Step 4: Maintain Your Eligibility

Student Rights

As a student applying for or receiving financial aid, you have the right to know: 

• The financial aid programs available to you
• The procedures and deadlines for applying
• The cost of attendance (Student Budget)
• The criteria used in offering aid and how Student Need is determined
• The terms and conditions of any aid accepted
• How and when aid will be disbursed
• The College's refund policy
• The repayment consequences of withdrawing from the College
• How Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) is evaluated and what happens if it is not maintained
• How to appeal decisions concerning aid

Student Responsibilities

As a student applying for or receiving aid, it is your responsibility to: 

• Monitor your ExpressLane, myFinances account weekly
• Complete applications accurately and on time
• Read and follow all instructions when submitting information
• Read and retain copies of all forms you submit
• Choose an academic program and understand the requirements for your program
• Comply with the terms of any Federal Work Study job accepted
• Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Standards
• Notify us if you receive educational funding from sources that do not appear on your offer letter
• Borrow wisely

At Lane, there are a few courses that you can take over and over, but they are the exception and not the rule. Typically, these repeatable courses are in PE, arts, and music.

Most courses are subject to the financial aid repeat rule. The repeat rules for financial aid mean that the Department of Education will pay for you to retake a class if:

You have failed it and earned an ‘F,’ ‘W’ or a ‘NP’ you can repeat the class as many times as you want, until you pass it or your run out of financial aid.
If you pass a class with at least a ‘D-’ you will get one more repeat ever.
If you transfer in a course that you have already passed, you will get one repeat of that class.

Be aware, that even if you can repeat a course that you have not passed it will affect your Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards and continue to use your lifetime financial aid eligibility.

The Department of Education assumes that students "earn" their financial aid over the course of a term by attending and participating in classes. You cannot "earn" all of your funds unless you attend and/or academically participate for more than 60% of the term. This calculation counts all calendar days, including the first and last day of each term, weekends and holidays.
If you withdraw or stop attending before 60% of the term has passed, you do not "earn" all of your financial aid funds. 

Federal regulations require the college to return the unearned portion of your tuition and fees to the Department of Education. The college will re-assess the tuition and fees no longer paid by the returned financial aid. 

Any amount of financial aid returned to the Department of Education as a result of a withdrawal will result in a charge on your student account and must be repaid under the conditions set by the College.

• Late fees are assessed monthly.
• Your account may be sent to collections for non-payment.
• Registrations for future classes may be dropped.
• Ability to register for classes and/or make changes to your schedule may be suspended.

Please know that unearned aid must be returned to the Department of Education, even if you have documented extenuating circumstances. There are no exceptions.