Federal Return of Title IV Funds Policy
Return of Title IV Funds (R2T4)
Students receiving financial aid are responsible for following the college's withdrawal procedures as outlined in the Howard Community College catalog. The Higher Education Act requires the college to calculate a Return of Title IV funds on all federal financial aid students who withdraw (officially or unofficially) before completing greater than 60% of the payment period or period of enrollment they were scheduled to attend.
Official withdrawal occurs when students follow college procedures and deadlines to withdraw from classes as outlined in the Schedule of Classes. The student must complete a withdrawal form and return it to Records and Registration or use Self Service to officially withdraw. The date entered on the withdrawal form is the official withdrawal date unless the office receives information that notes otherwise. If Self-Service is used to withdraw, the date the student submits the withdrawal request is the official withdrawal date.
Unofficial withdrawal occurs when the student initially attends a course and at some point stops attending. The instructor will report a last date of attendance, which will be used as the official last date of attendance, and the student will receive an “FW” grade for the course if they did not complete more than 60% of the scheduled days in the course. An unofficial withdrawal impacts both your GPA and your Pace/Completion Rate.
Calculating Earned & Unearned Aid
A schedule is used to determine the percentage of the semester the student attended based on the withdrawal date/last date of attendance. This percentage is calculated by dividing the number of days attended by the total number of days in the payment period.
The number of days counted includes all calendar days in the semester, including weekends and holidays, but excludes college breaks of five or more days. The percentage of the semester the student attended is used to calculate the amount of the student's earned versus unearned federal aid funds.
When students have not received all of their earned Title IV funds, they may still receive disbursements of this aid in a Post-Withdrawal Disbursement. Grants must be disbursed within 45 days of the date of withdrawal determination. Loans must be offered to the student within 30 days of the date of withdrawal determination, allowing the student at least 14 days to respond to, accept, or decline the funds. Upon completion of the R2T4 review, all post-withdrawal disbursements are applied to the student account first, and any resulting credit balance is handled as noted in HCC’s credit balance policy.
When students receive more Title IV funds than earned, the unearned portion must be returned to program accounts. The unearned portion of federal aid funds received must be returned to the appropriate aid program per the order of return as mandated by law. The order of return is Direct Unsubsidized Loan, Direct Subsidized Loan, Direct PLUS Loan, Federal Pell Grant, Federal SEOG Grant, other Title IV aid.
The college is responsible for returning the lesser of unearned Title IV aid or unearned institutional charges. Unearned institutional charges are based on the percentage of the semester the student did not attend. The college is responsible for its return of funds first, followed by the student's return of funds.
The amount the student is responsible for returning is determined by subtracting the amount of aid HCC returns from the amount of unearned Title IV Aid.
The college must return its portion of unearned Title IV aid (loan and grant) to the appropriate federal program within 45 days from the student's withdrawal determination date. If the amount the student returns includes a federal loan program, the student is responsible for repayment of the loan per the terms of the loan program. If the student's return amount includes grant aid, the student must repay 50% of the grant money received rather than 100%.
The student must return unearned grant aid to the college within 45 days from the date of notification. Failure by the student to return or make arrangements to return unearned grant aid to the college within 45 days will result in the student being reported to the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The student will be considered in an overpayment status and will not be eligible for additional aid at any post-secondary institution participating in Title IV Aid programs. Students reported to ED in an Overpayment Status should contact ED to make payment arrangements to repay the necessary grant funds.
Students who stop attending Howard Community College may not receive further financial aid disbursements, may lose some or all of the aid that has already been disbursed to their account, may be responsible for repayment of unpaid charges, and may be considered in overpayment status with ED. Students who stop attending all classes without officially withdrawing from the college may be subject to a Return of Title IV Funds calculation at the end of the semester, based on their last date of attendance as determined by the instructor.