Return of Title IV Funds Policy

The return of unearned Title IV aid applies to any student who meets the following criteria:

1. The student completely withdraws (officially or unofficially) before 60% of the payment period.
2. The student received Federal Title IV or state aid (Federal Stafford Loan, Federal PLUS Loan, but not Federal Work-Study).

If a student withdraws before the 60 percent point of the semester during the period of enrollment, calculated using calendar days, a portion of the total Title IV funds awarded a student, the Seminary is required to calculate the amount of aid earned.  Any unearned aid must be returned according to the provisions of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998. The withdrawal date is determined by the Registrar’s Office.  If a student does not officially notify the institution of his/her withdrawal, 50 percent of the payment period may be used (or the school may choose to use a documented attendance date that is past the 50 percent point). The calculation of return of these funds may result in the student owing a balance to the seminary and/or the Federal Government.

The student will be responsible for any balance due on the account after Title IV funds have been returned. The student’s responsibility includes earned Title IV aid due to the lender and ay tuition and fees due to the institution.  If the students’ portion of unearned Title IV aid is a loan, the terms and conditions of the loan take care of the repayment. 

The student must return his/her portion of unearned Title IV aid to the institution within 45 days or they will be referred to the U.S. Department of Education for collection.  The student will remain ineligible to receive future Title IV assistance until this obligation is paid in full.  Unresolved overpayments are reported to the Department of Education.

The institution will be responsible for the return of unearned tuition and fees. To determine the institution’s responsibility, multiply the total amount of institutional charges for the semester by the percentage unearned. Compare this result with the amount of Title IV aid unearned, the lesser amount is the unearned Title IV aid which will be returned by the institution.

The student’s responsibility includes earned Title IV aid due to the lender and any tuition and fees due to the institution. If the student’s portion of unearned Title IV aid is a loan, the terms and conditions of the loan take care of the repayment. If the student’s portion of unearned Title IV aid is a federal grant, the student returns no more than 50 percent of the amount received for the semester.

Re-calculation Formula

• Percent earned is equal to the number of days completed up to the withdrawal date divided by the total number of days in the semester.
• The amount of Title IV aid earned is equal to the amount of aid disbursed plus the amount of aid that could have been disbursed times the percentage earned.
• Federal/State financial aid is returned to the federal/ state government based on the percent of unearned aid using the following formula: Aid to be returned is equal to the amount of Title IV earned subtracted from Title IV aid disbursed.
• Returned aid is credited in the following order:
• Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loans
• Federal Subsidized Stafford Loans
• Federal PLUS Loans

The student must return his/her portion of unearned Title IV aid to the institution within 45 days or they will be referred to the U.S. Department of Education for collection. The student will remain ineligible to receive future Title IV aid until this obligation is paid in full.