Rights and Responsibilities

Rights

Access to financial aid procedures, deadlines and personal records, and assurance of confidentiality.

Responsibilities

Take the time to learn about your responsibilities and the funds you have borrowed. Loans affect you after law school. The fiscal-responsibility skills you will develop are transferable to the legal profession and will help make you a responsible lawyer.

• Enrollment — Maintain at least half-time enrollment.
   
• Satisfy Aid Requirements — Provide all necessary documentation to the Office of Financial Aid in a timely fashion (necessary documents such as proof of citizenship, proof of selective service registration, verification of FAFSA data and copies of tax returns).
   
• Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) — Federal regulations mandate that the Law School is required to conduct a review of your academic record and to certify that you are making satisfactory academic progress toward your degree.
  
  For purposes of this certification, every full-time J.D. student who has (1) successfully completed at least 75 percent of attempted credits and (2) achieved a cumulative GPA higher than 2.2 by the end of the second semester at Hofstra Law will be considered to be making satisfactory academic progress.
  
  Every part-time J.D. student who has (1) successfully completed at least 75 percent of attempted credits and (2) achieved a cumulative GPA higher than 2.2 by the end of the second semester at Hofstra Law will be considered to be making satisfactory academic progress.
  
  Maximum timeframe for completion: Students must complete the degree within 150 percent of the program’s required credit amount (130.5 attempted hours for the J.D. 87 credit hour requirement).
  
  Please note that these criteria are not identical to the residency requirements for full- and part-time status at the Law School.

If any of these requirements are not met each year that you borrow federal aid, you are no longer eligible to receive aid.

• Change of Status — Notify Office of Financial Aid of any changes of status, such as living arrangements (on-campus/off-campus) and enrollment by credit load. These changes should also be corrected on your FAFSA.
   
• Withdrawal — Hofstra Law has developed a procedure for withdrawing from the Law School without completing a program. For more information, please review the withdrawal procedure.
   
• Academic Leave — If you require an academic leave, you must apply for permission in writing to the Office of Student Affairs. Academic leaves will be granted only upon a showing of compelling circumstances.
  
  Upon recommendation of the dean, the University will remit tuition (except for the admissions seat deposit submitted by incoming first-year students) as follows:

The deadline to apply for an academic leave is the same as the last day to withdraw from classes during that semester. Academic leaves are granted for no more than 12 months. Consult the Office of Academic Records for the withdrawal deadline for the semester.

• Title IV Refunds — Students who withdraw from the Law School and who have received or were eligible to receive funds from Federal Stafford Loan (unsubsidized or subsidized) and Graduate PLUS programs are subject to federal regulations relating to the refund of Title IV aid and to Hofstra Law’s refund policy for all other payments. The amount of refundable institutional charges shall follow the Law School’s refund schedule.

Upon a student’s withdrawal during a period of enrollment in which they have begun attendance and have received federal Title IV aid, the University is required to determine the amount of earned and unearned Title IV aid. A student is only eligible to retain the percentage of Title IV aid disbursed or could have been disbursed which is equal to the percentage of the enrollment period actually completed by that student. The unearned Title IV aid must be returned to the appropriate federal aid program(s). This federal formula considers the date of withdrawal, the form of aid and the amount of aid credited to the student or previously refunded to the student. If the student has completed more than 60 percent of the enrollment period, no Title IV aid needs to be returned.

Unearned financial aid dollars, which must be returned to the federal aid programs, may create a balance owed by the student to the University. Students remain responsible for such financial obligations.

In addition to the amount of federal aid that the University must return, students receiving federal aid directly from Hofstra or other sources toward other educational costs, including off-campus living expenses, may be required to repay a portion of those funds to the federal programs. Failure to return the aid to the federal aid programs may result in loss of eligibility for additional financial assistance. Federal aid funds to be returned are distributed to the programs in the following order:

1. Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans
2. Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans
3. Federal PLUS Loans
4. Other Title IV Programs

You are responsible for the timely repayment of any student loan borrowed to cover the cost of your education.