Federal R2T4 Policy
Important Notice to All Federal Financial Aid Recipients: The federal Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965 was amended in 1998 and new regulations were established with regard to the Title IV student financial aid programs. Students earn their Title IV federal financial aid by attending class and if they are not enrolled long enough to earn all of their aid, the ‘unearned’ portion must be returned to the appropriate Title IV program.
Title IV financial aid programs include Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), Federal Work-Study (FWS), and Federal Stafford Loans. Federal Work-Study earnings are not affected by the Title IV regulations concerning the return of unearned federal financial aid. Only Federal grants and loans are affected by this policy. Official
Withdrawal occurs when a student completely withdraws from all classes in a semester before completing 60% of the semester, the Financial Aid office is required to adjust the amount of Pell Grant, FSEOG, and /or Federal Loans awarded to a student to return the unearned Title IV funds. Financial Aid Administrators then use a process in Banner to determine the portion that needs to be returned by the college. The student’s award is adjusted and removed from account. The Disbursement records are sent to COD for processing. The Business Office returns necessary funds to the Department of Education. Students are notified via email of the Return of Title IV funds calculation as well as who to contact for payment arrangements. If funds have already been paid to the student, the student will receive a statement from the Business Office with the amount to be paid back, which the student will be responsible for. Any balance due will cause a HOLD to be placed on the student’s account until all outstanding funds have been returned. Withdrawn students with a HOLD for outstanding funds, will not be allowed to register or access their records until the balance due has been satisfied.
An Unofficial Withdrawal occurs when a student leaves ATC without notifying the institution and/or fails to earn a passing grade in any class. At the end of each term, the Office of Enrollment Services provides Financial Aid with a list of all students who have received all F’s and/or WF combinations. ATC requires instructors to report, for all students awarded a non-passing grade, the student’s last day of attendance. ATC uses this information to determine whether a student who received all F’s and/or WF combination grades withdrew. ATC determines whether or not a student earned the non-passing grade by determining if the student’s LDA for each course is prior to the last day of the term per the ATC academic calendar that is published. If one instructor reports that the student attended through the end of the period, then the student is not a withdrawal. In the absence of evidence of a last day of attendance at an academically related activity, ATC will consider a student who failed to earn a passing grade in all classes to be an unofficial withdrawal.
Order of return of Title IV funds
A school must return Title IV funds to the programs from which the student received aid during the payment period or period of enrollment as applicable, in the following order, up to the net amount disbursed from each source:
-
Unsubsidized Direct Loans (other than Direct PLUS Loans)
-
Subsidized Direct Loans
-
Federal Perkins Loans
-
Direct PLUS Loans
-
Federal Pell Grants for which a Return is required
-
FSEOG for which a return of funds is required
-
TEACH Grants for which a Return is required
-
Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant, for which a Return is required