Withdrawal and Return of Federal Aid

Return of Federal Financial Aid (R2T4) 

A student’s federal financial aid eligibility must be recalculated for students who withdraw, drop out, are dismissed or take a leave of absence prior to completing 60% of a term. Federal financial aid includes Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), and Federal Direct Loans. The recalculation of eligibility is based on the percent of earned aid using the following formula: 

• Percent of earned aid  =   Number of days attended in the term / Total number of days in the term 

Federal financial aid must be returned to the federal government based on the percent of unearned aid using the following formula: 

• Aid to be returned = Percent of unearned aid  X  the amount of federal financial aid disbursed 

The amount of aid to be returned is the responsibility of the College and the student. However, the student will be responsible for repaying the College for the amount that the College was required to return on his or her behalf less any refund for which the student is eligible. Therefore, a student who does not complete at least 60% of a term will owe a repayment to the College and/or the federal government for the amount of unearned federal financial aid.

A student who owes the College may not be permitted to register for a subsequent term or obtain an official academic transcript until the debt is paid. Payment should be made to the business office. A student who owes the federal government may be reported to the U.S. Department of Education and be required to provide documentation of a satisfactory payment arrangement before federal or state financial aid eligibility is restored.  

Returning of Funds, Notification and Payment Arrangements

The College and the student are both responsible for returning unearned federal aid to the federal government. Amounts that must be returned will be applied in the following order: Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, Federal Direct Subsidized Stafford Loan, Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan, Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant.

The Financial Aid Office will notify students if they have unearned aid for a payment period. The Business Office will notify the student of the amount owed back to the College and/or the federal government. Any grant amounts the student has to return to the federal government must be repaid within 45 days.   If this amount is not paid within 45 days the student will be referred to the Department of Education (DOE) for Collections as in overpayment of federal funds.

Any money the student owes back to the College resulting from the return of federal funds needs to be handled with the Business Office. If a student does not repay the grant funds that are owed to the government within the 45 days, the account will be turned over to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).

If a student earned more aid than was disbursed to him/her, Piedmont Tech is required to determine the student’s post withdrawal disbursement. PTC must offer any post-withdrawal disbursement of loan funds within 30 days of the withdraw date and make a post- withdrawal of grant funds within 45 days of the withdraw date. PTC must disburse any Title IV grant funds a student is due as part of a post-withdrawal disbursement within 45 days of the date the withdrawal was determined and disburse any loan funds a student accepts within 180 days of the date.

The financial aid office will notify students of their post-withdrawal disbursement offer of loan funds via mail. Students will have 30 days to accept or decline the disbursement of their loan funds. Students are informed of the amount of their post withdrawal disbursement and the source. Students are also informed of any remaining balances the loan funds could cover and that the loan funds are to be repaid.

 

DETERMINATION OF WITHDRAWAL DATE

Official withdrawals are those which are initiated by the student.  A student's withdrawal date is defined as the actual date the student notifies the student records office of their wish to withdraw from a course or courses.

A federal financial aid recipient who, at the end of the term has received grades of F or a combination of F and W will be considered as having unofficially withdrawn.  The financial aid office will use the last date that the student participated in an academically related activity, as reported by the instructors as the withdrawal date.  If no date is available, the mid point (50%) will be used.