Return of Title IV Funds
General Requirements
Title IV funds are awarded to a student under the assumption that the student will attend school for the entire period for which the assistance is awarded. When a student withdraws, the student may be considered ineligible for all or a portion of Title IV funds that he or she received.
If a recipient of Title IV grant or loan funds withdraws from a school after beginning attendance, the amount of Title IV grant or loan assistance earned by the student must be determined. If the amount disbursed to the student is greater than the amount the student earned, the unearned funds must be returned to the Title IV program of the U. S. Department of Education. If the amount disbursed to the student is less than the amount the student earned, and for which the student is otherwise eligible, he or she is eligible to receive a post-withdrawal disbursement of the earned aid that was not received.
When a student is considered to have Withdrawn for Title IV purposes
A student is considered to have withdrawn from a payment period or the university, for attendance taking programs, if:
- The student does not complete all the days and semester hours in the payment period that the student was scheduled to complete.
- The student is not scheduled to begin another course within 60 calendar days after the end of the session the student ceased attending unless the student is on an approved leave of absence.
To determine the amount of funds earned by the student, the Student Finance Department will complete the Federal Return to Title IV (R2T4) Worksheet provided by the U. S. Department of Education. This worksheet is used to calculate the portion of the federal funds earned by the student and the portion (if any) to be returned (unearned by the student) to the U. S. Department of Education based on the student’s last date of attendance. Attendance at Trident is defined as academic-related activity, such as submission of written assignments and discussion postings or both. Course logins and reading assignments are not used in the determination of a student’s last date of attendance. A student earns federal student aid funds on a prorated basis. Proration is based on the percentage of the payment period the student completed. This is determined by the student’s completion of assigned coursework during that payment period of enrollment.
The last date of any academic-related activity is used to calculate the percentage of days completed in the payment period, which is equivalent to the percentage of aid for which the student is eligible. If the student has an incomplete for the course(s) and does not enroll in the subsequent session, the session end date will be used as the last date of activity. For attendance taking programs, the last date of activity will be used. For students who officially withdraw from all courses and/or Trident, the date of withdrawal will be used to determine the percentage of the payment period completed. For attendance taking programs, the last date of activity will be used as the withdrawal date. For students who do not return from an approved leave of absence, the date of withdrawal will be the date the LOA began. For attendance taking programs, the withdrawal date will be the last date of activity. The percentage of unearned aid will be returned. Once it is determined that a student who has received Title IV funds is no longer enrolled, a R2T4 calculation will be completed. A notice will be sent to students when a R2T4 is completed, which will include any balance or grant overpayment due. Title IV funds are returned in the following order:
- Unsubsidized Federal Direct Stafford Loans
- Subsidized Federal Direct Stafford Loans
- Federal Direct PLUS Loans
- Federal Pell Grants
- Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants
- FSEOG
- TEACH Grants