Return of Title IV

Effective Date: February 5, 2024

Executive Committee Board Approval: February 5, 2024

Treatment to Title IV Aid When a Student Withdraws: The law specifies how Tooele Technical College (TTECH) must determine the amount of Title IV program assistance that you earn if you withdraw from school. The Title IV programs that are covered by this law are: Federal Pell Grants, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants, and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOGs). TTECH participates in Federal Pell Grants only.

The programs offered at TTECH are classified as credit bearing consisting of payment periods. Though your aid is posted to your account at the start of each period, you earn the funds as you complete the period. When you withdraw during a payment period, 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. This is referred to as a Post Withdrawal Disbursement (PWD) which is a disbursement of Title IV aid that was earned, but not yet received prior to a student withdrawing from the program. TTECH must disburse a PWD of federal financial aid funds within 45 days of the last date of your attendance. A PWD will be automatically applied to current institutional charges. It may also be applied to other current non-institutional charges (such as additional books and supplies purchased in the TTECH Bookstore). A notification of the receipt of an eligible post withdrawal disbursement is mailed out via regular U.S. Postal Service at the time the disbursement is posted to your account.

Title IV funds are awarded to you with the assumption that you will attend school for the entire period for which the assistance is awarded. When you cease attendance prior to the planned ending date, you may not be eligible for the full amount of Title IV funds you were scheduled to receive. Attendance is tracked through the electronic Student Information System (SIS) and is verified and submitted at the end of each school day by program faculty. Through the SIS, Financial Aid staff can verify attendance, tardiness and absences. When you notify Student Services staff of your desire to withdraw from the College, you will be officially withdrawn as of the date of your notification. Notification is constituted by completing an Exit Form in person or in consultation with Student Services staff. An official withdrawal may also occur if you are dismissed under disciplinary or academic performance policies. An unofficial withdrawal is when you are absent from class for 14 calendar days from your last day of attendance (LDA). For the purposes of Title IV withdrawal date determination, the College identifies your LDA as your withdrawal date, both officially and unofficially.

The Financial Aid Office determines your LDA, the number of credits you were scheduled to take as of the LDA, and the number of credits in the payment period. These data elements are used by the Financial Aid Office in completing the Return of Title IV (R2T4) worksheet. If you received more assistance than you earned, the excess funds must be returned by the school and/or you. This is referred to as a Return of Title IV Funds (R2T4) in which a withdrawal calculation is mandatory to determine the amount of unearned aid. The amount of assistance that you have earned is determined on a pro rata basis from your first day of attendance through your scheduled hours as of the LDA. For example, if as of your LDA you were scheduled to complete 30% of your payment period, you earn 30% of the assistance you were originally scheduled to receive. If your LDA is at 60.1% of your Student Services Policies and Procedures

scheduled hours have passed, you earn all the assistance that you were scheduled to receive for that period.

• Percentage of Title IV Financial Aid Earned = hours scheduled as of last date of attendance

  divided by hours in payment period

• Percentage of Title IV Financial Aid Not Earned = 100 minus percentage of aid earned, unless beyond 60.1%

• Title IV Aid Disbursed = Title IV Financial Aid disbursed and Title IV Financial Aid that could be disbursed

• Total Aid to be Returned to the Department of Education = Percentage of Title IV Aid not earned multiplied by Title IV Aid disbursed

  
  

If you did not receive all of the funds that you earned, you may be due a post-withdrawal disbursement which includes only grant funds as TTECH does not process Direct Loan funds.

TTECH may automatically use all or a portion of your post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds for tuition and fees. TTECH needs your permission to use the post-withdrawal grant disbursement for all other school charges. If you do not give your permission, you will be offered the funds. However, it may be in your best interest to allow the school to keep the funds to reduce your debt at the school.

If you receive (or the school or parent receives on your behalf) excess Title IV program funds that must be returned, TTECH must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of:

1. Your institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of your funds, or

2. The entire amount of excess funds

TTECH has 45 days to return any unearned Title IV funds for which it is responsible from the Date of Determination, and must return the required amount calculated even if it did not keep this amount of your Title IV program funds. The unearned Title IV aid is returned to federal programs in the following order: Federal Pell Grants, and Federal FSEOG (Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant).

TTECH currently participates in the Federal Pell Grants only.

Credit Balances

When a student withdraws with an outstanding Title IV credit balance, the college is required to

perform an R2T4 calculation to determine whether adjustments to the credit balance will occur. Once the R2T4 is calculated and it is determined the college owes the funds, the college has 14 days to return the required balance to the Department of Education. Any remaining excess funds after the college returned funds to the Department of Education, will be given to the student according to our refund policy.

If TTECH is not required to return all of the excess funds as the result of the R2T4 , the student must return the remaining amount. Any amount of unearned grant funds that you must return is called an overpayment. Students who owe funds to a grant program are required to make payment of those funds within 45 days of being notified that they owe this overpayment. During the 45-day period, the student will remain eligible for Title IV funds. If no positive action is taken by the student within 45 days of being notified, TTECH will notify the U.S. Department of Education of the student’s overpayment situation. The student will no longer be eligible for Title IV funds until they enter into a satisfactory repayment agreement with the U.S. Department of Education.

The requirements for Title IV program funds when the student withdrew are separate from TTECH’s refund policy. Therefore, the student may still owe funds to the school to cover unpaid institutional charges. TTECH may also charge the student for any Title IV program funds that it was required to return. If you do not already know TTECH’s refund policy, you should ask Student Services for a copy, or locate the policy in the Student Handbook or on the web page. TTECH will also provide you with the requirements and procedures for officially withdrawing from school.

If you have questions about your Title IV program funds, you can call the Federal Student Aid

Information Center at 1-800-4-FEDAID (1-800-433-3243). TTY users may call 1-800-730-8913.

Information is also available on Student Aid on the Web at www.studentaid.ed.gov