Return of Title IV Funds for Complete Withdrawal
To officially withdraw from all courses students must go to the Office of the Academic Records at the Weatherford or Sayre Remote Location.
Students receiving federal financial assistance who completely withdraw from all classes or fail to receive a passing grade in all courses during a period of enrollment will be subject to the Return of Title IV Funds refund policy required by federal regulation. This policy applies to students receiving assistance through the Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant, Academic Competitiveness Grant, Smart Grant, Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan, Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan and the Federal Parent loans for Undergraduate Students Program.
This policy assumes students earn their financial aid based on the period of time in which they are enrolled through the semester. When a student officially withdraws the Office of the Academic Records will notify the Office of Student Financial Services and the Office of the Bursar. The withdrawal form gives the Office of Student Financial services the official withdrawal dates. The Office of Student Financial Services determines the institutional charges to be included in the refund calculation, aid disbursed and the aid that could have been disbursed. Institutional charges include all charges for tuition, fees and room and board. Non-Institutional charges that are not included are items such as Health Insurance fees, parking or Library fines, And short-term loans. At the end of each semester those students who did not receive a passing grade in any of their courses will be considered an unofficial withdrawal. The return of funds calculation will use the fifty percent point in time for these students unless they prove attendance past that point in the semester.
SWOSU has 30 days to determine if a student who did not earn any passing grades at the end of the semester unofficially withdrew without notification. Unofficially withdrawn students are notified by SWOSU email and by standard mail of their opportunity to prove academic activity after the 50% point in the semester. Notification can be in several forms however the most common form of academic proof is when a student has her instructor notify student financial services by SWOSU email of their last academic activity. Unofficially withdrawn students have 30 days from the end of the semester to provide proof of academic activity to the Student Financial Services Office.
Effective July 1, 2011, students who are enrolled in classes that do not span an entire semester are considered to be enrolled in modules. Students who complete a module and are enrolled in classes that extend the entire length of the term may owe a return of funds if they withdraw after completing the module. This is because they were awarded for the entire term but only completed a portion of it. The SWOSU summer term is made up of two distinct modules. Students who enroll in both and subsequently withdraw after completing the first module will be subject to return of funds calculations.
After determining a students’ withdrawal dates, official or unofficial, the Office of Student Financial Services must determine if the amount of aid disbursed to the student is greater than the amount of aid the student earned. Any unearned funds must be returned to the federal student aid programs. If at the time of withdrawal the amount disbursed to students is less than the amount they earned, they may be eligible to receive a post – withdrawal disbursement. The student will be notified by mail and will have 14 days to respond and approve or deny the post-withdrawal disbursement.
The Return of Funds Calculation uses the number of days enrolled divided by the number of days in the term to get the percent of aid earned. Students who remain enrolled beyond the 60 percent point of the semester are considered to have earned 100 percent of aid received for the period. Students who are enrolled for less than 60 percent of the semester will be responsible for repaying that aid.
Any refund amount calculated from this formula that the University must return will be returned to the appropriate federal aid programs in the following order:
- Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans
- Subsidized Stafford Loans
- Federal PLUS Loans
- Federal Pell Grant
- Academic Competitiveness Grant
- SMART Grant
- Federal SEOG
Any unearned aid that students owe the federal aid programs must be returned to the school within 45 days or the student will lose future Title IV eligibility until the overpayment is paid in full. Any loan funds returned as a result of the Return of Title IV Funds process will go into repayment based on the regular repayment terms of their promissory note.
Students must be aware that when the institution is required to return unearned funds due to their withdrawal they may have a balance due to the school. This balance is separate from any overpayment the student must repay due to withdrawal.
The University must complete the Return of Title IV process within 45 days of the date of a students’ withdrawal