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Financial Aid Withdrawal and the Return of Title IV Funds Policy

Federal Title IV financial aid funds are awarded under the assumption that a student will remain in attendance for the entire payment period for which the funds were awarded. A student is considered withdrawn if the student does not complete all of the days in the payment period that the student was scheduled to complete. The exact consequences to a student who does not remain in attendance for the entire payment period depend on a number of factors, including, but not limited to the type and amount of aid, current institutional charges, and the last date of attendance.

É«ÖÐÉ« adheres to Federal, State and University regulations regarding financial aid funds disbursed for a student who completely withdraws during a payment period. Return of funds policies are fair and equitable and applied uniformly.

É«ÖÐÉ« University Withdrawal and Leave of Absence Processes

Students who will not be returning to É«ÖÐÉ« for the following semester or class should provide official notification to the University of their intent to withdraw or take a leave of absence (LOA).

Students should work with their academic advisor to withdraw or take an LOA.

Students who leave É«ÖÐÉ«, or withdraw from all of their courses in a given payment period, without providing official notification, will be considered to have unofficially withdrawn from the University for the purposes of financial aid.

The last date of attendance will be the date that É«ÖÐÉ« determines to be the student's last date of documented attendance at an academically related activity. If no attendance is available, the student will be considered to have never begun attendance.

Withdrawing from, or not attending, classes may also result in a reassessment of charges. The full University withdrawal and leave of absence policies can be found in the appropriate É«ÖÐÉ« catalog at this site  and this site, respectively.

É«ÖÐÉ« Refund Policy

É«ÖÐɫ’s institutional charges refund policy may differ from the refund policy for financial aid. Please visit the Institutional Refund Policy for Tuition, Room, Board, and Fees webpage at /catalog/charges-and-fees#refund

Consequences of Withdrawal

Students must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) in order to receive future financial aid. SAP comprises three (3) standards: qualitative, quantitative, and maximum timeframe. Students who withdraw risk not meeting the minimum standards of SAP. For more information on SAP, please review the SAP Policy.

Students who withdraw may have their charges and/or financial aid adjusted. These adjustments may result in a balance owed to the University. Balances above a certain limit may prohibit a student from registration for future semesters or from viewing or receiving their transcripts.

Students who drop below half-time enrollment or withdraw entirely may begin to go into repayment on their current federal student loans. Students should immediately contact their student loan servicer to determine when their first payment is due to ensure that they do not become delinquent.

Students who had been awarded a É«ÖÐÉ« admission award must maintain full-time enrollment in order to remain eligible for their awards. Students who withdraw from the University or do not return for a subsequent semester, and are not on an LOA, may lose eligibility for their scholarship.

Payment Periods

Payment period dates may be adjusted based on the classes that a student is taking. Breaks will not be included in a payment period completed or scheduled dates if the break is a É«ÖÐÉ« scheduled break of five (5) or more days. Start and end dates as well as scheduled breaks are published in the É«ÖÐÉ« University Academic Calendar.

Traditional Payment Periods

The payment periods for traditional students are the fall semester, spring semester, and summer (which contains the summer I, summer online, and summer II sessions). Scheduled breaks of five or more days, as indicated, will not be counted toward the scheduled days in the payment period.

Accelerated Sessions

Payment periods for accelerated students are the fall, spring and summer trimesters. Scheduled breaks of five or more days, as indicated, will not be counted toward the scheduled days in the payment period.

A student is considered withdrawn if the student does not complete all of the days in the payment period that the student was scheduled to complete. 

• If a student withdraws from a course in a later accelerated course while still attending a current accelerated course, the student is not considered as withdrawn based on not attending the later accelerated course. However, a recalculation of aid based on the change in enrollment status may be required.
• If a student provides written notice to the Financial Aid Office at the time of withdrawal from a current accelerated course that they plan to attend a later accelerated course in the same payment period, they are not considered a withdrawal. If the student does not provide that written confirmation, a return calculation will be performed to determine the amount of aid the student is eligible to retain. However, if the student does return in a later accelerated course in the same payment period, regardless of whether prior written confirmation was received, the return calculation will be reversed and the student will be awarded the funds that they are eligible to receive at the time of return.

Payment Periods for Other Groups

Students in the MFA program have payment periods that are student specific.

When a Student Fails to Begin Attendance

Aid will be canceled for any class in which a student fails to begin attendance.

When a Student Fails or Withdraws from All Courses within a Payment Period
If a financial aid recipient who has not officially withdrawn fails to receive a passing grade in at least one class during the term, the Financial Aid Office will determine whether the student actually established eligibility for the aid originally awarded. If the student did not begin attendance, or stopped attending during the payment period, the financial aid originally awarded will be canceled or adjusted.

Withdrawal v. Change of Enrollment

After beginning attendance in the payment period, did the student cease to attend or fail to begin attendance in a course they were scheduled to attend? If not, this student is not a withdrawal.

When a student ceased to attend or failed to begin attendance, was the student still attending any other courses? If yes, this student is not a withdrawal, however the aid may be adjusted.

Did the student confirm attendance in a course in a module beginning later in the period? If yes, this is not a withdrawal unless the student doesn’t return as scheduled.

Financial Aid Adjustments for Students Withdrawing or Taking an LOA from All Classes

The following chart describes the consequences, by type of aid, when a student stops attending ALL of their classes, whether a withdrawal or an LOA.

Federal Return of Funds Policy Guidelines

Federal regulations require É«ÖÐÉ« to determine the earned and unearned portions of Title IV aid as of the date the student ceased attendance based on the amount of time the student spent in attendance. This policy is in effect for students who withdraw or take an LOA.

É«ÖÐÉ« will be required to return the lesser of the percentage of unearned charges or amount to be returned. The student may be required to return any additional aid.

A pro rata schedule is used to determine the amount of Title IV funds the student has earned at the time of withdrawal or LOA up through the 60% point in the semester. After the 60% point in the semester, a student has earned 100% of the Title IV funds they were scheduled to receive during the period.

Order of Return of Funds

The Return of Title IV funds will be calculated in the following order:

• Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan
• Federal Direct Subsidized Stafford Loan
• Federal Parent PLUS Loan / Federal Graduate PLUS Loan
• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG)
• Other Title IV assistance

Example:
John withdraws from all of his classes with a last date of attendance of October 13th. John’s charges at É«ÖÐÉ« were $15,471.

The following steps will be taken

1. Determine the amount of funds disbursed or that could have been disbursed to John
   The following federal aid was disbursed to John. There are no undisbursed funds.
   $990 Direct Unsubsidized Loan
   $2226 Direct Subsidized Loan
   $2865 Federal Pell Grant
   $6081 Total Federal Aid Received
    
2. Determine the percentage of aid earned
   John has completed 48 of the 111 days in the payment period. John earned 43.2% (48 divided by 111) of his federal aid.
    
3. Determine the amount of aid earned by John
   John is eligible to keep 43.2% (48 divided by 111) of his $6,081 federal aid, or $2627
    
4. Determine if funds need to be disbursed to John or returned to the Department of Education 
   John earned $2,627 of his $6,081 disbursed: $3,454 must be returned to the Department of Education
    
5. Determine the amount of unearned aid that É«ÖÐÉ« must return
   É«ÖÐÉ« must return the lesser of the amount of unearned charges 56.8% (100% minus 43.2%) of the $15,471 charges totaling $8,787, or the total funds to be returned of $3,454 from step 4 above
    
6. Return of Funds by É«ÖÐÉ«
   É«ÖÐÉ« will return funds to the Department of Education in the order indicated:
   $990 Direct Unsubsidized Loan
   +$2226 Direct Subsidized Loan
   +$238 Federal Pell Grant
   $,3454 Federal Aid Returned
    
7. Return of funds by John
   John would need to return any funds remaining after the calculation in step 6 above. There are no additional funds to return.
    
8. Return of loan funds by John
   John will need to repay any additional unearned loan funds under the terms of his Master Promissory Note (MPN). There are no additional loan funds to return.
    
9. Determination and Return of grant funds by John
   John would need to return any unearned grant funds, after the application of a 50% grant protection amount has been applied. There are no additional grant funds to return.

Post-Withdrawal Disbursement

If a student withdraws or takes an LOA prior to any or all federal aid being disbursed, the student may be entitled to a post-withdrawal disbursement. Students will be notified of their post-withdrawal disbursement. Post-withdrawal disbursements will be credited first toward unpaid institutional charges. Any portion of a post-withdrawal disbursement that exceeds unpaid institutional charges will be offered as a refund check to the student. Students must accept their disbursement within 14 days of the offer. If a response is not received, or if the offer is declined, these excess funds will be returned to the appropriate Title IV program.

Example:
Mary withdraws from all of her classes with a last date of attendance of September 13th. Mary was awarded the following federal aid, but withdraws before it has disbursed.

$990 Direct Unsubsidized Loan
$2226 Direct Subsidized Loan
$440 Federal Pell Grant
$3656 Total Federal Aid Received

Using steps 1 through 4 in the example for John, above, Mary has completed 18 of the 111 days in the payment period. Mary is eligible to keep 16.2% (18 divided by 111) of her $3,656 federal aid, or $592.

Using the order of Return of Funds, Mary’s student account will be credited with the $440 Pell and Mary will be offered the remaining $152 ($592 - $440) as a Direct Subsidized Loan.

If Mary accepts her loan, the $152 will be disbursed to her bill. If Mary declines or does not accept her loan, her entire loan will be canceled.

Credit Balances

If the calculation results in a credit balance on the student’s account because there are no outstanding charges, a Pell and/or FSEOG credit balance will be disbursed to the student within 14 days after the R2T4 calculation is done and the credit balance will be issued to the student in the form of a check.

If the R2T4 calculation results in a credit balance on the student’s account because there are no outstanding charges, and the credit balance is a Direct Student Loan, the student may choose to decline some or all of the loan funds so that they don’t incur additional debt. The student will be notified of their eligibility for the credit balance within 30 days of withdrawal and they will have 14 days from notification to accept or decline the Direct Loan credit balance disbursement. If they accept the Direct Loan credit balance disbursement, it will be issued to them in the form of a check within 14 days of when the university receives their notification of acceptance.

If the R2T4 calculation results in a credit balance on the student’s account because there are no outstanding charges, and the credit balance is a PLUS, the parent borrower will be notified of their eligibility for a post-withdrawal disbursement within 30 days of withdrawal and they will have 14 days from notification to accept or decline the PLUS. If the parent borrower accepts the PLUS credit balance disbursement, it will be issued to them in the form of a check within 14 days of when the university receives their notification of acceptance.

Repayment

If a student received a Title IV Aid credit balance that consisted of a federal Pell Grant and/or FSEOG and the student completely withdrew from their classes within the first 60% of the semester, the student may owe a repayment of a portion of the federal grants they received as a credit balance.

If the student is determined to be in repayment status, they will be notified of this obligation by regular mail. If the funds are not repaid to the school within 120 days, the repayment amount, called an overpayment, will be reported to the U.S. Department of Education.

If the credit balance consists of Federal Direct Stafford Student Loans or PLUS, the loans are payable according to the terms of the promissory note.

Timelines

Within 30 days of the date of determination of the withdrawal date (which is the last date of attendance), É«ÖÐÉ« will perform the Return of Title IV Funds calculation

Within 30 days of the date of determination of the withdrawal date, É«ÖÐÉ« will notify the student if there is a post-withdrawal disbursement due to the student of loan funds or an overpayment of grant funds, if applicable.

Within 45 days of the date of determination of the withdrawal date, É«ÖÐÉ« will return the school owed funds to the appropriate Title IV program account.

Within 45 days of the date of determination of the withdrawal date, É«ÖÐÉ« will pay a student a post- withdrawal disbursement of grant funds.

Within 180 days of the date of determination of the withdrawal date, É«ÖÐÉ« will pay a student a post- withdrawal disbursement of loan funds, if student requested funds within 14 days of notification by the school of their availability.

Students will be responsible for paying any remaining balance on their student account within 30 days.

Financial Aid Adjustments for Students Withdrawing from some but not all Classes

The following chart describes the consequences, by type of aid, when a student withdraws or stops some of their classes.