Return of Title IV Funds Policy

As a part of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998, Congress passed new provisions governing what must happen to your Federal financial assistance if you completely withdraw from the university during any semester. When a student withdraws from Waycross College, the college and/or the student may be required to return some of the federal aid and/or HOPE Scholarship funds awarded to the student. The student may also be eligible for a refund of a portion of the tuition and fees paid to Waycross College for the Semester.

Waycross College Withdrawal Process:

Waycross College Institutional Refund Policy:

Waycross College Return of Title IV Federal Aid and HOPE Scholarship Policy:

In general, new Federal and State regulations expect you to "earn" your financial aid awards, including HOPE, directly in proportion to the number of days you attend during the term until you withdraw. When you completely withdraw from the college during a term, the college must calculate the portion of the total scheduled financial assistance you have "earned" and are therefore entitled to receive up to the date you withdraw. This calculation is a federal formula as prescribed by regulation. When you or WC received more assistance than you earned, the unearned excess funds must be returned to the Department of Education and/or the State HOPE office. On the other hand, if you or WC receives less assistance than the amount you have earned, you may be able to receive those additional funds.

The portion of your Federal student aid/HOPE scholarship you are entitled to receive is calculated on a percentage basis by comparing the total number of days in the semester to the number of days you completed before you withdrew. For example, if you complete 30% of the semester, you earn 30% of the assistance you were originally scheduled to receive. This means that 70% of your scheduled award remains unearned and must be returned.

Once you have completed more than 60% of the semester, you have earned all (100%) of your assistance. If you withdraw from Waycross College before completing 60% of the semester, you may have to repay any unearned financial aid funds. If you received excess funds based on this calculation, WC must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of:

If WC is not required to return all the excess funds, you must return the remaining amount. The order that WC and you must return these funds is not affected by the order in which the funds were disbursed, but as follows:

If you are not required to repay loan funds, this is done in accordance with the terms of your loan promissory note. If you must repay any grant funds, the law states that you are not required to repay 50% of the grant assistance that you were calculated to repay. Any grant amount that a student must repay is considered a grant overpayment and therefore must be repaid to the Business Office within 45 days.

Example:

Student received the following financial aid

Subsidized Stafford Loan	$1275.00
Federal Pell Grant	$1425.00
SEOG	$ 300.00
Total	$3000.00
Institutional Charges	$1177.00
"Refund to Student" Check	$1823.00

Student withdrew from WC after completing 10.4% of the total semester. This percentage is figured with the following information.

Federal law states that this student has "earned" 10.4% of federal aid disbursed:

100% of aid disbursed	$3000.00
10.4% of aid disbursed	- 312.00
89.6% of unearned aid	$2688.00

WC and the student will share the 89.6% of unearned aid to be returned. WC's portion is determined by multiplying the total charges ($1177.00) by the unearned portion (89.6%), which will be $1054.59. This will be returned to the Subsidized Loan Program.

The student will be responsible for the remaining balance.

Unearned aid	$2688.00
Institutional share	-$1054.59
Student share	$1633.41

The student in accordance with terms of the promissory note will return the balance of the loan, $220.41. The remaining $1413.00 would be returned at a 50% rate to the Federal programs.

Federal Grant	$1413.00
Overpayment	X 50%
	$706.50

The student would need to make arrangements with WC's Business Office to repay $706.50 to the Federal Pell Grant program within 45 days of withdrawal.