Withdrawal & Refund Policy

Dropping A Course

This policy applies to students who drop one or more courses but do not withdraw from all coursework for a term. Students must officially drop in writing through the Academic Advising Center, please email advising@nl.edu from your NLU portal email account or submit the Drop/Add form. Students will receive no charge for courses they drop prior to the start of the term. Students who drop a course(s) during the first week of the term will receive a 100% refund.  Students who are enrolled in workshops must drop at least one business day prior to the start of the workshop to receive a full refund otherwise they will be charged the full amount and there will be no refund.  For FOCUS courses, a student will receive a 100% refund if he/she drops prior to the start of the term or no later than the end of the first week of the class.  Dropping the course after that point will result in no refund.  Students who drop a course(s) after the drop period will receive a "W" grade and will not receive a tuition credit unless the student completely withdraws from the University.  Drop periods are set by University policy and are based on the student type and level.  For more information regarding when a "W" grade applies, see the Registration and Credit section.

Withdrawal From the University

For refund purposes, a student is determined to have withdrawn from the University when that student drops or withdraws from ALL coursework for a term. National Louis University adheres to a fair and equitable refund policy for students who withdraw from the University.

In order to obtain a refund, the student must officially withdraw in writing through the Academic Advising Center. Please email advising@nl.edu from your NLU portal email account. In states that have a Consumer Right-of-Rescission Law, the University abides by the state law. To receive a full refund, the student must execute the Right-of-Rescission Law within three business days of signing the enrollment agreement and prior to the first class session.

• Withdraw prior to the start of the term: 100% refund
• Withdraw during the first week: 100% refund
• Withdraw during the second week: 80% refund
• Withdraw during the third week: 70% refund
• Withdraw during the fourth week: 60% refund
• Withdraw during the fifth week: 50% refund
• Withdraw during the sixth week or later: no refund

Refunds for withdrawals from non-standard length terms are determined by how much of the term a student completes.  Refunds are issued up to a 50% completion rate after which the student is responsible to pay for all the tuition charges incurred for the coursework he/she registered for.  The percentage of a term a student completes is used to determine the tuition charges he/she is responsible for and the amount that will be pro-rated to the nearest 10%.  For example, a student who completes 27% of a term and then withdraws will be charged 30% of the tuition cost and have 70% refunded. Students in programs with all courses in the term scheduled sequentially will receive a 100% refund for the tuition of a course that was not scheduled to begin until after the date of withdrawal and will be charged full tuition for any courses currently occurring or completed prior to the point of withdrawal.

Policy for Issuing Cash Refunds to Financial Aid Students

Financial aid is posted on a rolling basis as financial aid awards are processed. If the application of financial aid or other resources to a student's account results in a credit balance (excess cash), a refund check is issued to the student.  The University's goal is to process refund checks twice weekly but never later than 14 days after the date that the credit balance occurs.  Please note that dropping courses can impact a financial aid award.  The amount of financial aid awarded is determined by many factors including the number of hours a student is enrolled.  A reduction in hours may reduce the amount of financial aid a student is eligible for during a term with the possibility of being completely ineligible for financial aid for the term.  In addition, federal regulations require that a student complete 60% of a term to earn all Title IV funds awarded for that term.