Policies and Procedures

Students earn their federal financial aid every day that they attend class. In good faith, the college disburses that aid to students at the start of the quarter so that students can purchase books and supplies as well as pay tuition and fees.

When a student receives financial aid funding but then stops attending or withdraws from all of their classes, they have stopped earning their financial aid funding and must return some or all of it to the US Department of Education. This process is called Return of Title IV.

Repayment of Financial Aid Funds Policy

In accordance with federal Title IV regulations, students who complete zero credits, stop attending, or officially withdraw from all of their classes on or after the first day of the quarter may owe a repayment on a portion of the Financial Aid funds they received for the quarter. The policies apply to all federal Financial Aid except work study earnings. The last date a student attended class, officially withdrew, or notified Highline College of the intent to withdraw is used to determine the last date of attendance and used to calculate the repayment amount i.e. the amount of “unearned” funds.

The Financial Aid Office determines your last date of attendance and completes a complex series of equations to determine how much financial aid you are eligible for based on the total number of days you attended and how much aid you received.

The Return of Title IV calculation has two parts, the School Return Portion and the Student Return Portion.

Based on the Return of Title IV equation, the college may be required to return a portion of the financial aid funding you received and is currently being used to pay your owing balance at Highline. When the college returns this funding to the US Department of Education, we immediately bill you, the student for the generated owing balance, and that balance is due immediately.

If you need to drop all of our courses, it’s important that you visit the Financial Aid Office so we can explain the full ramification to your continued financial aid eligibility.

Return/ Repayment of Financial Aid Funds Policy

Students may repeat a failed or withdrawn course a maximum number of three times. After the third attempt, the student must pay out-of-state tuition for the 4th and all subsequent attempts.

 

Once the class is passed, a student may only attempt the course one additional time while receiving financial aid funding, regardless of whether the student passes, fails, earns too low of a GPA, or withdraws from the course, that is the final time a student may receive financial aid funding for that course.

 

If the class is a required class for the student’s program of study, and the student has exhausted their eligibility attempts while on financial aid, the student’s subsequent aid will be canceled and the student will not be eligible for any financial aid in any class at Highline until the mandatory course is passed or substituted and the substituted class is passed. In this case, the student will be given a Financial Aid Status of Maximum Timeframe, but this Maximum Timeframe status cannot be appealed.

Students in this situation must send an email to the Financial Aid Office when they pass the course so their financial aid can be reinstated. The Highline Financial Aid Office will then reassess the student’s eligibility for aid, and award the student from remaining available funding.

Students should be aware that repeating the same class over and over again could result in triggering the Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy, especially the status Suspension, or Maximum Timeframe.

Terms and Conditions define the “fine print” of the agreement the student makes with the Financial Aid Office when they accept their Financial Aid Awards. It is extremely important that students read and understand the Terms and Conditions. For this reason, the Terms and Conditions are linked directly on the Financial Aid Award Letter. The Financial Aid Award Letter reminds students that by accepting any of the funding listed on their Financial Aid Award Letter, they are agreeing to follow the Terms and Conditions.

Terms and Conditions may not be negotiated or altered by the student in any way. Highline College reserves the right to change the Terms and Conditions at any time, and without individual student notification, though an announcement must be made on the Financial Aid Office website homepage.

There are two types of Terms and Conditions, General and State. All students are subject to the General Terms and Conditions. Students receiving State funding including Washington College Grant, College Bound, and Passport to College must also follow State Terms and Conditions.

General Terms and Conditions:

• You must be enrolled in an eligible degree or certificate program to receive any financial aid at Highline College.
• Failure to accept the Financial Aid listed on your Award Letter within 30 days of the date listed on the letter may result in the cancellation of the offer.
• Federal Direct Loans require you to complete a Promissory Note and an online Loan Entrance Counseling session.
• Your credit hours will be locked on Census Day. The date is updated every year on Highline’s Financial Aid website. Financial Aid Awards will be adjusted based on enrolled credits on Census Day. If you received more funding than you should have due to dropping credits before Census Day, you are required to immediately repay the funds you received and any Student Account charges.
• All funds offered must first go toward payment of direct educational expenses as reflected on your Student Account (e.g. tuition and fees). The remaining funds may be disbursed to you in the form of a Financial Aid Refund Check. You may only use this money for education-related expenses.
• You are required to report any additional tuition waivers, scholarships, grants, or loans not shown on the Award Letter to the Financial Aid Office by email at financialaid@highline.edu. Failure to do so may void your funding.
• Financial aid will be prorated based on your enrollment level. In general, full-time students will receive 100% of their offered aid, three-quarter-time students will receive 75%, half-time students will receive 50%, and less than half-time students will receive 0% of grant aid.
• Your enrollment level is based only on classes needed for your Highline program of study. You must declare to the Financial Aid Office, in writing, any courses you are taking each quarter that are not required for your Highline program. If the Financial Aid Office determines that you received aid for a class not needed for your Highline program, some or all of your financial aid will be voided and you will be billed for the ineligible aid received, up to 7 years after receipt of funds.
• Credits enrolled per quarter must meet the Federal Repeat Rule as defined on the Financial Aid Website.
• The total of all financial aid (scholarships, loans, etc.) may not exceed your Cost of Attendance for a given year. The Cost of Attendance figure listed on your Award Letter is based on information obtained from your FAFSA.
• By accepting any part of this and subsequent Award Letters, you certify that you have read, understand, and accept the Satisfactory Academic Progress and Return of Title IV policies. Your Offer of Financial Aid is void if you become ineligible for any reason, including not making Satisfactory Academic Progress or academic disqualification.
• The Highline College’s Financial Aid Office reserves the right to review, modify, or cancel Offers of Financial Aid at any time on the basis of information affecting your eligibility. This includes, but is not limited to, changes in your financial, marital, residence, or academic status, or changes in the availability of federal, state, private, or institutional funds and may occur without prior notice. These changes will be reflected on your ctcLink Portal and under most circumstances, will not be accompanied by any other written notification. Awards may also be modified based on disciplinary action taken against a recipient or on the discovery of processing errors.
• Students must commence attendance in all registered classes to be eligible for financial aid. The commencement of online classes requires the students to actively engage in the class by posting on a message board, submitting an assignment, or engaging with the instructor. For in-person classes, the student must physically go to class during the scheduled class time.
• Highline is not responsible for personal debts incurred by students before or after the Financial Aid Refund is issued. In short, the student may not spend the Financial Aid Refund Check before the funds are received by the student, if they do, they assume all liability for any of those debts.
• You cannot receive Financial Aid for audited classes or any other class status where credit is not earned.
• You may only receive Financial Aid at one school per quarter. Students who receive aid from multiple schools during the same period are liable for the full return of all aid disbursed to them by Highline College.

• Students may only receive financial aid for one completed degree at Highline.  However, students can petition for a second degree.  Students must write a statement to the Financial Aid Office explaining why they need the second degree.  While most student requests for a second degree will be approved, you should know the number of quarters you can receive financial aid in your lifetime is limited.  If you pursue a second AA-level degree you will run out of financial aid before you can finish a BA or BAS level degree.
• Highline students are eligible for a maximum of 4 major changes while receiving financial aid. The student can freely change their major 3 times with simple written notification to the Financial Aid Office at financialaid@highline.edu however, to change the major a 4th time, the student must meet with the Director of Financial Aid to discuss the final major change. After the meeting, the student will be locked into the final major and will not be allowed to change again while receiving financial aid at Highline College.
  • Any change of major, even returning to a previous major, constitutes a change of major and will not be allowed after the 4th major change.

Alternative Loans or Private Loans are currently not available at Highline College.  These loans will not be certified by the college and will be denied by your lender.

An Income Reduction is where a Financial Aid Staff member uses a student’s current year family information rather than prior-prior year (2-year-old information) on the FAFSA or WASFA. Income Reductions are considered a Professional Judgment and fall within the purview of the college which must have a policy regarding when Income Reductions will be performed.

 

Highline’s policy is to perform an Income Reduction only when requested by the student, and only when reducing that income will result in a better Financial Aid Award Letter for the student. The following criteria determine initial student eligibility to request an Income Reduction:

• Students are allowed only one Income Reduction during their entire time at Highline College. This is important for the student and the Financial Aid Staff to consider when requesting or approving an Income Reduction.
• The Income Reduction Form will not be made available to students until July 1 of a given year.
• Students may not complete the Income Reduction Form until after they have received either a Financial Aid Award Letter or a Determination Letter.
• The burden of proof is placed on the student to show that the loss of income is through no fault of their own.
  •  Students (and/or parent/spouse) who quit a job or reduce hours willingly, even to attend school, may not receive an income reduction.
  •  Students (and/or parent/spouse) who are fired for cause or quit, may not receive an income reduction, unless the individual shows evidence of pursing a wrongful termination suit, or
    shows that while they were fired or quit, the employer is at fault, for example quitting a job due to sexual harassment or unsafe work conditions.
  • Veterans, whose tour of duty has ended may apply for an Income Reduction.
  • Loss or changes to job or income due to COVID are eligible for an Income Reduction regardless of reasoning.
•  Income Reductions are generally not approved to disregard one-time lump sum payments such as for a lawsuit settlement, inheritance, or gambling winnings.
•  Unemployment benefits will be included in the Income Reduction.
•  The student is responsible for providing the Financial Aid Office with all requested information to perform the Income Reduction. Failure to provide documentation within 30 days will void the Income Reduction request.
•  If the Income Reduction request is denied, the Financial Aid Office will send a notification to the student indicating why.
•  The Financial Aid Office reserves the right to refuse to share our methodology or calculations used to determine the Income Reduction; though the student is entitled to a general overview of the Income Reduction calculation.
• The Income Reduction process will always be performed in the best interest of the student as determined by the Financial Aid Office.

Students who wish to peruse the Income Reduction must complete the form and submit it to financialaid@highline.edu along with needed supporting documentation as listed on the form. Additional items may be requested during the Income Reduction review process and students must submit those documents within 30 days or the initial request will be denied.

• Consortium agreements allow a student to either be a Highline student taking classes at another college, or a student at another college taking classes at Highline. Consortium agreements are contracts established between the two colleges, and neither college is obligated to allow a consortium agreement, even if one was allowed previously or for another student.
• Consortium agreements must be submitted no later than 4 weeks before the start of the quarter in which the agreement will be enacted. There is no exception to this policy as the forming of the contract with the other institution and ours takes time and resources.
• With the consortium agreement, a Highline student will be paid financial aid at Highline and will receive a Financial Aid Refund. The student will either be required by the other institution to pay for tuition and fees up front, or to use the Highline Financial Aid Refund to pay—that is up to the other school and needs to be worked out between the Highline student and the other institution. Highline College will NOT disburse funds early for a student so they can pay the other institution by a certain date.
• Students coming to Highline from another institution must pay for their Highline classes by the tuition and fee due date at Highline. Consortium students will not be held in classes if their tuition and fees are not paid by the due date. In some cases, it may be beneficial for these students to sign up for a payment plan to reduce their out-of-pocket expenses while they wait for the refund from their institution.
• Highline and the other institution agree to exchange important information about the consortium agreement student, this information can include but is not limited to: enrollment, grades, financial aid status and award, add/dropping/withdrawing activity, and any information pertaining to funding, owing balances, or the Return of Title IV calculation including information provided by your professors.
• Highline students will NOT receive additional financial aid disbursements from Highline until Official Transcripts are received from the other institution showing the student passed the courses paid for, the student is meeting Highline’s Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements, and the transcript is evaluated and credits added to the student’s Official Highline Transcript. Any costs associated with obtaining an Official Transcript every quarter the student is on a consortium agreement is the responsibility of the Highline student. Highline’s Financial Aid Office will not hold the student in classes pending this process, so students will likely need to be prepared to pay out-of-pocket or set up a payment plan.
• Students may not receive financial aid funding for classes that are not needed for their program of study at Highline.

You may not Audit a class while receiving financial aid funding. If it is discovered that you audited a class while receiving financial aid funding, you will be required to repay some or all of the financial aid you received. There is no exception to this policy. The Financial Aid Office may go back as far as 7 years to bill students for aid received when auditing a class.

• As a courtesy to students, Highline College’s Financial Aid allows students to authorize another individual to obtain FERPA protected information on their behalf. As Highline is committed to protecting the safety and security of student information, our process of information release is extremely strict and is non-negotiable.
• Unfortunately, many parents and others trying to help their students have instead caused undue hardship for their student and the Financial Aid Office by being overly aggressive and demanding in their requests for information. Because of this, the Financial Aid Director reserves the right to limit or revoke a student’s release of information. A notice of revocation will be sent to the student only.
• Please remember that Financial Aid belongs to the student, not the parent, spouse or guardian. Highline staff will help the student navigate the process of Financial Aid because it is the student who is ultimately responsible for agreeing to and following the terms and conditions of financial aid. While we respect the student’s desire to bring another party into the discussion of financial aid, if we feel that party is “taking over” the process from the student or “completing the process for them” we will also revoke the Release of Information.
• Ultimately, our goal is not punitive, but a student applying for financial aid is engaging in a legally binding agreement with severe lifelong consequences for misunderstanding policies. In an effort to serve our students, we will revoke abused Releases of Information.
• Students who bring “guests” with them to a student appointment will be required to complete a Release of Information form good for that day only. The “guest” must provide a government-issued picture ID, and their name must exactly match what is written on the Release of Information. The Financial Aid Office and staff reserve the right to discontinue conversations that they feel are no longer beneficial to the student, likewise, the Financial Aid Staff may request the “guest” to exit the appointment and wait in our designated waiting area for the student.
• Students may complete a Release of Information good for the entire Financial Aid Award Year, but only for items pertaining to that Award Year. It is at the discretion of the Financial Aid Office which materials will be shared or reserved from the person listed on the Information Release Form.
• To set up the Information of Release form, the student must come in with a government-issued picture ID and complete the Release of Information form. The person designated on the form may only receive information in person by coming into the Financial Aid Office and showing a picture ID that exactly matches the information on the Release of Information Form. The Financial Aid Office staff will make the final determination regarding whether the person showing a picture ID meets the criteria to receive information. No information will ever be given through any other communication channel except in person.

• The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), also known as the Buckley Amendment, is a federal law that helps protect the privacy of student education records, while also defining the obligations and practices that institutions must adopt and implement in order to be in compliance.
• The Highline Financial Aid Office takes FERPA regulations very seriously and will go above and beyond to protect student information through all stages of the financial aid process. Under certain circumstances, this may limit the student’s ability to authorize others (Information Release) to obtain FERPA protected information.
• The Highline Financial Aid Office reserves the right to refuse to allow a student to grant an Information Release to another individual under any circumstances except those covered under federal disabilities act. We may terminate an existing Information Release form at any time without prior notice to the student or the information recipient.
• Our policy is to require picture identification whenever someone asks for FERPA protected (non-general) financial aid information. Picture identification will be checked to verify name and likeness to the individual requesting the information. The Financial Aid Office will accept government or state-issued identification cards, passports, or Highline College Student ID Cards. The Financial Aid Office reserves the right to question any identification presented, and to refuse to provide FERPA protected information until supporting evidence can be submitted by the individual to prove their identity.
• If picture identification is not available, the Financial Aid Office will ask three randomly chosen questions to confirm the student’s identity matches existing data in our system. The student must answer all three questions exactly right to gain access to FERPA protected information. The Financial Aid Office determines whether or not the question was answered “exactly right”. If one of the questions is incorrect, the student will be informed that they did not get all of the questions right and must come in with picture identification to obtain information. The Financial Aid Office will not share which question was answered wrong and will ask all three questions regardless of the right or wrong answer to prevent pattern recognition.

The Financial Aid Office prefers that donors send scholarship checks directly to our office rather than to the student recipient. Checks should be mailed no later than 3 weeks before the quarter starts to ensure timely disbursement to the student recipient. Please mail the check to:

Highline College
Financial Aid M/S 6-5
PO Box 98000
Des Moines, WA 98198-9800

Scholarships should be sent to the Financial Aid Office with an “Award Letter” indicating, at a minimum, the following information for processing or the check may be returned to the donor:

• Student recipients name
• Student’s Social Security Number or Highline College Student Identification Number
• If the student has a common name, please also include their date of birth.
• Total amount of scholarship for the academic year
• How much the student should receive each quarter
• Minimum enrollment level (full-time, or part-time), minimum GPA requirement
• Contact name and number/email of the donor in case we have questions.
• Contact the address for the donor in case we need to return the check.

The Financial Aid Office does not like to make assumptions regarding scholarship checks, however, if an “Award Letter” does not accompany the check or does not state otherwise, the Office will apply the following policies:

1. The total amount of the check will be disbursed equally to the student over all quarters of expected attendance (Fall, Winter, Spring).
2. The full amount will be disbursed regardless of student enrollment level, as long as the student is enrolled in at least one credit at Highline.
3. The full amount will be disbursed regardless of the student’s GPA unless they do not meet our college’s Academic Progress minimums.
4. The Office will follow our college’s Academic Progress Policy when determining if a student is eligible to receive the funds.
5. The college will return to the donor any funds that would cause the student to receive more aid than the student’s Cost of Attendance.

Within 6 weeks of the quarter start, the Office will return any funds to the donor which cannot be disbursed to the student.

• The Financial Aid Office encourages students to seek funding assistance for pre-nursing classes through the Workforce Office as options for financial aid are complex and limited.
• Typically, students interested in Nursing pursue one of two options, they take only the pre-nursing courses needed to get into the Nursing program, about 45 credits, or they complete an AA degree, getting their pre-nursing credits done as the AA degree’s electives, and finish the 90 credit program before moving onto the Nursing program.
• The Financial Aid Office has only one option for students interested in completing just the 45 pre-nursing credits, a Prerequisite Loan. The Prerequisite loan is available for only one calendar year from the first disbursement of the loan, the student must be in a minimum of 6 credits each quarter, and the total loan cannot exceed $8500. Typically, this is not enough to pay for the 45 credits needed. In addition, students may only receive one Prerequisite Loan in their lifetime, and Nursing students should be wary of using this loan in their undergraduate work as many Nurses choose to get their Master’s Degree in Nursing and may need the loan to make the transition between the Bachelor’s degree in Nursing and the Masters in Nursing program.
• Alternatively, students can complete a 2-year degree such as the AA, completing the pre-nursing requirements as part of the AA’s required electives. These students are eligible for full financial aid funding through the AA degree and most, if not all, of the Nursing degree. This pathway does take longer (additional 45 credits) but as nursing is a competitive degree at all colleges, having an AA so that you can work until you’re admitted into a nursing program may be worth the extra time. In addition, not all students who pursue a Nursing degree have high enough grades to get into a nursing program. Having an AA degree to fall back on may be extremely helpful to a large number of students.
• Students may not pursue an AA or 2-year degree with the intention of getting full financial aid and only completing the 45 Nursing prerequisite courses. Students should meet with their Academic Advisor for more information about available Per-Nursing pathways.