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When A Student Withdraws During The Semester:

Return of Title IV Funds

During the course of a semester a student may decide to withdraw from all of his/her classes. For purposes of this section a withdrawal will refer to a full withdrawal from all classes prior to the completion of any one class in the semester. The withdrawal may be an official withdrawal whereby the student initiates the withdrawal process as outlined by the Office of The Registrar. Or, the student may simply cease attendance and the Office of Financial Aid is only made aware of the unofficial withdrawal at the end of the semester when the No-Good Grade Report is provided.

In either case, at the time that the Office of Financial Aid is informed that a student has withdrawn, a review of the student’s financial aid account is performed and, if necessary, a Return of Title IV Funds Calculation is initiated. The process is outlined below:           

  • The first thing to be determined is if the student attended at least one class.
  • If so, the FA record is reviewed to determine if any federal aid has been disbursed or could have been disbursed for the student.
  • Having determined that the student has attended at least one class and that federal aid has been or could have been disbursed; we now perform the R2T4 Calculation.
  • The net amounts of all federal aid disbursed are entered in the appropriate fields on the R2T4 Worksheet (or automated system on CPS). Net amounts of aid that could have been disbursed are also entered in the appropriate field.
  • The dates of the enrollment period and the date of withdrawal (if official withdrawal) are used to determine the percentage of the semester that has been completed by the student which in turn provides the percentage of aid that has been earned by the student.
  • If the percentage of the semester completed is greater than 60%, no further action is required. If the percentage completed is 60% or less, the percentage is used to calculate the amount of aid earned.
  • If there is any unearned aid, the R2T4 Worksheet will be completed to determine the amounts and type of aid to be returned by the University.
  • The Office of the Bursar is then informed as to the amount to be returned.
  • Be aware that you might have a balance due to the Office of the Bursar based on this Federal calculation.  Make sure to check your account accordingly.

In the case of an Unofficial Withdrawal, the same process as outlined above is initiated with the exception that, since there is no official withdrawal date, a default date, reflective of  the 50% point of the semester, is used resulting in the student earning 50% of the aid disbursed (or that could have been disbursed.)

It may be possible for a student to have earned more federal aid than what has been disbursed to the student’s account. In such a case, the Post Withdrawal Disbursement (PWD) procedure is performed. Any federal grant would then be directly disbursed to the student and loans including PLUS loans would require notification and consent by the borrower for a PWD.

The notice to the student/borrower states a strict deadline which must be adhered to and the notice must convey that the proceeds are a loan that must be repaid.

If the acceptance of the offer of the loan as a PWD is not received by the Office of Financial Aid by the deadline stated, the loan is cancelled and cannot be renewed for that semester.