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When you get federal financial aid (also known as Title IV funds), like a Pell Grant or FSEOG, it’s based on the idea that you will stay in school for the whole semester.
If you drop or withdraw from all your financial aid eligible classes, you might not get to keep all the money you were given. By law, IVC must do a special calculation to see how much of your aid you “earned” and how much must be returned. This is called a Return to Title IV Calculation.
The money is returned in this order:
If you need to return some of the money:
You can call the U.S. Department of Education at 1-800-621-3115 if you have questions.
If you’re still eligible for some financial aid after the calculation, you’ll get a Post Withdrawal Disbursement letter.
This letter will tell you:
Once you accept it, the money will be sent to you within 45 days.
If you are owed any money back (called a credit balance), it will be sent to you within 14 days.
For the 2025–26 school year, these dates show when 60% of each full semester course has passed. The dates may be different if you are only enrolled in short term courses.
| Payment Period | 60% Point |
| Fall | October 16, 2025 |
| Winter/Spring | April 30, 2026 |
| Summer | July 15, 2026 |
Your withdrawal date is the last date of academic related activity as reported by your instructor, not the day you dropped the course on WebSTAR.
We will use the latest date from all your dropped financial aid classes. If your instructor does not give a date, we may use the middle of the payment period as your withdrawal date.
If you do not pass any of your financial aid classes, we must treat you as if you withdrew from school. In that case, we will have to recalculate your financial aid using the withdrawal date explained above.
If you believe your last day of class activity was later than what was reported, you can contact the Financial Aid Office to ask about an appeal. Your instructor will need to confirm your last date of academically related activity.
If you’re thinking about dropping classes that count for financial aid or leaving school, it’s a good idea to talk to an academic counselor first. There may be programs or services that can help you stay on track with your education.
Watch our video about dropping classes or withdrawing from school.
State financial aid includes money from the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC), like Cal Grant A, B, C, and the CHAFEE Grant.
If it is determined that you dropped your classes before finishing more than 60% of the semester, any pending disbursements will be canceled. If you drop after the 60% point, you won’t have to pay any state aid back.
If you were given too much money (overawarded), your aid will be corrected in the CSAC system, and IVC will send the extra money back. If this causes you to owe money to IVC, a hold will be placed on your account until you pay it back.