Return of Title IV Funds
A recipient of federal Title IV financial aid who withdraws or is dismissed from school during a payment period or period of enrollment in which the student began attendance will have the amount of Title IV funds they did not earn calculated according to federal regulations. This calculation will be based on the student’s last date of attendance and the date the school determines that the student has withdrawn from school, or the date of dismissal for a student who is dismissed by the institution.
The period of time in which Title IV financial aid is earned for a payment period or period of enrollment is the number of calendar days the student has been enrolled for the payment period or period of enrollment up to the day the student withdrew, divided by the total calendar days in the payment period or period of enrollment. The percentage is multiplied by the amount of Title IV financial aid for the payment period or period of enrollment for which the Title IV financial aid was awarded to determine the amount of Title IV financial aid earned. The amount of Title IV financial aid that has not been earned for the payment period or period of enrollment, and must be returned, is the complement of the amount earned. The amount of Title IV financial aid earned and the amount of the Title IV financial aid not earned will be calculated based on the amount of Title IV financial aid that was disbursed for the payment period or period of enrollment upon which the calculation was based. A student will have earned 100% of the Title IV financial aid disbursed for the payment period or period of enrollment if the student withdrew after completing more than 60% of the payment period or period of enrollment or if a student successfully completed a course in the term. Scheduled breaks of 5 days or more are excluded from the calculation.
The US Department of Education regulations indicate that it is not sufficient for a student to simply log in to an on-line class to demonstrate “academic attendance" and thus trigger either initial attendance and financial aid eligibility or an LDA (Last Date of Attendance) for purposes of R2T4 (Return of Title IV Aid) calculations. On-line programs must use very specific means to document that a student participated in class or was otherwise engaged in an academically-related activity, such as; submit an assignment, take a quiz, contribute to an on-line discussion and in some cases post to an on-line gallery.
For R2T4 purposes in a term based program with modules, a student is considered to have withdrawn, if they do not complete all of the days they were scheduled to complete in the payment period or period of enrollment. The R2T4 calculation is required for all students who have ceased attendance; other than those on an approved LOA, those that have successfully completed a course in the term, or those who have attested to an expected return to a future module within the same term.
In order to NOT be considered withdrawn, the school must obtain a written confirmation from the student stating the student’s intention of return to a future module within the same term. The fact that the student is scheduled to attend the next module will NOT be acceptable.
Schools are required to determine Title IV funds that must be refunded based upon the percentage of the payment period completed prior to withdrawing.
Once the amount of Title IV financial aid that was not earned has been calculated, federal regulations require that the school return Title IV funds disbursed for the payment period or period of enrollment and used for institutional costs in the following order:
- Direct Loans
- Unsubsidized Federal Direct Loans
- Subsidized Federal Direct Loans
- Federal Direct PLUS loans received on behalf of the student.
- Federal Pell Grants.
- Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant
- Federal SEOG
- Other grant or loan assistance authorized by Title IV of the HEA.
If the amount of unearned Title IV financial aid disbursed exceeds the amount that is returned by the school, then the student (or parent, if a Federal Parent-PLUS Loan) must return or repay, as appropriate, the remaining grant and loan funds. The student (or parent, if a Federal Parent-PLUS Loan) will be notified of the amount that must be returned or paid back, as appropriate.
Withdrawal Date
The withdrawal date used to determine when the student is no longer enrolled at Colorado Technical University is the date in which a student begins the official withdrawal process. Students intending to withdraw from the University must submit written notice to the Student Affairs Department or an e‐mail to OfficeofStudentAdvising@coloradotech.edu. A student’s written notification serves as an official withdrawal and will be processed in a timely manner.
A student who submits an official withdrawal request but continues to participate in any of the three class related activities listed below will not be considered to have officially withdrawn from the university. The official request to withdraw must be made before the end of a session.
The last date of attendance (LDA) is used for refund calculations of tuition as follows:
- If the LDA is during or prior to the fourth week of the student’s first session, that LDA is used for the tuition refund calculation.
- If the LDA is after the fourth week of the student’s first session there will be no refund of tuition charges for those courses.
Once a student enters the 2nd session of a quarter, following the designated drop period, there will be no refund of tuition.
- If a student does not participate in any class related activity (see definition below) at least once during the first week of the session, the student is administratively withdrawn from the university. The last date of the previous grading period is used as the LDA for refund calculations.
- If a student does not participate in a class related activity at least once every 15 calendar days within a session or he/she will be administratively withdrawn from the University. The LDA is used as the official date of withdrawal for refund calculations and federal financial aid purposes.
A class related activity is defined as one of the following:
- posting to the discussion board;
- writing and submitting an individual assignment; or
- taking a knowledge check or quiz.
Please note that the above policy may result in a reduction in university charges that is less than the amount of Title IV financial aid that must be returned. Therefore, the student may have an outstanding balance due to the university that is greater than that which was owed prior to the withdrawal.
All balances become due and payable at the time of withdrawal from the University.
A student who is administratively withdrawn from the University before the fifth week receives W grades for all current courses. After the fourth week students will receive the grade earned in current courses.