Official-Unofficial Withdrawal Return of Title IV Funds (R2T4) Policy

Federal regulations require that students who withdraw from all classes may only keep the federal financial aid (i.e., Title IV funds) they have “earned” up to the time of withdrawal. These regulations apply when you officially or unofficially withdraw. Official withdrawals include medical withdrawals, exceptions to enrollment appeals and any student who has been administratively withdrawn or expelled. The requirements for Title IV program funds when you withdraw are separate from any ASU refund policy.

The official notice of withdrawal begins with University College. The student completes an electronic withdrawal form which is transmitted to the Office of the Student Records, Office of Financial Aid, and the Department of Finance and Administration. This is a weekly report for distribution.

§ Students who withdraw without notice: The Office of Student Records provides a report of those students to the Office of Financial Aid. The Office of Financial Aid provides the detailed report to the Department of Finance and Administration to process the R2T4. The students who withdraw without notice are identified within 30 days of the end of the enrollment period.

§ In processing the R2T4, give adequate attention to TSAAREV (Account Detail Review Form) to ensure that the correct institutions charges populate for the calculation. Review the R2T4 calculations to determine tuition charges and make sure the amount of charges are equal to the transactions posted on the students Account Detail Review Form- TSAAREV.

§ Once the calculations are processed, the R2T4 forms are submitted to the Office of Financial Aid for the returns to be processed.

The withdrawal date for a student who withdraws is the earlier date of:
§ The date the student began the withdrawal process; or
§ The date the student otherwise provided the school with official notification of the intent to withdraw; or
§ The date the institution becomes aware the student ceased attendance; or
§ The midpoint of the payment period or period of enrollment for which Title IV assistance was disbursed if the student ceases to attend without official notification and withdrawal.
At ASU, the office designated for a student notification to withdraw is the Office of Counseling Service.

Before processing a Return to Title IV Funds, the University must verify the student began attendance in all classes used to determine financial aid eligibility. The University will contact all instructors to verify class attendance. If a faculty member indicates the student never attended, the University will first adjust the disbursed aid if there is a resulting change in eligibility and then calculate the Return of Title IV Funds. As a result, the student may end up owing the institution for the amount of unearned aid. If the student never attended any classes, all aid will be cancelled and the student billed for all outstanding charges.

The law specifies how ASU must determine the amount of Title IV program assistance that you earn if you withdraw. The Title IV programs that are covered by this law are: Federal Pell Grants, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants, TEACH Grants, Stafford Loans, PLUS Loans, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOGs) and Federal Perkins Loans. When you withdraw during your payment period or period of enrollment, the amount of Title IV program assistance that you have earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. If you received (or your school or parent received on your behalf) less assistance than the amount that you earned, you may be able to receive those additional funds. If you received more assistance than you earned, the school and/or you must return the excess funds.

The amount of assistance that you have earned is determined on a pro rata basis. For example, if you completed
30% of your payment period or period of enrollment, you earn 30% of the assistance you were originally scheduled
to receive. Once you have completed more than 60% of the payment period or period of enrollment, you earn all the assistance that you were scheduled to receive for that period. If you receive (or your school or parent receives on your behalf) excess Title IV program funds that must be returned, your school must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of:

• § Your institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of your funds, or
• § The entire amount of excess funds

If you officially withdraws, drop out, or are expelled before the first day of class, all federal financial aid funds paid to you for that payment period for institutional or non-institutional costs will be removed. You remain responsible for all charges incurred when aid is removed.

If you did not receive all of the funds that you earned, you may be due a Post-withdrawal disbursement. If your Post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, ASU must get your permission before it can disburse them. You may choose to decline some or all of the loan funds so that you don’t incur additional debt.

§ ASU may automatically use all or a portion of your Post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds for tuition, fees, and room and board charges (as contracted with the school).

§ ASU needs your permission to use the Post-withdrawal grant disbursement for all other school charges. If you do not give your permission (some schools ask for this when you enroll), you will be offered the funds.

§ However, it may be in your best interest to allow ASU to keep the funds to reduce your debt at the school.

The percentage of the payment period completed is calculated by dividing the total number of calendar days in the payment period into the number of calendar days completed as of the student’s withdrawal date.

Institutional charges are tuition, fees, room and board (if the students contracts with the institution for room and board) and other educationally-related expenses assessed by the institution.

The percentage of Title IV assistance earned is equal to the percentage of the payment period completed as
of the withdrawal date.

§ If the withdrawal date occurs after the 60 per cent point, then the percentage of Title IV assistance earned
is 100 per cent.

This percentage is then applied to the total amount of Title IV grant and loan assistance that was disbursed (and that could have been disbursed) to the student, or on the student’s behalf in the case of a parent PLUS loan, for the payment period for which it was awarded.

The unearned amount of Title IV assistance to be returned is calculated by subtracting the amount of Title IV assistance earned by the student from the amount of Title IV aid that was disbursed to the student or on behalf of the student in the case of a parent PLUS loan.

ASU will return all unearned funds back to the aid program and the student will be responsible for any balance this creates.

If we are not required to return all of the excess funds, you must return the remaining amount. Any loan funds that you must return, you (or your parent for a PLUS Loan) repay in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. That is, you make scheduled payments to the holder of the loan over a period of time. The requirements for Title IV program funds when you withdraw are separate from any refund policy.

§ Therefore, you may still owe funds to ASU to cover unpaid institutional charges.

§ We will also charge you for any Title IV program funds that we are required to return.

If the return of the funds creates a balance due on the student account, the student will be responsible to pay the balance on their account.

A school must return Title IV funds to the programs from which the student received aid during the payment period or period of enrollment as applicable, in the following order, up to the net amount disbursed from each source:

1. Unsubsidized Direct Stafford loans (other than PLUS loans)
2. Subsidized Direct Stafford loans
3. Federal Perkins loans
4. Federal PLUS loans
5. Direct PLUS loans
6. Federal Pell Grants for which a Return is required
7. Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG) for which a return of funds is required
8. Federal TEACH Grants for which a Return is required
9. Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant for which a Return is required

At ASU, the office designated for a student notification to withdraw is the Office of Counseling Service.

ASU must return the funds for which it is responsible as soon as possible but no later than 45 days after the date of its determination that the student withdrew. An institution must determine the withdrawal date for a student that does not provide notification to the institution no later than 30 days after the end of the earlier of the payment period or period of enrollment.

ASU will notify a student in writing within 30 days of the institution’s determination that the student withdrew and either owes a Title IV or HEA overpayment or owes funds to ASU.

If funds have been returned for a student based on his or her official or unofficial withdrawal, those funds cannot be reinstated if the student petitions for, and receives, a retroactive withdrawal (official, medical withdrawal, or exception to enrollment).

If you withdraw from current classes, but are registered in a later-starting class for the semester, we are required to calculate the amount of unearned aid to return to federal programs, unless, you indicate in writing that you will attend the future courses.