Deadlines + Policies

Kansas City Art Institute is required to establish minimum academic standards that students must meet to be eligible for both institutional and federal financial aid. To receive financial aid, all students must meet these minimum standards. Failure to meet one or both minimum standards for two consecutive semesters means the student will no longer be eligible to receive financial aid. The maximum timeframe to receive federal aid to complete a bachelor’s degree cannot be longer than 150% of the published length of the education program. KCAI’s Bachelor of Fine Arts degree is a 4-year program.

Students must meet both a qualitative (GPA) and a quantitative (total number of hours successfully completed) requirement to maintain satisfactory academic progress (SAP).

Qualitative Requirements – minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0

Quantitative Requirements – complete and pass at least 67% of the cumulative credit hours attempted

Merit and competitive scholarship recipients are required to maintain a higher minimum standard to renew their scholarship. Click here for more information.

Transfer hours included in a student’s program are calculated into the cumulative attempted and earned credits, but are not factored into the KCAI cumulative GPA.

Both credit hours attempted versus earned (quantitative) and cumulative GPA (qualitative) are evaluated at the end of each semester. If students do not meet one or both of these requirements they will be placed on financial aid warning for one semester. A notification will be sent to the student’s KCAI email account that they have been placed on a warning status. During this warning period students will continue to receive federal aid. If, upon completion of the warning period, students do not meet the minimum requirements, they will be placed on financial aid suspension and lose their federal aid.

Students may appeal their suspension status by submitting a letter to the Director of Financial Aid. The appeal letter must include the following information:

Why the student failed to make satisfactory academic progress; i.e., death of a relative, injury or illness or other extenuating circumstances
What actions will they take to ensure they will meet the minimum requirements, if reinstated

Students appealing their academic dismissal status do not need to submit a separate appeal for SAP. The SAP appeal process will be combined with the academic dismissal appeal hearing process.

If a suspension appeal is approved by the Director of Financial Aid or through the academic dismissal appeal process the following will occur:

Student will be placed on an academic plan that will be made in collaboration with their academic advisor or follow the academic plan that was developed during the academic dismissal process
After a copy of their academic plan has been provided to the Financial Aid Office, the student will be placed on financial aid probation for one semester and allowed to retain their federal aid

At the end of the financial aid probation period, if students:

have met SAP requirements, they will be removed from financial aid probation
have not met SAP, but are complying with their academic plan they will remain eligible for their federal aid and will be removed from financial aid probation
have not met SAP or the requirements of their academic plan, they will no longer qualify for federal aid

Factors That May Affect Your SAP

Change in Major – All attempted credits will be included in your total attempted hours regardless of a major change.

Audited Courses – Audit grades are not considered in attempted coursework and will not be included in your completion rate.

Repeat Coursework – Repeated courses will count toward your total attempted hours qualitative evaluation. If you repeat a course and earn a grade of C or better, you can apply for grade forgiveness. With grade forgiveness, the original D or F grade remains on your transcript, but is no longer included in your cumulative GPA; only the higher grade will be calculated as part of the qualitative cumulative GPA requirement. All attempted hours will be included in the quantitative completion rate. You may repeat a course two times and receive financial aid for the course.

Incomplete Courses – Incomplete courses are included in your total credits attempted rate, but are not calculated in your completion rate until you are assigned a final grade. The registrar’s office will notify the financial aid office after an incomplete

Remedial Courses – Remedial courses are not accepted or offered at KCAI.

Withdrawals – A course with an earned grade of “W” is included in attempted hours.

Payment Deadlines

Tuition and fees plus living center charges, if applicable, are due in full 17 calendar days prior to the first day of the semester. Students must ensure that all financial obligations are met by the published due dates. It is the sole responsibility of the student to access their tuition and fee account on MyKCAI and meet all financial deadlines.

Term charges will be made available for viewing approximately six weeks before the start of the semester. If payment is not received by the due date, the student forfeits his/her registration and is dropped from his/her classes. Once fees are paid, the student may re-register for class if a space in the class still exists.

Any prepayment or financial aid is deducted from the bill, providing all financial aid requirements are met.

Registration Deadlines

Students who do not complete the financial aid process (if applicable), registration and make payment in full prior to 17 calendar days before the first day of the semester will be assessed a late fee of $200. Students who find it necessary to withdraw from the college before completion of the semester should follow the KCAI withdrawal/refund policy. (see below)

Withdrawal + Refund Policy

According to federal regulations, KCAI must use the withdrawal date for refund calculations as “either the date the student officially notifies the school that he or she is withdrawing or the last date of class attendance that the school can document.” The Kansas City Art Institute has adopted the following withdrawal policy to establish charges based on the amount of time completed in the enrollment period.

Tuition Refund Policy

Before 5 pm on the last day of the add/drop period: 100%
Before 5 pm on Friday of the second week of class: 75%
Before 5 pm on Friday of the third week of class: 50%
Before 5 pm on Friday of the fourth week of class: 25%

Anytime after the beginning of the fifth week of class there will be no tuition refund adjustments given. All institutional aid will be reduced by the same percentage of tuition refund.

Federal Refund Policy

For those students who are eligible and receive federal financial aid, the following federal refund policy applies. The focus of the policy is to return the unearned portion of the federal financial aid for the enrollment period. The refund will be calculated based on the date you begin the official withdrawal process, the last date of the documented attendance or, for an unofficial withdrawal, the mid-point of the term or the last documented date of attendance. If a student withdraws from school on or before 60% of the term is complete, then the percentage of unearned Title IV federal aid shall be returned by the school and possibly by the student.

All federal aid returns will be completed within three weeks after the school’s determination date, but no later than 45 days.

The following distribution of returned funds is as follows:

Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan
Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan
Federal Perkins Loan Federal PLUS Loan
Federal Pell Grant FSEOG (Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant)
Other Title IV aid programs
Other federal sources
State, private, or institutional aid

The Student's Role

Students must complete all withdrawal procedures to be eligible for a refund. In all cases of withdrawal, no fees will be refunded. Financial aid recipients may be required to return all or a portion of financial assistance (federal and/or institutional aid) received if they withdraw from school during the semester, which may result in a balance due from the student. The Financial Aid Office will perform the required R2T4 (Return of Title IV Aid) calculation to determine the amount of federal aid that must be returned. An R2T4 email notification will be sent to the student’s KCAI and personal email accounts notifying the student the amount of federal aid they were eligible to retain and/or the amounts to be returned. KCAI will return both the school and student repayment amounts to the Department of Education. The student will be contacted by the Business Office and allowed to set up a satisfactory payment plan to pay any balance due as a result of the federal aid return. KCAI will not release an official transcript until the balance has been paid in full.

If students are called by the Reserves into active duty, or if they are required to withdraw for health reasons, they may request a refund. If approved, the refund will be on a pro-rata basis. No reduction in liability is available to students who withdraw from the Institute except when approval is given by the proper authorities or in previously cited instances. Individual fees are not refundable after the first day of the term.

Check registration schedules and the KCAI calendar for exact liability deadline dates each semester. Withdrawal from courses does not automatically cancel housing or meal plans. It is the responsibility of residents in the Living Center to notify the Dean of Students or Campus Activities Coordinator of their intent to withdraw from KCAI as penalties for housing and meal plans are calculated based on the date of withdraw.

Financial Aid Code of Conduct

The Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) requires institutions of higher education participating in the administration of educational loan programs to develop and publish a code of conduct that prohibits conflicts of interest for financial aid personnel. In compliance with this law, the Kansas City Art Institute adopted this Financial Aid Code of Conduct. Any KCAI employee, or agent who has responsibilities with respect to student financial aid must comply with this Financial Aid Code of Conduct as set forth below.

Ban on Revenue Sharing Arrangements

Kansas City Art Institute shall not enter into any revenue-sharing arrangements with any lender nor accept any fee or other material benefit in exchange for recommending a lender to its students.

Gift Ban

No KCAI officer, employee or agent with student financial aid responsibilities shall solicit or accept a gift from a lender, guarantor, or servicer of educational loans. For purposes of this prohibition, the term “gift” means any gratuity, favor, discount, entertainment, hospitality, loan, or other item having a monetary value of more than a de minimus amount, but does not include:

Standard materials, activities or programs on issues related to a loan or financial literacy, such as a brochure, a workshop or training.
Food, refreshments, training or informational materials furnished to an KCAI officer, employee or agent as an integral part of a training session that is designed to improve KCAI’s services.
Favorable terms, conditions or borrower benefits provided to a student employed by KCAI if comparable terms are provided to all KCAI students.
Entrance and exit counseling services provided to borrowers as long as KCAI’s staff is in control of the counseling and the counseling does not promote one specific lender.
Philanthropic contributions to an institution unrelated to educational loans.
State educational grants, scholarships or financial funds administered on behalf of a state.

Contracting Arrangements Prohibited

A KCAI employee or agent with student financial aid responsibilities shall not accept from any lender or affiliate of any lender any fee, payment, other financial benefit (including the opportunity to purchase stock) as compensation for any type of consulting arrangement or other contract to provide services to a lender or on behalf of a lender relating to educational loans.

Interaction with Borrowers

KCAI shall not automatically assign a particular lender to any first-time borrower and shall not refuse to certify, or delay certification of, any loan based on the borrower’s selection of a particular lender or guaranty agency.

Prohibition on Offers of Funds for Private Loans

KCAI shall not request or accept from any lender any offer of funds to be used for private educational loans, including funds for an opportunity pool loan, in exchange for KCAI providing the lender with a specified number or volume of loans or a preferred lender arrangement for such loans.

Ban on Staffing Assistance

KCAI shall not request or accept from any lender any assistance with call center staffing or Student Financial services office staffing. Lenders, however, may provide professional development training to financial aid administrators, educational advising materials to borrowers provided that the materials disclose that the lender prepared them, or assistance in short-term, non-recurring state or federally-declared natural disasters.

Advisory Board Compensation

All employees with financial aid responsibilities shall be prohibited from receiving anything of value from a lender or guarantor in return for service on its advisory board except that an employee may be reimbursed for reasonable expenses incurred in such service.

Violations

Violations of this Code of Conduct may result in disciplinary action, up to and including, termination of employment.

Complaints and Concerns

Any person may submit a complaint or concern about matters covered by this Code of Conduct by contacting the President’s Office at:

Board of Trustees
4415 Warwick Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64111
816.802.3435