How Do You Calculate the Completion Rate For a Withdrawal From a Clock-Hour Program?

Scenario: Claire is enrolled in a program that is 900 clock-hours in length, consisting of two payment periods of 450 clock hours each. She withdrew from the first payment period after completing only 150 clock hours. At the time of her withdrawal, she was scheduled to have completed 250 clock hours.

Answer: When calculating the percentage of completion in a clock-hour program, the numerator is always the number of clock hours the student was scheduled to have completed in the payment period as of the withdrawal date (not the actual hours completed). So, in Claire’s scenario, the numerator would be 250, the number of clock hours she was scheduled to have completed at the time of withdrawal. The numerator would not be 150 clock hours. The denominator is 450 clock hours. Her completion rate would be 250 ÷ 450 (the clock hours in the payment period) = .5555 rounded to 55.6%.

See 34 CFR 668.22(f)(1)(ii) and Volume 5, Chapter 2 of the FSA Handbook.

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