Policies & Other Information

Financial Aid Policies

Gainful Employment Disclosures
The institution implemented the rescission early on gainful employment reporting for 2018-19. The decision was based on the Department of Education’s published final rule rescinding the Department’s gainful employment regulations in the Federal Register. The institution is not required to comply with the certification for GE programs under 34 CFR 668.414.

Course Eligibility

The following courses are not eligibility for Financial Aid.
ALH5202 — Certified Medication Aide
ALH5203 — Home Health Aide
ALH5210 — Restorative Aide
ALH5218 — IV Therapy
ALH5237 — Principles of Phlebotomy
ALH5238 — Phlebotomy Field Experience
COS5109 — Cosmetology Instructor Training
COS5110 — Nail Technology
Ineligible unless pursuing a degree:

ALH5212 — Certified Nursing Assistant
EMS5601 — Emergency Medical Technician 1
EMS5602 — Emergency Medical Technician 2
EMS5605 — EMT

Verification Policy For Federal Aid Recipients

All FAFSA’s selected by the Central Processing System (CPS) will be verified 100% by the Financial Aid Office. Any FAFSA with an asterisk beside the EFC number on the Student Aid Report (SAR) has been selected.
Documentation required for verification (but not limited to) will be:

  1. IRS Tax Return Transcript (for both the student and parents if applicable). Order this transcript at www.irs.gov. (Copies of tax returns)
  2. Untaxed income such as deferred compensation, child support received and/or paid out or workers compensation.
  3. Student Certification Form (Print from your Financial Aid Portal)
  4. Verification Worksheet (Print from your Financial Aid Portal)
  5. High School Transcript, GED or Home School Diploma.

The Financial Aid Office will inform the student by email and mail of the verification process and what items will be needed to complete their file.

Students will access their Financial Aid Portal accounts to view documentation needed and print forms needed. After the initial email is sent, all further email correspondence will be sent to the student's Cowley Student Email account.

The Financial Aid Office reserves the right to select any file for verification that appears to have conflicting or incorrect information listed.

Students may turn in paperwork to complete their files in person, by email, mail or fax to the following locations:
Cowley College
Main Campus - Admissions
125 South 2nd Street
Arkansas City, KS 67005
Mulvane Center
430 E. Main St.
Mulvane, KS 67110
Wichita Downtown Center
532 South Market Street
Wichita, KS 67202

Consortium Agreement Policy

A Consortium Agreement is an agreement entered between two colleges for the purpose of determining and disbursing federal aid for a student who is enrolled in both colleges within the same semester. Only one college can disburse aid to a student within the same semester. The Consortium Agreement allows the “home” institution to include the hours and costs at the “host” institution when determining the student's federal aid eligibility for the semester.

To initiate a Consortium Agreement, the student must provide a copy of their enrollment at the “host” institution to the Financial Aid Office at the “home” institution. The “home” institution is the college that will be disbursing aid to the student. The “home” institution will send the Consortium Agreement to the Financial Aid Office of the “host” for verification of enrollment and costs. The tuition and fee portion of the student budget will be adjusted to reflect the respective tuition rate for courses taken at each institution. The student's aid eligibility will be determined based on the total number of hours enrolled and costs of the two colleges.

The student will be responsible for payment at the “host” institution according to their payment policy and deadlines. Cowley will not send payments to the other college. All aid will be disbursed to the student according to Cowley’s disbursement schedules.

Satisfactory Progress will be monitored and administered according to the progress policy of Cowley College for the semester indicated in the agreement.

The student will be responsible for providing a completed grade transcript from the “host” college to Cowley upon completion of the semester included in the agreement. Failure to provide transcripts of completed courses will result in the student's records being placed on hold at Cowley. No further aid will be processed at Cowley until all transcripts of grades are received.

Students receiving Stafford Loans only must be enrolled in at least six hours at Cowley to initiate a Consortium Agreement.

Consortium Agreements must be renewed each semester. It is the student's responsibility to initiate the process by informing the Financial Aid Office of their enrollment.

Policy for the Return of Title IV Funds

Federal Student Aid funds are awarded and disbursed at Cowley College on a standard semester basis. Students are awarded under the assumption that the student will attend the entire semester for which the aid was awarded. When a student withdraws or ceases attending all courses, the student may no longer be eligible for the full amount of federal funds awarded and/or disbursed for the semester.

If a student receiving federal Title IV aid, which includes grants and loans, withdraws or ceases attending all courses within the first 60% of the semester for which the aid was awarded and disbursed, the college must determine how much of the aid awarded for the semester was actually earned based on the number of days in the semester the student actually attended or the date the student officially withdrew. The college will return to the appropriate program, all funds that were unearned for the semester based on the calculation. The student will be responsible for all unpaid charges on their student account due to proration and the return of federal funds. The student will be notified in writing of the unpaid charges and will have 45 days from the notification date to repay the college.

In determining the amount of funds to be returned, Cowley  College uses software provided by the Department of Education to calculate the amount of unearned aid to be returned by the college and/or by the student. This is a Pro Rata Calculation. In the event the funds have not been disbursed at the time the student withdraws, the college will calculate the amount that the student should have received at the time of withdrawal and disburse aid accordingly to the student.

In documenting an official withdrawal, the college will use the date posted in the registration system. For unofficial withdrawals, the college will use the date reported by the instructor of each individual course, as the last date of attendance.

Federal funds to be returned will be returned to the appropriate programs from which the student received aid in the order mandated by the Department of Education: 1.Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans 2.Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans 3.Federal PLUS Loans 4.Federal Pell Grants 5.Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants.

The Financial Aid Office monitors attendance throughout each semester. Satisfactory progress is checked with final grades at the end of each semester. Students determined to have officially or unofficially withdrawn within the first 60% of the semester will be required to repay federal aid that has been awarded. The amount to be repaid will be calculated within 30 days of the determination that a student has withdrawn. Students should access the policy on how to request an “Official Withdrawal (255.00)”.

Timeframe for the return of Title IV funds
The college will return all title IV funds due based on the calculation, both the college portion and the student portion (if applicable) The return of funds will be made no later than 45 days after the date of the institution's determination that the student withdrew. The student will be notified in writing if they owe a balance to the college due to the return of title IV funds.

Post Withdrawal Disbursement
If the total amount of title IV grant or loan assistance, or both, that the student earned as calculated is greater than the total amount of title IV grant or loan assistance, or both, that was disbursed to the student or on behalf of the student in the case of a PLUS loan, as of the date of the institution's determination that the student withdrew, the difference between these amounts must be treated as a post-withdrawal disbursement.

The college will disburse directly to a student any amount of a post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds that is not credited to the student's account. The college will make the disbursement as soon as possible, but no later than 45 days after the date of the institution's determination that the student withdrew. Loan funds that make up the post-withdrawal disbursement will be made only after obtaining confirmation from the student or parent in the case of a parent PLUS loan, that they still wish to have the loan funds disbursed.

Return of Title IV Funds Due to Overaward
Students are awarded Federal Pell Grant based on the amount of credit hours enrolled and attended for a semester. Those levels are the following: 12 hours – fulltime, 9-11 hours – three quarter time, 6-8 hours – halftime and 1-5 hours – less than halftime. If a student withdraws from a course(s) without charges for that course(s), after being awarded at a higher level of enrollment, the student may owe a repayment back on the Federal Pell Grant.

In the case of an overaward, Cowley will return the amount of the overaward back to the Pell Grant program within 30 days of the determination. The student will be responsible for repaying Cowley for the overaward balance. The student will be notified in writing of an overaward balance.

Contact Information
financialaid@cowley.edu
Fax: (620) 441-5350

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