Title IV Withdrawal

Treatment of Title IV Aid When a Student Withdraws

The law specifies how Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) 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 Afghanistan Service Grants, Academic Competitiveness Grants, National SMART Grants, TEACH Grants, Stafford Loans, PLUS Loans, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOGs), and Federal Perkins Loans.

 When you withdraw during your payment period or period of enrollment 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 SCSU or parent received on your behalf) less assistance than the amount that you earned, you may be able to receive those additional funds. If you received more assistance than you earned, the excess funds must be re­turned by SCSU and/or you.

The following is the order in which Title IV funds are returned:

    Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan
    Direct Subsidized Stafford Loan
    Federal Perkins Loan
    Direct Graduate PLUS
    Direct PLUS Loan
    Pell Grant
    Academic Competiveness Grant
    National SMART Grant
    Federal SEOG
    TEACH Grant
    Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant

After the excess funds have been returned for the above Title IV funds, the non-Title IV funds grants will be calculated, if applicable, these include

    1. Connecticut Aid to Public Schools Grant (CAPS
    2. Connecticut State University Grant (CSUG)
    3. Individual State Grants, such as Vermont Student Assistance, etc.

The amount of assistance that you have earned is determined on a prorata basis. For example, if you completed 30% of your payment period or period of enrollment, you earn 30% of the assistance you were originally scheduled to receive. Once you have completed more than 60% of the payment period or period of enrollment, you earn all the assistance that you were scheduled to receive for that period.

If you did not receive all of the funds that you earned, you may be due a Post-withdrawal disburse­ment. If your Post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, SCSU must get your permission before it can disburse them. You may choose to decline some or all of the loan funds so that you don't incur additional debt. SCSU may automatically use all or a portion of your Post-withdrawal dis­bursement of grant funds for tuition, fees, and room and board charges (as contracted with the school). SCSU needs your permission to use the Post-withdrawal grant disbursement for all other school charges. If you do not give your permission, you will not be of­fered the funds. However, it may be in your best interest to allow SCSU to keep the funds to reduce your debt at the school.

There is some Title IV funds that you were scheduled to receive that cannot be disbursed to you once you withdraw because of other eligibility requirements. For example, if you are a first-time, first-year undergraduate student and you have not completed the first 30 days of your program before you with­draw, you will not receive any FFEL or Direct Loan funds that you would have received had you remained enrolled past the 30th day.

If you receive (or SCSU or parent receives on your behalf) excess Title IV program funds that must be returned, SCSU 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.

SCSU must return this amount even if it didn't keep this amount of your Title IV program funds.  

If SCSU is not required to return all of the excess funds, you must return the remaining amount. Any loan funds that you must return, you (or your parent for a PLUS Loan) repay in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. That is, you make scheduled payments to the holder of the loan over a period of time.

Any amount of unearned grant funds that you must return is called an overpayment. The maximum amount of a grant overpayment that you must repay is half of the grant funds you received or were scheduled to receive. You do not have to repay a grant overpayment if the original amount of the over­payment is $50 or less. You must make arrangements with SCSU or the Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds.

SCSU is required to return the unearned funds within 45 days from the date OFAS has determined you have withdrawn.

If you withdraw from all of your courses online you are subject to the withdrawal calculation .  SCSU is required to determine what portion of the financial aid you have earned and portion of financial aid has to be returned back to the approriate fund.  If you plan on withdrawing from all of your courses for a semester, you shoud download the withdrawal form at https://www.southernct.edu/registrar and submit it to the Registrar's Office.  You will be responsible to pay any outstanding balance that you may owe to the university Bursar's Office.

If you received financial aid during the semester and decide to withdraw from a course or several courses during the semester this may an impact on the amount of financial aid you may be eligible to receive for the semester.  In some cases the financial aid may be adjusted or canceled depending on the total number of credits you are registered for the semester.  Therefore, you will be responsible to pay any outstanding balance that you may owe to the university Bursar's Office.

SCSU is required to perform the withdrawal calculation for students who decides to stop attending classes and never withdraws from the university.  SCSU will determine the last date the student attended and perform the withdrawal calculation.  If the student did not attend any of the classes, SCSU is required to return all of the funds back.   

The requirements for Title IV program funds when you withdraw are separate from any refund policy that SCSU may have. Therefore, you may still owe funds to SCSU to cover unpaid institutional charges.   SCSU may also charge you for any Title IV program funds that the school was required to return. If you don't already know what your school's refund policy is, you can ask the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships for a copy.   SCSU can 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.