return of title iv aid
The Financial Aid department performs an R2T4 calculation on (COD) Common Origination and Disbursement to determine the amount of aid earned based upon student attendance. When a student receiving Title IV funds completely withdraws before or on the 60% date, an R2T4 calculation is performed based on the last date of attendance.
Official withdrawals are electronic forms submitted to the Office of Records and Registration. The date the student withdrew is determined by the Office of Records and Registration based on the date the electronic withdrawal form is received. The student’s information is entered into the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) Process system by a member of the financial aid office. The student funds are then recalculated based on the number of days attended, the total federal aid, and total institutional charges. The percentage of unearned aid to be returned is equal to the number of days remaining in the semester/term divided by the number of calendar days in the semester/term. The new calculations are then sent to the office of Student Accounts to update the student’s account. Both the University and students are required to return unearned Title IV financial aid to the federal government. The University is required to return the unearned portion of the Title IV funds it received from withdrawing students which were used to pay institutional charges such as tuition, fees, housing and other educationally-related expenses assessed by the institution. To ensure that R2T4 is conducted in a timely and efficient manner, the policies and procedures were reviewed in conjunction with the Office of Records and Registration and the Office of Business and Finance and several changes were made. A daily query has been developed that will identify any changes made to a student’s enrollment after the census date. This will include drops, adds and withdrawals (official and unofficial). If there is a withdrawal, the counselor who is assigned to that student will process the R2T4 within 3 business days of the withdrawal. The R2T4 will then go to the Quality Control representative for review for accuracy by noon on day 3. The Quality Control representative will review within the next 5 days and return the R2T4 to the counselor for final processing to include the return of funds, if required. The Enrollment Systems analyst will run the process to return the funds by the 7th business day after receipt of the withdrawal in the Financial Aid Office. Funds that are governed under Title IV of the Higher Education Act include: Federal Pell Grants, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, State Grants, Iraq & Afghanistan Service Grants, Federal Direct Loans, Federal plus Loans & Federal Work-Study. For purposes of complete withdrawal and the Return of Title IV Formula, Federal Work-Study is not considered. However, in ALL completed withdrawal cases, you cannot continue to work under the Federal Work-Study Program after your date of withdrawal. Funds that are returned to the federal government by the University will be credited against the student’s total liability of unearned funds. Students will owe the university the amount returned to the federal government for institutional charges and must repay the unearned Title IV funds to any Title IV loan program in accordance with the terms of the loan. Charges owed to the University can be paid in full or through a payment plan with Student Accounts. However, a payment plan does not make the student eligible for registration or to receive transcripts.
Once the Withdrawal Date has been determined, the refunds and R2T4 calculations and all associated transactions are generally completed within 30 calendar days, but never longer than 45 days.
To inquire about Withdrawals please click here
(Revised March 2022)