Students Receiving Title IV Funds

All students receiving federal financial aid are subject to federal regulations enforced by the U.S. Department of Education. The following procedure is used in determining the amount of federal financial aid to be returned to Title IV programs:

• The date of withdrawal is determined.

• The percentage of the payment period or period of enrollment attended by the student is determined.

• The amount of Title IV aid earned by the student is determined by multiplying the total Title IV aid for which the student was eligible by the percentage of time enrolled.

• The amount earned is compared to the amount disbursed. If the amount earned is greater than the amount disbursed, then a post-withdrawal disbursement must be made if the student is eligible for a “late disbursement.” If the amount disbursed exceeds the amount earned, the Title IV aid must be returned.

The responsibility for returning unearned aid is allocated between the institution and the student according to the portion of disbursed aid that could have been used to cover institutional charges and the portion that could have been disbursed directly to the student once institutional charges are covered.

The institution must return the unearned aid. Unearned Title IV aid is distributed back to the Title IV programs from the institution as required by federal guidelines in the following order: Unsubsidized Federal Direct Stafford Loan, Subsidized Federal Direct Stafford Loan, Federal Perkins Loan, Federal PLUS, Federal Pell Grant, Academic Competitiveness Grant, National SMART Grant, Federal SEOG, other Title IV programs.

If the amount that the institution is responsible for returning is less than the total amount of aid that needs to be returned, the student is responsible for the remainder. The order of the return of funds by the student is as follows: Federal Pell Grant, ACG, SMART, SEOG (x 50%), and other Title IV programs (x 50% for grant funds).