as determined and reported by his/her instructors.
Students who officially OR unofficially withdraw from all courses during a semester prior to attending 60 percent of the semester will owe some or all of their federal aid back to the institution and/or the Department of Education based on the Return of Title IV Calculation.

•  
• Reinstatement of Financial Aid
  

A student may have financial aid reinstated if he/she attends college, at his/her own expense, and is able to reach the minimum standards of satisfactory academic progress. It is the student’s responsibility to notify the Financial Aid Office when his/her grades are in compliance with Central Alabama’s SAP policy. Financial aid will not retroactively pay for any semester(s) during which the student was not eligible.
 

• Factors Affecting Financial Aid Eligibility  
  

Students who are not achieving satisfactory academic progress (SAP) as measured by the Financial Aid Office usually have experienced one or a combination of the following:
Receiving failing grades,
Repeating courses;
Officially or unofficially withdrawing from courses or withdrawing completely, and/or
Taking courses not applicable to their declared program of study.
(It is the student’s responsibility to make sure his/her program of study is reflected correctly in the Office of Enrollment Services

• Return of Title IV Refunds and Calculations (R2T4)
  

Title IV aid is earned based on the period of time a student remains enrolled. Unearned Title IV aid must be returned to the College and/or to the Department of Education. Unearned aid is defined as the amount of Title IV aid disbursed that exceeds the amount of Title IV aid earned.
If a student receiving federal financial aid completely withdraws or stops attending school prior to completing 60% of the length of the term, financial aid monies will be due back to the College and/or the Department of Education based on the formula calculated by the Financial Aid Office in accordance with the Title IV Refund calculation. These monies may be charged back to the student’s account and the student will be responsible for the repayment of these funds. A student who fails to earn a passing grade during the semester will be assumed to have unofficially withdrawn. For Title IV purposes, the student’s withdrawal date will be considered to be the last date of attendance as recorded by the instructor and the Title IV refund calculation will be performed accordingly.
 

• Scholarship Appeals Process
  

Students who feel they have received unfair suspension of their scholarships or have extenuating/mitigating circumstances may make an appeal to the Scholarship and Financial Aid Committee. Requests for appeals should be submitted to the Financial Aid Office. All appeals should be in writing and have supporting documentation. Extenuating/mitigating circumstances are defined as those that are beyond the student’s control such as personal injury, illness, death in the immediate family, income loss or undue hardship.
The Scholarship and Financial Aid Committee will meet monthly, or as needed, to address any written appeals. Only completed appeals will be considered. In order to be considered a complete appeal, the appeal must be written and be accompanied by supporting documentation. Applicants will receive notification of the decision via email and/or letter. The decision of the Scholarship and Financial Aid Committee is considered final with no further appeal process available.
 
Student Rights and Responsibilities 
Students have the right to ask Central Alabama Community College:
The name of its accrediting and licensing organizations;
About its programs, its institutional laboratories and other physical facilities, and its faculty;
About the cost of attending and its policy on refunds to students who withdraw;
What financial assistance is available, including information on all federal, state, local, private, and institutional financial aid programs;
What are the procedures and deadlines for submitting applications for each financial aid program;
What are the procedures and deadlines for submitting applications for each financial aid program;
What criteria are used to select financial aid recipients;
How financial need is determined;
How and when students on financial aid will receive a disbursement;
How the school determines whether a student is making satisfactory progress and what happens if the student is not; and
What special facilities and services are available to persons with disabilities.

It is the student’s responsibility to:

• review all information about the College programs before enrolling;
  
• pay special attention to the Free Application for Federal Student Financial Aid (FAFSA), complete it accurately, and submit it timely to the proper office;
  
• know and comply with all deadlines for applying and reapplying for financial aid;
  
• provide all additional documentation, verification, corrections, and/or new information requested by the Financial Aid Office or the agency to which application was made;
  
• read, understand, and keep copies of all forms the student is asked to sign;
  
• repay any student loan obligations and/or request deferment information from the lending agency;
  
• notify the Office of Enrollment Services of any change in the student’s name, address, program of study, or attendance status;
  
• understand the refund policy;
  
• call the Financial Aid Office and request that the SAR be pulled down electronically or bring in his/her copy; notify the Financial Aid Office of a change of program and request a transfer evaluation.
  

NOTE: Specific information about eligibility and current procedures for applying for financial aid can be obtained from the Financial Aid Offices at the Alexander City campus, the Childersburg campus or the Talladega Center and the Millbrook CACC office.