FBI unveils large-scale college admissions bribery scandal - high-profile arrests made

Everything is about getting the FinAid app signed and the student enrolled for at least 3 days or whatever it is to guarantee payment.

that is incorrect. a lot of for profit career schools operate on a clock hour basis. a standard academic year is 900 hours broken up into two 450 hour pay periods to simulate semesters.

in the event of a student withdrawal, there is a form call Return To Title IV done to calculate earned financial aid. financial aid in a given pay period is not earned unless the student completes more than 60% of that period (270 hours or more).

in your example, if a student was a dependent and full time, and had the max of financial aid (and assuming 6 hour days), they would have completed 18 scheduled hours out of 450 hour pay period allowing the school to keep 4% of the money expected for the pay period and keep $232 IF the student qualified for the maximum Pell ($6195) and requested their max in student loans ($5500)