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Office of Financial Aid
University of Mississippi

FINANCIAL AID CONSEQUENCES
WHEN ATTENDANCE HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED

The policy below relates ONLY to Federal Title IV aid (Pell Grant, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant, SEOG, TEACH, Work-Study, Direct Loans, and PLUS loans). Institutional awards (such as Academic Excellence Scholarships and McKinstry Loans) and state grants (such as MTAG, HELP, and MESG) are not included.

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Please know that you establish eligibility for federal aid only if you actually “SHOW UP” for your classes. Therefore, your presence in a class will be documented by the instructor through taking roll or by use of attendance ID scanners. This will be done at one of the class meetings within the first two weeks of class for a regular Fall/Spring semester (shorter time frames apply for mini-terms like Winter Intersession and summer).

All courses must be verified. Note that this policy also applies to online classes, thesis/dissertation hours, labs, Study Abroad, and internships – although the methods of “attendance collection” are modified.

Federal aid is affected by non-attendance in the following ways:

  1. Once the semester starts, disbursement of Title IV aid will be held until the University confirms that you have attended at least one class. (For summer terms, no federal aid will be released until an instructor has documented attendance in at least one class).
  2. Special rules apply for Pell, SEOG, and TEACH because the award amounts are based on your enrollment level. They are subject to being adjusted if your enrollment changes.  Here is how that works.
    • For financial aid purposes, the award year is defined as three combined terms:
      • Fall (Fall Semester, Fall 1 mini-session, and Fall 2 mini-session)
      • Spring (Winter intersession, Spring Semester, Spring 1 mini-session, and Spring 2 mini-session)
      • Summer (May intersession, First Summer mini-session, Full Summer mini-session, Second Summer mini-session, and August intersession.
    • Each semester and mini-session has a Mandatory Drop Date (MDD). Financial Aid will check your enrollment following each MDD.  We will “lock in” your enrollment for ALL sessions in that combined term following the MDD of the LATEST session in which you are enrolled.  ONLY those courses where attendance has been verified will be counted.  So please be aware that if you had previously dropped classes, they will NOT be counted into your enrollment level at “lock in”.  These are the credit hours that will be used to determine your final aid eligibility for the term.
    • Any previously disbursed aid may have to be adjusted to them, which may mean reduced aid amounts and/or paybacks. Please visit https://registrar.olemiss.edu/academic-calendar-menu/ to confirm the MDD for each term.
  3. Disbursed Federal Direct Loans and PLUS Loans are subject to being reduced or paid back if the student does not have confirmed attendance on record for at least half-time enrollment in the combined term. (Please be aware that loans can also be reduced if the Cost of Attendance must be adjusted. Contact the Financial Aid Office for more information.)

On or after the MDD, you may be dropped from classes that you failed to attend. And you will still be responsible for your tuition and fees. So don’t let that happen! For more information, please visit https://olemiss.edu/departments/provost/office-of-the-provost/go-to-class/ .