Withdrawal Policies – Treatment of Title IV Aid When a Student Withdraws
Treatment of Title IV Aid When a Student Withdraws
If a student provides official notification (such as written or stated intent to withdraw) or is withdrawn by AIAM due to ceasing attendance, a return of unearned Financial Aid funds may be necessary. Upon determining student withdrawal date and student’s last date of attendance at an academically related activity, the Financial Aid Office will apply applicable Federal policies. If a student has attended more than 60 percent of the quarter or payment period, all aid for which the student has received or is eligible will be considered earned. If the student is calculated to have attended/earned less than 60 percent, the student will not be eligible to receive/retain the full amount of aid. The calculation of percentage for quarter-based students involves the number of calendar days in the quarter (minus scheduled breaks of 5 days or more) the student has been attending, divided by total calendar days. For WMT students, the calculation of percentage is the hours the student was scheduled to complete as of the last date of attendance divided by the total hours in the payment period— which is 375 hours.
If the student does not earn all the funds received (or parent funds received on the student’s behalf) and there are Title IV program funds that must be returned, AIAM must return the lesser of:
- Institutional charges (tuition and fees) multiplied by the unearned percentage of your funds, or
- The entire amount of Title IV funds received minus the earned portion, which is the unearned portion.
Aid calculated into the amount the student has earned must be aid for which the student was otherwise eligible. If the student has been disbursed all aid for which they are eligible in a payment period that earns less than 60 percent, they will have funds returned. If the student has not yet had aid disbursed for which they are eligible, the percentage for which they are eligible will be available in the form of a post-withdrawal of funds. Any post-withdrawal of grant funds does not require student permission to apply to their account. Post-withdrawal of loan funds will be offered to the student (and parent if applicable) within 30 days of the date of withdrawal. Confirmation of this request is required in a timely manner. Type and amount of the Title IV loan funds that will make up the Post-withdrawal disbursement not credited to student’s account will be identified. A student or parent may accept all or part of the disbursement. The student or parent is advised that no Post-withdrawal disbursement of Title IV loan funds will be made unless the school receives a response within the timeframe established by the school, which needs to be as soon as possible, but no later than 180 days.
AIAM may automatically use all or a portion of a post-withdrawal disbursement (including loan funds, if you accept them) for institutional charges. For all other school charges, AIAM needs the student’s or parent’s permission to use the post-withdrawal disbursement. AIAM must return any amount considered unearned. Any loan funds that the student returns must also still be repaid in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. Loan funds must be repaid via scheduled payments to the holder of the loan over a period of time. It is possible that student may have received an overpayment, as unearned Pell grant funds that are received in excess of a 50 percent protection are considered an overpayment. The amount of a grant overpayment that is a debt then owed to the Department of Education. You must make arrangements with AIAM or the Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds over 2 years. Overpayment status will result in a loss of financial aid eligibility.
Students are responsible for any Title IV program funds that AIAM is required to return. A copy of the AIAM school refund policy is published in the AIAM catalog.
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.