Financial Aid
Financing a college education can be an overwhelming experience. As costs continue to rise, LBC | Capital continues to provide a variety of financial aid options. LBC | Capital participates in the federal and state aid programs. The College also offers many scholarships, as well as other opportunities, to help students finance their education.
For complete details on financial aid opportunities, visit the Financial Aid & Tuition section of the website for seminary and graduate education.
All students are subject to the academic standards of the college, which can be found in the college catalog. In addition, students receiving financial aid must also meet other requirements as described below in order to continue to receive financial aid.
Academic Year Definition
The academic year for the Seminary and Graduate School is defined as 32 weeks (fall and spring semesters,) and the optional summer term which is treated as a trailer to the defined academic year.
For the programs requiring summer terms, (EdD, PhD in Biblical Studies) the academic year is defined as 48 weeks of instruction.
Satisfactory Academic Progress Requirements
In order to maintain financial aid eligibility, a student must meet the following requirements of satisfactory academic progress:
Qualitative Requirement: Grade Point Average
| Graduate and Doctoral Programs |
3.00 GPA |
| Seminary Programs |
2.50 GPA |
These cumulative GPAs should not be confused with GPAs required for graduation. Check graduation requirements in the catalogs and program handbooks.
Quantitative Requirement: Students must successfully complete a minimum of 67% of the credit hours attempted after each semester.
Maximum Time Frame for Completion of Education Objective: Students must complete their degree program within 150% of the published length of their degree program.
Evaluation of Academic Progress
Students' academic progress will be reviewed at the end of each payment period (semester.) Students who are not successfully meeting the minimum levels, as outlined above, have not made satisfactory academic progress and will be notified of this via email. The first time a student fails to make satisfactory academic progress at the end of a payment period, they will be placed on a “Financial Aid Warning.” The student may continue to receive Title IV aid for one payment period, and no appeal is necessary for this semester.
Subsequent failures to meet financial aid satisfactory academic progress will result in an SAP Not Met status and ineligibility to receive Title IV aid. Students have the opportunity to appeal.
Appeal Process
Students may appeal financial aid termination status. Such appeals should be made within
45 days after the date of notification and must include appropriate documentation. The appeal may be completed through the online portal on lbc.studentforms.com. Examples of mitigating circumstances may include but are not limited to:
• student illness, accident or hospitalization
• death or illness of parent or relative
• other family emergencies or unusual circumstances
The appeal must include why the student failed to make satisfactory academic progress, and what has changed that will allow the student to make satisfactory academic progress for the next semester.
If the appeal is granted the student will then be placed on “Financial Aid Probation” and will be allowed to receive Title IV aid for the next payment period or be placed on academic plan that will ensure the student is able to meet satisfactory academic progress by a specific point in time.
Financial aid eligibility will be reinstated once the student reaches the required minimums or upon successful appeal.
Course and Enrollment Factors in Evaluating Academic Progress
Audit Courses: Audit courses neither earn credit nor influence grade point average. They are not eligible for financial aid.
Change of Major: If students change majors, the credits earned under all majors will be included in the calculation of attempted, earned, and maximum timeframe credits, as well as GPA calculations.
Incomplete Courses: Incomplete courses do not earn credit nor influence grade point average for the qualitative standard in the semester they are listed as incomplete, but do count into the quantitative measure. Incomplete courses either turn into an “F” grade if not completed or into a different letter grade when completed. Once the course is complete and a grade is entered, a review of academic progress for both measures will occur at the next time of formal evaluation.
Remedial Courses: Remedial courses will count toward determination of enrollment status, will be eligible for financial aid, and are included in determining completion rates.
Repeated Courses: Students may repeat a failed course numerous times until it is passed. Students may repeat previously passed courses only once. Repeated courses will count toward determination of enrollment status and previously passed courses will be eligible for Title IV financial aid only once. Repeated courses are computed in the completion rate as both credits attempted and credits earned. Higher grades replace previous grades for repeated courses which in turn will impact the GPA (qualitative) metric.
Requirements for a Part-Time Student: Students who are part-time (below 12 credits) must complete 67% of credits attempted per year in order to maintain academic progress. Cumulative grade point average requirements are the same as the full-time students.
Summer Courses: Students may make up credit deficiency, increase cumulative GPA, or progress more quickly through their program by attending summer courses. Credits earned during the summer term, and corresponding GPA, will be evaluated following the summer term to determine academic progress for the previous payment period.
Transfer Students: LBC accepts transfer credits. The credits that are transferred are calculated into the overall credits earned and credits attempted but are not factored into the cumulative GPA when a student transfers into LBC. Therefore, new transfer students will start at a satisfactory academic progress level. A student’s progress will be evaluated after each semester (payment period.) Transfer credits are included in both credits completed and attempted in determining completion rates.
Withdrawn Courses: Withdrawn courses neither earn credit nor influence grade point average. Withdrawn courses may affect completion rate if course is dropped after the add/drop period set by the Registrar. Students may retake courses from which they have withdrawn which will count toward determination of enrollment status in that semester and will be eligible for financial aid.
Failure Non-Attendance (FN) Courses: FN courses do not earn credit, but they influence grade point average. FN courses may affect completion rate if the grade is received after the drop/add period set by the Registrar’s Office. Students may retake courses from which they received an FN which will count toward determination of enrollment status in that semester and will be eligible for financial aid.
Federal Financial Aid Refund Policy
The Financial Aid Office is required by federal statute to determine how much financial aid was earned by students who voluntarily or involuntarily withdraw prior to completing 60
percent of a payment period or term.
Per the academic policies as listed in the yearly catalog, official and unofficial withdraws are determined below:
Determining Dates for Unofficial and Official Withdraw
Course Withdraw:
Official Withdraw - As per the catalog, to officially withdraw from a course, the student must complete the course withdraw form found on the student portal. Once complete the
student will receive a grade of “W”. The date of determination, course withdraw date, will be the date the student initiated the form.
Unofficial Withdraw – As per the catalog a student who stops attending/participating in a course with no communication with the professor and no completion of an official course withdraw form, will receive a failing grade, (FN – failure due to non-participation or F – Failure). The date of determination, withdraw date, will be the last date of recorded
attendance in the course.
Withdraw from College:
Official Withdraw from College - As per the catalog, to officially withdraw from the institution, the student must connect with their advisor/success coach. Students must fill out the Withdraw from College Form that will be supplied to them through student affairs or their success coach. The date of determination, withdraw date, will be the date the student initiates the withdraw from college form.
Unofficial Withdraw from College - As per the catalog a student who stops attending/participating in a course with no communication with the professor and no completion of an official course withdraw form, will receive a failing grade, (FN – failure due to non-participation or F – Failure). If the student does not register for the following subsequent semesters, and has no communication with their success coach, the student will be withdrawn from college. The date of determination, withdraw date, will be the last date of recorded attendance.
Once 60 percent of the enrollment period has elapsed in a non-modular program, or if a student has successfully completed 50 percent of a term in a modular program, the student in most cases is considered to have earned their federal aid. For example, if students pass sub-term 1 but withdraw from sub-term 2, they may be eligible to keep all or some of their federal aid.
In either scenario, a school must still complete a return of Title IV funds calculation in order to determine the student’s eligibility to receive or keep federal financial aid funds. The calculation is based on the percentage of earned aid using the following Federal return of Title IV funds formula.
The federal return of Title IV funds formula is the percentage of payment period or term completed (I.e. the number of days completed up to the withdrawal date) divided by the total days in the payment period or term. (Any break of five days or more is not counted as part of the days in the term.) This percentage is the percentage of earned aid.
Funds are returned to the appropriate federal program based on the percentage of unearned aid using the following formula:
Aid to be returned = (100 percent of the aid that could be disbursed minus the percentage of earned aid) multiplied by the total amount of aid that could have been disbursed during the payment period or term.
If a student earned less aid than was disbursed, the financial aid office is required to return a portion of the funds. When Title IV funds are returned, the student borrower may owe a debit balance to the institution.
If a student earned more aid than was disbursed to him/her, the institution owes the student a post-withdrawal disbursement (PWD) which must be paid within 120 days of the student's withdrawal. Grants are disbursed within 45 days of the date of determination of withdraw and students will be notified of any loan eligibility to be offered within 30 days of the date of determination of withdraw. Students will then have the option to accept or decline the loans within 14 days of the notification from the Financial Aid Office. If no response is received from the student, the loans will be canceled.
Any Title IV credit balance resulting from the post-withdrawal disbursement must be disbursed to the student within 14 days.
The institution must return the amount of Title IV funds for which it is responsible no later than 45 days after the date of the determination of the date of the student's withdrawal.
Excess funds will be returned in the following order:
• Unsubsidized Federal Direct Loans
• Subsidized Federal Direct Loans
• Federal Parent (PLUS) Direct Loans
• Federal Pell Grants for which a Return of funds is required
• Federal Supplemental Opportunity Grants for which a Return of funds is required
• Other assistance under this Title for which a Return of funds is required (e.g., State, institutional and private aid) Please note that enrollment changes can have a significant impact on Title IV eligibility.