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Withdrawals and refunds

Course Withdrawals for Graduate Students

Students may drop a course online through the day before a course begins and charges will be reversed. 

After the course begins, students may only withdraw from a course and will be assessed a drop fee. Tuition refunds will be based upon the number of calendar days a student has completed upon the official date of withdrawal. There will be no tuition refunds after the student has completed at least one third of the course. All requests for withdrawals must be emailed to the Registrar’s Office from the student’s Messiah email account to gradregistrar@messiah.edu. The Graduate Refund Policy can be found in the Tuition and Fees section of the Graduate Studies Catalog. 

Dropping or withdrawing from a course may reduce a student’s financial aid eligibility.  Students should contact Student Financial Services, gradfinancialserv@messiah.edu,  prior to dropping or withdrawing from a class to find out if their aid will be affected by their decision.

Due to regulations established by the Maryland Commission on Higher Education, Maryland residents have a distinct refund policy that can be found here.  If you have questions regarding these policies please contact the Office of the Provost.

Leave of Absence or Withdrawing from University

It is important to understand how taking time off may affect financial aid, so be sure to contact us with any questions first.  Review our Re-enrollment, Leave of Absence, and Re-admission policies here.

The online form can be found at FALCONlink>Notification to Withdraw/Transfer or Take Leave of Absence.

Account Refunds for Graduate Students

Refunds can be requested by graduate students who have a credit balance on their student account. Refund checks take approximately 2 weeks to be received in the mail. If Direct Deposit is set up, a refund will be deposited into the bank account on file in approximately 1 week.

The online form can be found at FALCONlink>Request Student Refund.

Return of Title IV Funds for Federal Direct (Stafford) Student Loans

Return of Title IV Funds applies to a Direct loan recipient who withdraws from or leaves school before completing the payment period or period of enrollment.

First, the graduate refund policy is followed to determine if any portion of tuition will be refunded, then an additional calculation is completed to determine if any loan funds must be returned to Direct Loans to remain in compliance with federal regulations.

  • At Messiah University the period of enrollment is a semester.
  • Messiah University will determine the percentage of aid earned by the student by calculating the percentage of the period that the student completed.  For credit-hour programs, Days Attended/ Days in period = percentage completed.
     
  • Any unearned funds must be returned. The percentage of loan that a student is allowed to keep may differ from the percentage of tuition remaining on their account per the university’s refund policy. This would result in a balance due to the university.

Since some graduate programs at Messiah University have two parts of term in each semester, there may be situations where a student withdraws from the early part of the term but still plans to attend classes in the latter part of the term.  In this case, Return of Title IV Funds is not required if written confirmation is received. However, if the student does not follow through and attend the later session, the situation will be considered a withdrawal and a return may be required.

  • The student must give the institution written confirmation that he or she will attend a class in the part of term that begins later in the same payment period or period of enrollment.
     
  • This written confirmation must occur at the time of withdrawal.