Withdrawal & Return of Funds

The Financial Aid Office is required by federal statute to recalculate federal financial aid eligibility for students who withdraw, drop out, are dismissed, or take an unapproved leave of absence. The federal Title IV financial aid programs must be recalculated in these situations. Title IV funds are Pell, Stafford Subsidized, Stafford Unsubsidized, and PLUS loans.

Leave of Absence
If a student who has received Title IV loans (PLUS and Stafford Subsidized or Unsubsidized Loans) does not return from an approved leave of absence, some or all of the repayment deferral period may be exhausted, and loans may go into repayment. For purposes of the Title IV programs, the date of withdrawal is backdated to the first day of the approved leave of absence.

Withdrawal
If a student leaves the University prior to completing an academic year, the financial aid office recalculates eligibility for Title IV funds. Recalculation is based on the percent of earned aid using the following Federal Return of Title IV funds calculation.

Funds are returned to the appropriate federal program based on the percent of unearned aid using the following formula:

Aid to be returned = (100% minus the percent earned) multiplied by the amount of aid disbursed toward institutional charges.

The University may be required to return a portion of the funds and the student may be required to return a portion of the funds. Keep in mind that when Title IV funds are returned, the student borrower may owe a debit balance to the University. It that is the case, the student should contact the Accounting Department to make arrangements to pay the outstanding balance.

In all cases, refunds will be credited back to the financial aid programs in the following order:

1. Federal Stafford Loan
2. Federal PLUS Loan
3. Federal Pell Grant
4. Private/Outside funds
5. Student