The law specifies how West Virginia State University must determine the amount of Title IV program assistance that students earns if they withdraw from school. The Title IV programs covered by this law are: Federal Pell Grants, Direct Loans, PLUS Loans, and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG).
The funds will be returned to the programs based on a concept of earned versus unearned aid. The “Return of Title IV Funds” rule assumes that a student earns their aid based on the period of time they were enrolled. The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships is required by federal statute to determine how much financial aid was earned by a student who withdraws or stops attending, is dismissed from the institution, or takes a leave of absence prior to completing 60% of a term. For a student who withdraws after the 60% timeframe, there are no unearned funds. However, a school must still complete the return calculation in order to determine if the student is eligible for a post-withdrawal disbursement.
Unearned Title IV funds, other than Federal Work Study, must be returned. Unearned aid is the amount of disbursed aid that exceeds the amount of Title IV aid earned. During the first 60% of the enrollment period, a student earns Title IV funds in direct proportion to the length of time he or she remains enrolled and attending. A student who remains enrolled and attending beyond the 60% point earns all aid for that period. The calculation is based on the percentage of earned aid using the following Federal Return of Title IV funds formula:
Percentage of payment period or term completed = the number of days completed up to the withdrawal date divided by the total days in the payment period or term. (Any break of five days or more is not counted as part of the days in the term.) This percentage is also the percentage of earned aid.
For a student who officially withdraws, the date of determination that the student withdrew is the later of: the withdrawal date or the date of the student’s notification to the Office of the Registrar. For a student who did not provide notification of withdrawal, the date used will be the actual last date of attendance as provided by faculty. If West Virginia State University is unable to determine the last date of attendance, we will use the 50% point of the term as the withdrawal date.
Students may submit the Withdraw Form electronically at https://www.wvstateu.edu/academics/registrar/student-forms.aspx.
A student who earned more aid than was disbursed, prior to withdrawal, is owed a post-withdrawal disbursement, which must be paid within 120 days of the student’s withdrawal. Post-withdrawal disbursements must be made from available grants before loans. West Virginia State University will credit post-withdrawal disbursements towards unpaid institutional charges. Any portion of a post-withdrawal disbursement not credited to the student’s account will be offered to the student as a cash disbursement (or parent in case of a PLUS loan).
West Virginia State University must return the amount of Title IV funds for which it is responsible, no later than 45 days after the determined date of the withdrawal. Funds are returned to the appropriate federal program based on the percentage of unearned aid. The student is responsible for repaying West Virginia State University any funds that exceed the institution’s portion of the total returned amount.
West Virginia State University will disburse any credit balance owed to the student no later than 14 days after the return of Title IV aid calculations have been completed.
The percentage of unearned aid is determined by subtracting the percentage of Title IV aid earned from 100%. The amount of aid to be returned is determined by multiplying the total amount of aid that could have been disbursed during the payment period or term by the percentage of unearned aid. Â
Refunds/returns are allocated in the following order:
- Unsubsidized Direct Loans
- Subsidized Direct Loans
- Direct PLUS Loans
- Federal Pell Grants
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG)
- Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants