Return of Title IV

Return of Title IV Policy

If you are an enrolled student receiving Federal student aid, financial aid will be disbursed to you each semester. As you progress through each semester, you “earn” your Federal student aid based on the percentage of the semester completed. Once you have completed more than 60 percent of the period of enrollment, you are considered to have earned 100 percent of the aid that you were scheduled to receive for that semester.

If you withdraw before the end of a payment period, Sessions College is required to determine the portion of aid that you earned and calculate any Federal student aid funds that should be returned to the U.S. Department of Education or disbursed as a post-withdrawal disbursement.

Students withdrawing from a course or program may notify the school of cancellation in any manner, by email, fax, phone, or mail. (See Withdrawal and Refund Policy).

The date of Sessions College’s determination that a student withdrew may be identified through faculty input, a student’s failure to return from an approved leave of absence, or the student’s verbal or written notification to any office such as the Education Department, Financial Aid Department, Student Services, or Bursar.

If a Return of Title IV funds (R2T4) results in a credit balance on the student’s account due to no outstanding charges, the credit balance will be disbursed to the student within 14 days after the R2T4 calculation is completed.  If an R2T4 results in a balance due to the school from the student, Finance will contact the student to pay the balance or set up a payment plan.

In the event of an unofficial withdrawal, Return of Title IV calculations must be done within 45 days from the date of determination of such withdrawal. The date of determination must occur within two weeks from the last day of attendance. For students who start a semester but are dismissed for non-attendance, the withdrawal date is the midpoint of the term, or the last date of an academically related activity in which the student participated, if the student ceased attending beyond the midpoint.

Formula Calculation

The Bursar’s Office is required by federal statute to calculate the percentage of earned Federal student aid received or pending to be received and to return the unearned funds for a student who withdrew, was terminated, or failed to return from an approved leave of absence.

Recalculation is based on the percentage of earned aid using the following Federal Return of Title IV funds formula:

Percentage of aid earned = the number of days in the payment period completed up to the date of determination that the student withdrew, divided by the total number of days in the payment period. Any break of five days or more is not counted as part of the days in the term.

If this percentage is greater than 60%, the student earns 100% of the disbursed Title IV funds or aid that could have been disbursed. If this percentage is less than 60%, then the percentage earned is equal to the calculated value.

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. If a student earned less aid than was disbursed, the institution would be required to return a portion of the funds and the student may be required to return a portion of the funds.

All Federal student aid funds that the institution must return will be made no later than 45 calendar days after the date the school determines that the student withdrew.

When Federal student aid funds are returned, the student may owe a balance to the institution.

If a withdrawing student earned more aid than was disbursed to them, Sessions College will send written notification if a post-withdrawal disbursement is required for any amount not credited to the student’s account no later than 30 calendar days after the date that the school determines that the student withdrew.

Sessions College is required to make a post-withdrawal disbursement within 45 days of the student’s date of determination that they withdrew for grants and within 180 days of the student’s date of determination that they withdrew for loans.

Refunds are allocated in the following order:

1. Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loan
2. Subsidized Federal Stafford Loan
3. Federal Pell Grant
4. Other Title IV assistance
5. State Tuition Assistance Grants (if applicable)
6. Private and institutional aid
7. The student