RETURN OF TITLE IV FUNDS | FINANCIAL AID
(Refunds due to Withdrawals)
Overview
LSU Health Shreveport is required to administer a return of federal student aid funds policy that complies with the Higher Education Act Reauthorization of 1998. Federal financial aid includes Federal Pell Grant, Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (SEOG), Stafford Loans, Grad PLUS loans, and PLUS loans. 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 during the first 60% of the current enrollment or payment period, a calculation is performed to determine if the student is entitled to the full assistance received during that period. LSU Health Shreveport must return any unearned aid that was applied to institutional charges. For example, if a student was enrolled for 30% of the enrollment period, the student is entitled to only 30% of the aid received; thus, 70% of the aid must be returned. Once a student has completed more than 60% of the payment or enrollment period, the student has earned all assistance that the student was scheduled to receive for that period. No refund is required. If the student did not receive all of the funds that were earned prior to withdrawal, the student may be due a Post-Withdrawal disbursement which is determined during the Return of Title IV Funds calculation. The Student Financial Aid Office will notify the withdrawn student in writing of his or her eligibility for a Post-Withdrawal disbursement.
Withdrawal Dates
Effective dates for Official Withdrawals, Unofficial Withdrawals, and Leave of Absences will be determine by the method stated in the institution’s Withdrawal Policy. The Registrar’s Office reports the official withdrawal date used for Return of Title IV Funds purposes to the Student Financial Aid and Bursar Offices for recalculation of eligibility.
Calculating Earned and Unearned Title IV Funds
The formula used to calculate the percent of aid earned is the total number of days completed divided by the total days in the enrollment or payment period. The remaining percentage is considered “unearned” and will be returned by the school to the federal aid programs. LSU Health Shreveport uses a weekly rather than daily percentage for determining earned and unearned Title IV Funds. To determine the number of days completed based on a weekly percentage, the date of the Monday which falls at the beginning of the week that the official withdrawal occurred will be used in the refund calculation as the withdrawal date. Example: The refund calculation withdrawal date used for a student that officially withdrew on Thursday, September 18, 2014 will be Monday, September 15, 2014.
Returning Unearned Title IV Funds
If the Title IV aid exceeds the amount of institutional charges, the unearned percentage is applied to the funds in excess of those charges. Unearned funds are attributed to Title IV programs in the following order: Direct Grad PLUS Loan, Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, Direct Subsidized Stafford Loan, Direct PLUS Loan, Federal Pell Grant, and Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (FSEOG). The student repays unearned loan funds on the normal loan repayment schedule as stated in the MPN and/or Disclosure Statements. However, if a student’s portion of unearned Title IV funds is a federal grant, the student will be required to return no more than 50% of the amount received for the enrollment period. Any amount of unearned grant funds that the student must return is called an overpayment. The Student Financial Aid Office will notify the withdrawn student if an overpayment exists and provide the student with instructions for repayment of the grant overpayment to LSUHSC-Shreveport or the Department of Education. If the percentage of unearned institutional charges exceeds the Title IV aid, the amount in excess of the Title IV funds is generally returned first to other aid programs such as institutional scholarships, with any remaining excess returned to the student. Unearned funds will be returned by LSU Health Shreveport to the appropriate Title IV program no later than 45 days after the withdrawal date.
Post-Withdrawal Disbursements
A post-withdrawal disbursement is the Title IV aid that was not disbursed before a student withdrew, but which the student had earned based on a Return of Title IV funds calculation. Post withdrawal disbursements are made no later than 180 days after the withdrawal date. The amount of a post-withdrawal disbursement is determined by following the requirements for calculating the “earned” Federal Student Aid funds.
To qualify for a post-withdrawal disbursement, a withdrawn student must receive a SAR/ISIR with a valid EFC prior to the withdrawal date and meet the following program specific conditions:
- For Pell Grant: No other requirements.
- For SEOG: An award made prior to the student becoming ineligible.
- For Stafford, Grad PLUS, and PLUS: A loan application certified by the LSU Health Shreveport Student Financial Aid Office.