How the math works
Federal aid is considered earned day by day. Withdraw at the 30% mark and you've earned 30% of it; the rest is returned to the government, first from loans, then grants. Because tuition may not be refunded on the same schedule, the returned aid can leave a bill you're responsible for.
Do it in the right order
An official withdrawal on a documented medical or personal hardship can qualify for a tuition adjustment and sometimes a partial-term arrangement that a silent stop-attending never will. Start with the Dean of Students Office; loop in Financial Aid before the paperwork is final so there are no surprises.
In and around Porter Falls
The Porter Student Help Desk in Founders Union 118 is the single place to start when it is not obvious which office owns a question.
The practical details
Trigger: Withdrawing from every class, officially or by stopping attendance, before ~60% of the term has passed. Result: The school and you may have to return a prorated share of federal aid; you can end up owing a balance. Before you withdraw: Talk to Financial Aid and the Dean of Students — a medical or hardship withdrawal has different options. Anything time-sensitive — an accommodation, a booking, a deadline — is worth confirming directly before you rely on it, because the specifics here can change from term to term.
If you have a question
The office behind this is Porter Student Help Desk (Founders Union, Room 118). Call (715) 555–0120 or email help@uwporterfalls.edu during the fall and spring terms, or sign in to MyPorter to send a message or book a time. If it turns out another office owns the question, they will route it rather than send you back to the start.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.