Financial Aid Policies

Merit Scholarship Eligibility

Program	Requirement
Graduate Full-Time Program	The student must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above and must be enrolled between 10-18 units per term.
Graduate Part-Time Program	The student must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above and must be enrolled at a minimum of 4 units per term. The scholarship will be renewable for the next 5 terms.
Undergraduate Program – BSM	The student must maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or above and must be enrolled at least a minimum of 6 units per term. The scholarship will be renewable for the next 5 terms.

Your total institutional award amount cannot exceed the total tuition charge. If the student’s total institutional award amount exceeds the total tuition charge, the award amount will be adjusted or canceled.
If the student chooses another program, the scholarship amount may be adjusted or canceled.
The scholarship award will be rescinded if the student withdraws from the courses during the trimester.
Scholarship award amount may be reduced or canceled if you receive other tuition specific financial assistance, such as government-sponsored education benefits, employer education benefits, VA benefits, or Pepperdine staff/faculty discount.
The scholarship award amount is not transferable to a future term if the student decides to defer the admission.

Enrollment Policy

A student’s financial aid eligibility is determined based on enrollment status. Most federal and state funds require students to be enrolled at least half-time to be eligible for financial aid.

	Graduate	Undergraduate
Less-Than-Half Time	-	Below 6 units
Full-Time	6 units or above	12 units or above
Three-Quarter Time	-	9-11 units
Half-Time	3 units	6-8 units

Verification Policy

Once students complete and submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to the Central Processing System (CPS), there is a possibility that the application will be selected for a process called verification. Verification is a process PGBS is required to perform confirming that the data reported on your FAFSA form is accurate. CPS usually selects the application for verification based on conflicting data, a change from the prior year, or due to the random selection process. The PGBS Financial Aid Office is also authorized to require additional documentation in cases with conflicting information. If selected, the student must provide the documentation requested by PGBS within the active academic year.

Disbursement Policy

Students must accept and/or decline their financial aid awards via WaveNet in order for the funds to apply towards students’ accounts. Financial aid funds are credited to students’ accounts as they are received and after the student’s enrollment level has been confirmed. The funds will be credited directly to the students’ accounts. If there are funds in the students’ financial aid package that exceeds students’ charges, the funds will be refunded to the student.

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

The Financial Aid Office is required by federal law to monitor the academic progress of federal financial aid recipients. When accepting federal and state financial aid, the student acknowledges his/her obligation to maintain SAP according to the standards established below. If a student fails to meet these standards, the student will be placed on financial aid warning or suspension.

Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards

	Graduate	Undergraduate
Qualitative Standard	Cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above	Cumulative GPA of 2.0 or above
Quantitative Standard	Must complete 67% of units attempted Grades of F, IN, NC, and W count as units attempted with zero units earned. Transfer units are counted as both attempted and completed.
Maximum Time-Frame Standard	Must complete the degree program within 150% time-frame, meaning 150% of the specific degree program’s published length (1.5 x number of credits)

Academic progress is evaluated at the end of each trimester. Failure to meet any of the SAP requirements results in placement on financial aid warning status for the following trimester. Students who do not meet all the SAP standards at the end of the financial aid warning period will lose their eligibility to receive financial aid for future trimesters. To regain financial aid eligibility, students must submit a written appeal to the Financial Aid Office. If the appeal is granted, students are placed on financial aid probation and have one trimester to satisfy the probation requirements. Financial aid is terminated for students who fail to satisfy the probation requirement.

Withdrawals and Refunds

Refunds Due to Withdrawal
The student may be eligible for a full or partial refund of tuition payments if they withdraw from the course(s) during the trimester. The withdrawal date is the date the student notifies the Program Office regarding his/her withdrawal from the course or the trimester.

Return of Title IV Funds
Withdrawal from the course(s) at or prior to completion of 60% of the trimester may result in loss of eligibility to keep the full amount of the disbursed federal funds. Unearned Title IV funds are returned as stated in Federal Regulations, 34 CFR parts 668, 682 and 685, Return of Title IV Aid. The refund amount is calculated based on the Federal Return of Title IV Funds pro-rata schedule.

Federal funds will be returned in the following order:

Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan
Federal Direct Subsidized Loan (undergraduate students only)
Federal Direct PLUS
Federal Pell Grant (undergraduate students only)
Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (undergraduate students only)
Other federal, state, private, or institutional aid

Students who complete more than 60% of the trimester maintain their eligibility for disbursed federal funds. After all charges and returns of Title IV funds are finalized, the credit balance, if any, will be released to the student.