Withdrawals and Title IV Refund
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- Withdrawals and Title IV Refund
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Title IV Aid is awarded under the assumption that a student will remain in attendance for the entire period of enrollment for which the aid is awarded. When a student withdraws from all courses, or drops below a part time enrollment status, regardless of the reason, the student may no longer be eligible for the full amount of the federal financial aid originally awarded. Instead, the student will only be eligible to keep a portion of the Title IV aid student received for that period of enrollment (semester/term).
The federal government mandates that students who withdraw from all classes may only keep the federal financial aid (i.e., Title IV funds) they have "earned" up to the time of withdrawal. Title IV funds that have been disbursed in excess of the amount earned must be returned by the college and/or the student to the federal government. Thus, the student could owe aid funds to the college, the federal government, or both.
The Financial Aid Office is notified when a student has officially withdrawn from the college. The calculation for Return of Title IV funds is based upon the date on which a student initiates the withdrawal process by indicating intent to withdraw.
To determine the amount of aid the student has earned up to the time of withdrawal, the Financial Aid Office divides the number of calendar days the student has attended classes by the total number of calendar days in the semester (minus any scheduled breaks of 5 days or more). The resulting percentage is then multiplied by the total federal funds that were disbursed to the student account for the semester.
This calculation determines the amount of aid earned by the student that he or she may keep. For example, if the student attended 25% of the term, the student will have earned 25% of the aid. The unearned amount (total aid disbursed minus the earned amount) must be returned to the Department of Education by the college and/or the student. The Financial Aid Office will notify and provide instructions to students who are required to return funds to the Department of Education.
For students enrolled in multiple parts of term, all courses will be combined to form a period of enrollment. The R2T4 is calculated based on the parts of term within the enrollment/payment period. For Financial Aid purposes, the winter intersession is considered a part of term of the spring semester, and the summer term is comprised of all summer parts of term.
The Financial Aid Office is notified of any student who receives all F grades for a term. The Office will reach out to the student’s professors to determine if the student earned the F grades or simply stopped attending. If the student stopped attending, the professors will provide a last date of attendance or academic activity to the Financial Aid Office. This will be used to determine the amount of financial aid the student has earned. The Financial Aid Office will calculate the R2T4 as usual.
Funds are returned to the following Title IV source in this order:
- Unsubsidized Federal Direct Loans
- Subsidized Federal Direct Loans
- Federal Direct Graduate PLUS loans
- Federal Direct PLUS (parent) loans
- Federal Pell Grants
- Federal SEOG
- Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant
- Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants (if a return is required)