Return to Title IV

Feedback

Back to Main Financial Aid Disbursements and Refunds page.

14.1 Calculations:

Santa Fe Community College has developed a policy for the treatment of federal student aid returns that are required when a student ceases to be enrolled.  SFCC is required to determine the earned and unearned portions of Title IV aid as of the date the student ceases attendance based on the amount of time the student spent in attendance.  This policy applies to all students that receive Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Direct Student Loans and Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants.

The Federal “Return of Title IV funds” formula dictates the amount of Federal Title IV aid that must be returned to the federal government by the school and the student.  The formula is applicable to SFCC students withdrawing up through the 60% point of the semester.  For all programs offered in modules, a student is considered to have withdrawn for Title IV purposes if the student ceases attendance at any point prior to completing the payment period or period of enrollment.  SFCC will calculate a return unless the school obtains written confirmation from the student at the time of the withdrawal that he or she will attend a module that begins later in the same payment period or period of enrollment.  After the 60% point in the payment period or period of enrollment, a student has earned 100% of the Title IV funds that he or she was scheduled to receive during the period and a return is not required.

The percentage of Title IV aid to be returned is equal to the number of calendar days remaining in the semester divided by the total number of calendar days in the semester.  The total number of calendar days in the payment period or period of enrollment includes all days in the payment period excluding scheduled breaks of at least five consecutive days.  If a student receives excess Title IV program funds that must be returned SFCC must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of:

1.  Institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of funds, or

2. the entire amount of excess funds.

The school must return this amount even if it didn’t keep this amount of your Title IV program funds. If SFCC is not required to return all of the excess funds, the student must return the remaining amount. A school must return Title IV funds to the federal programs from which the student received aid during the payment in the following order, up to the net amount disbursed from each source:

  • Unsubsidized Direct Loans (other than Direct PLUS Loans)
  • Subsidized Direct Loans
  • Direct PLUS Loans
  • Federal Pell Grants for which a Return is required
  • Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG) for which a return of funds is required
  • Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant, for which a Return is required.

The amount of institutional charges will be the greater of the amount the school must return to the Federal Title IV programs.

·   Title IV refunds or repayments will not be allocated to the College Work-study Program.

·   The amount of a refund or repayment allocated to a specific program may not exceed the amount received by the student from that program.

·   Unofficial Withdrawals–students with grades of all F’s (failing) or a combination of F’s and W’s will be considered for R2T4 repayment.  The withdrawal date will be considered to be the midpoint of the term.

·   Refunds allocated to federal loan programs must be returned to the lender/government by the institution.

·   All Title IV refunds and/or overpayments must be returned to the appropriate program account within 30 days of the date the student officially withdraws, or, when it is determined that the student has unofficially withdrawn.

SFCC-Refund Schedules:

A student will be refunded tuition and related charges according to the following schedule, based on the date that Enrollment and Student Services receives notice. The class week runs from Saturday through Friday.

For full-semester courses (16 weeks long)
Through the third Friday of the semester 100%
Thereafter no refund

For courses ten to fifteen weeks long
Through the end of the third week of classes 100%
Thereafter no refund

For courses six to nine weeks long
Through the end of the second week of classes 100%
Thereafter no refund

For courses one to five weeks long
Through the end of the second week of classes 100%
Thereafter no refund

For courses less than one week long
Prior to the start of the first class 100%
Thereafter no refund

SFCC-Refund Formula:

The Financial Aid office uses the Banner system to determine the portion of the refund to be returned.

  Amount of   Total Title IV Funds Amount to be Returned

  Refund X ————————- = to Title IV Programs

  Total Financial Aid  

Distribution Policy:

From the above schedule SFCC will refund Title IV Program funds according to funds priority:

  Priority 1 = Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan

  Priority 2 = Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan

  Priority 3 = Federal PELL

  Priority 4 = Federal ACG

  Priority 5 = FSEOG

Post withdrawal disbursement

·   SFCC will always return any unearned Title IV funds it is responsible for returning

within 45 days of the date SFCC determines the student withdrew, and offer any Post-withdrawal disbursement of loan funds within 30 days of that date.

·   SFCC will disburse any Title IV grant funds a student is due as part of a Post-withdrawal disbursement within 45 days of the date SFCC determines the student withdrew, and disburse any loan funds a student accepts within 180 days of that date.

·   Unless a student subject to verification has provided all required verification

documents in time for SFCC to meet the Return deadlines, SFCC will include as Aid Disbursed or Aid That Could Have Been Disbursed in the Return calculation only those Title IV funds not subject to verification.

·   If a student who failed to provide all required verification documents in time for SFCC to meet the Return deadline later provides those documents prior to the applicable verification deadline, SFCC will perform a new Return calculation on all of the aid the student qualified for based on the completed verification documents and make the appropriate adjustments.

To E-mail Financial Aid:

Federal regulations require that all financial aid inquiries come from your school e-mail address. Please e-mail all financial aid questions from your SFCC email account.
Log into MySFCC, access email account in upper right hand corner, and create a new email using “financialaid@sfcc.edu” in the address bar.

For more information please contact the Financial Aid office, 505-428-1268.