Verifying Participation and Loss of Aid Eligibility

Federal financial aid is awarded based on the expectation that a student will participate in all of their courses through the last day of the term. If a student fails to participate in one or more of their courses a return of federal aid may be required. OSU instructors automatically report student participation when they enter a non-passing grade for a student.

For DPP students, the OSU Office of Financial Aid is not able to directly contact partner school instructors to obtain participation information. In cases where participation information is required from a partner school instructor, the student is notified through their OSU student email (see more information on this process under DPP).

Financial aid repayment for non-participation may be required:

  1. If there is no evidence that a student participated in any of their courses for a given term, 100% of the financial aid disbursed for that term must be returned.
  2. If a student fails to pass any courses for a given term, the Office of Financial Aid may be required to complete a Return of Title IV Funds calculation to determine how much of the aid received by the student was earned through course participation. This process may lead to a partial or full return of financial aid depending on when the student ceased participation in their courses.
  3. If a student passes at least one course but drops, withdraws, or fails to receive a passing grade in other courses, the Office of Financial Aid may still be required to adjust that student’s financial aid. These adjustments are required in cases where instructors are not able to provide evidence of the student’s participation or course completion. 

Please Note: Evidence of course participation may not be submitted by the student. Participation information must always be submitted directly from an instructor to the Office of Financial Aid

These adjustments are required by the Department of Education and are not at the discretion of OSU or the Office of Financial Aid. References to these rules may be found in 34 CFR 668.21 and the Federal Student Aid Handbook Volume 5 (pg 5-8 in the 2020-21 Handbook)

Degree Partnership Program (DPP) and Verifying Participation at Partner Schools

The OSU Office of Financial Aid is not able to directly contact partner school instructors to obtain participation information. In cases where participation information is required from a partner school instructor, the student is notified through their OSU student email. This email will be sent after the term has ended and the Office of Financial Aid has been notified that a non-passing or incomplete grade was received in one or more partner school courses. It will contain instructions to contact the partner school instructor and request the participation information be sent directly to the Office of Financial Aid. Due to the time-sensitive nature of this process, it is very important for DPP students to check their OSU student (ONID) email regularly after the term has ended. Failure to verify participation may result in the reduction or full loss of financial aid eligibility for the term.