Fees and Financial Aid

Fee Payment

Tuition fees must be paid in full at the time of registration. All checks and money orders for tuition should be made payable to THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. An authorization to bill may be presented in lieu of payment if the student is registering through business or military agreements or certain scholarship programs. The official date of registration is the date Independent and Distance Learning issues receipt of full-fee payment or receives authorization to bill for full payment.

A financial flag will be placed on a student's record at the University of Georgia if a check written for tuition or payment of other fees is returned for any reason. A student should not stop payment on a check. Stopping payment on a check does not cancel a course registration nor the student's obligation to pay fees.

Independent and Distance Learning will not process lessons and examinations or release grades for the course, nor will a student be permitted to register for any course at the University of Georgia, until full payment has been received and any penalty charge has been paid.

• If you are enrolled only in Independent and Distance Learning courses, your enrollment status can never be considered to be more than half-time. Students enrolled in a combination of regular and Independent and Distance Learning courses may have reduced student financial aid eligibility as shown on the chart below:
  

  Regular	Independent and Distance Learning	Adjusted Total Course Load	Status
  0	6-12	6	Half time
  2	6	6	Half time
  3	3	6	Half time
  3	6	6	Half time
  3	9	6	Half time
  6	3	9	Three-quarters time
  6	6	12	Full time

  
  
• If you enrolled solely in Independent and Distance Learning courses, your "cost of attendance" will only include tuition, fees, books, and supplies. No living expenses (housing, meals, etc.) will be factored into the cost of attendance and you will not receive more student aid than the total of your tuition, fees and a book allowance. Hope recipients will not be eligible to receive student loans if they are enrolled only in Independent and Distance Learning courses.
  
  
• Although Independent and Distance Learning rules allow students to take up to nine months to complete each course, student financial aid regulations require that aid recipients complete the course by the end of the regular day class dates for the semester in which they are enrolled. Please consult your Student Financial Aid counselor at (706) 542-6147 regarding Satisfactory Academic Progress for Student Financial Aid Recipients.
  
  
• University of Georgia students who receive student financial aid (i.e., loans, grants, tuition reimbursements, or scholarships) must pay tuition/fees in full at the time of registration unless a UGA deferment request has been approved by IDL. The Independent and Distance Learning office must receive payment of any deferred tuition within fourteen (14) calendar days (including the registration date) to prevent placement of a financial flag on the student's UGA record.
  
  
• If you are awarded Federal Pell Grant and/or Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) you are subject to specific disbursement requirements. Federal Pell recipients must complete 50% of the lessons or otherwise complete 50% of the work scheduled for the term whichever occurs last before a disbursement is made for hours registered through Independent and Distance Learning. Before receiving a FSEOG disbursement the first completed lesson must be submitted. It is essential that you clarify with the Student Loan, Grants and Scholarship Department at (706) 542-2965 the policies related to your student financial aid disbursement prior to enrollment.
  
  
• When UGA students receive student financial aid and withdraw totally from classes, any available refunds must be returned to the financial aid source in order to comply with federal and state financial aid regulations.

Tuition for students registering for nonresident credit

Tuition for UGA students registering for resident credit

Students who formally withdraw from an Independent and Distance Learning course within the time period described below will be entitled to a tuition refund.

For a student in a traditional, face-to-face UGA class, the refund period is the semester for which he/she is enrolled (typically 15 weeks). Because an IDL student may enroll at any time, and because the distance learning format has different requirements, the refund period for an IDL course enrollment is 20 weeks (140 days) from the individual's date of enrollment. The refund percentage will be computed on a pro rata basis determined by dividing the number of calendar days remaining in the refund period (from the student's official withdrawal date through the end of the student's refund period) by the total calendar days in the refund period. The total calendar days in the refund period includeds weekends and holidays, but excludes scheduled University of Georgia breaks of five or more calendar days. Students who withdraw from an IDL course when the calculated percentage of remaining days is 40% or less are not entitled to a refund of any portion of the tuition and fees. For example, in the case of an enrollment period that includes no scheduled UGA breaks of five or more days, a student is eligible for a refund during the first 84 calendar days from his/her date of enrollment.