Withdrawing

Withdrawal and return to TITLE IV (R2T4) Policy

Federal Title IV funds are awarded to a student under the assumption that he/she will attend school for the entire period for which the assistance is awarded. When a student withdraws from all his/her courses, for any reason including medical withdrawals, he/she may no longer be eligible for the full amount of Title IV funds that he/she was originally scheduled to receive.

If the student withdraws from all courses prior to completing over 60% of a semester, he/she may be required to repay a portion of the federal financial aid that he/she received for that term. A pro rata schedule is used to determine the amount of federal student aid funds he/she will have earned at the time of the withdrawal.

The return of funds is based upon the concept that students earn their financial aid in proportion to the amount of time in which they are enrolled. Under this reasoning, a student who withdraws in the second week of classes has earned less of his/her financial aid than a student who withdraws in the seventh week. Once 60% of the semester is completed, a student is considered to have earned all of his financial aid and will not be required to return any funds. Students enrolled in dynamically dated classes are treated differently than the above regulatory guidance. Effective July 1^st, 2021 the Department of Education implemented new regulations for students enrolled in modules (as defined at Catholic University as dynamically dated classes). These classes do not span the entire 15 week traditional term. Students enroll in multiple courses with different start and end dates within a 15 week term.

The Office of Student Financial Assistance in accordance with 34CFR Sec. 668.22 calculates the Return of Title IV Funds for any student receiving Title IV Aid and subsequently withdraws before the end of the enrollment period (i.e. term). For students enrolled in dynamically dated classes they are not considered withdrawn if one of the following circumstances are true:

the student will attend a later module in the same payment period of period of enrollment;
The student completes the requirements for graduation;
The student completes one or more modules that, together, comprise at least 49% of the days in the payment period; or
The student completes coursework equal to or greater than the coursework required for half-time enrollment.

Official Withdrawal

In Person

Undergraduate students intending to officially withdrawal should contact the Dean of Students Office. Graduate students should contact the Dean of their school. In addition, all students may officially withdrawal by completing an Official Withdrawal Form with the Office of Enrollment Services. Students planning to enroll for the next semester should request a term withdrawal for the current semester; students that do not plan to return to the University should request a permanent withdrawal.

The official withdrawal date used to determine the return of funds calculation is maintained in the Office of Enrollment Services as well as within the PeopleSoft system. The “Student's Withdrawal Date" and the "Date of the Institution's Determination that the Student has Withdrawn" will be the date the student provides official notification of their intent to withdrawal.

Online

A student that drops or withdraws from all of their courses online after the first day of classes is considered to have officially withdrawn. The Office of Financial Aid will use the date the last course was dropped/withdrawn to determine the “Student Withdrawal Date” and the “Date of the Institution’s Determination that the Student has Withdrawn”.

Unofficial Withdrawal

The Office of Student Financial Assistance will assume that students that fail to earn a single grade in any of their classes for a term to have unofficially withdrawn. Students that receive all grades of “F*” or a combination of “F*” and “W” will be considered to have unofficially withdrawn from the University. The Office of Student Financial Assistance will process an R2T4 using the 50% point as the student’s “Withdrawal Date” and the last date that grades are due as the “Date of the Institution's Determination that the Student has Withdrawn”.

The University has initiated a grading policy that will be used to distinguish between a student who earned a grade of “F” (awarded to students who complete the course but fail to achieve the course objectives) or a grade of “F*” (awarded to students who did not officially withdrawal from the course, but who failed to participate in course activities through the end of the period). A grade of “F*” is used when, in the opinion of the instructor, completed assignments or course activities or both were insufficient to make normal evaluation of academic performance possible. A student that earns at least one grade including an "F" grade will be considered to have completed the term and no R2T4 calculation would be required or performed.

Incomplete Grade

Catholic University considers a student who receives an (I) grade(s) to have completed the course and earned any grade(s) resulting from the resolution of the initial (I) grade(s), no R2T4 calculation is required.

Enrollment Status Verification

The Office of Student Financial Assistance will perform an R2T4 calculation for each student that drops all courses after the start of classes but before the end of the drop/add period and each student that fails to earn a grade for a term. The Office of Financial Aid will contact instructors to determine if the student began attendance only if the R2T4 calculation determines that the student is eligible for a prorated portion of their disbursed aid or a Post Withdrawal Disbursement (PWD) of aid that could have been disbursed.

The Office of Student Financial Assistance will contact the instructor of each class for which a student was registered to determine the student’s enrollment status. For a student that drops (withdraws) from all classes during the drop/add period, the number of credits the student was registered for at the start of the day of the last drop will be used to determine the student's base enrollment status at the time of the withdrawal. Enrollment status and aid will then be readjusted to reflect the courses for which an instructor verifies that the student began attendance.

If the Office of Student Financial Assistance is not able to verify that the student began attendance in any class for a term, then all aid for that term would be canceled and returned to the federal aid programs.

Special Circumstances

Cancelation of Enrollment
Should a student cancel his/her enrollment before classes start as opposed to withdrawing, no Return of Title IV calculation will be performed. Instead, all aid disbursed will be cancelled and returned to the appropriate aid programs.

Should a student attend classes and officially withdrawal during the refund period, but ask in writing that all of his/her aid be returned, all of the student’s aid will be returned and no calculation will be performed. For example, this can happen when a student plans to transfer and attend another institution for the same semester. If all of the aid is not returned, the student may be prohibited from receiving aid at the other institution due to concurrent enrollment restrictions. If a calculation has been performed, the earned aid retained will be canceled and those funds will be refunded to the various programs.

Suspension or Dismissal
In cases where a student is suspended or dismissed from the University, the "Student's Withdrawal Date" and "Date of the Institution's Determination that the Student has Withdrawn" will be the date the student’s suspension or dismissal become effect.

Academic Leave (not a Leave of Absence)
Catholic University, being a term-based credit-hour institution, cannot offer a federally approved Leave of Absence (LOA) option. However, students may request to be placed on Academic Leave for a future semester.

Students who must interrupt their studies for a legitimate reason, such as sustained ill health or military service, may be granted an academic leave for a stated period, usually not to exceed one year. Requesting Academic Leave permits the student to return to the University within a specified timeframe without reapplying to the University. Academic Leave can only be granted for a future term(s) and cannot be granted once a term has started. Students that have to interrupt their studies once a semester has started will have to apply for a term withdrawal.

Undergraduate students requesting to be place on Academic Leave should contact the Dean of Students Office. Graduate students should contact the Dean of their school. In addition, all students may request an Academic Leave by completing a Request for an Academic Leave form with the Office of Enrollment Services.

Students on Academic Leave will be reported to the National Student Clearinghouse as ‘not enrolled’ with an effective date as of the last day of the semester in which they were last enrolled. They will enter their federal student loan grace period as of that date, and if they have previously used up their student loan grace period, they will immediately enter into loan repayment.

Unable to Provide Official Notification
If the student does not provide official notification because of circumstances beyond the student's control (i.e. student's death, student’s hospitalization, natural disaster), the "Student's Withdrawal Date" will be the date that the University determines that the event took place that resulted in the student being unable to provide official notification. This will usually be processed as an official withdrawal by the Dean of Student's for undergraduate students and the Academic Dean for graduate students. The "Date of the Institution's Determination that the Student has Withdrawn" will be the date that the school is notified that the student has ceased attendance. If a student attends class after the event and then withdraws, the “Withdrawal Date” will be the date the school is notified of the student’s intent to withdrawal. Since a student can officially withdrawal online, the student would have to document that they could not have reasonably gained access to a computer to officially withdrawn online.

Institutional Refund Policy

Please refer to the Office of Enrollment Service’s “Refund of Student Charges” policy to review the University’s tuition, room and board refund policies.

The institutional refund policy is separate from the Return to Title IV policy. Refunds are based on total charges billed, not on payments made. Application fees and registration deposits are non-refundable. Other fees, except room and board, are refunded only if a student withdraws completely from the university prior to the end of the drop/add period. Please refer to the Academic Calendar for the specific date.

Registered students who cancel their registration after the end of the drop/add period or who have their registration cancelled because of nonpayment are subject to a registration cancellation fee.

Adjustment of University Grants and Scholarships

University grants and scholarships will be prorated to be proportional to the percentage of tuition charges incurred. For example, if a student's tuition charges are reduced by forty percent then that student's university grants and scholarships will also is reduced by forty percent.

Note that specific grant or scholarship terms may supersede this general rule. Adjustments to University graduate grants and scholarships are at the discretion of the individual department/school awarding the grant or scholarship and the Office of the Provost.

Aid Considered in the R2T4

The following types of aid will be considered in the R2T4 calculation: Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG), National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (SMART), Federal Perkins loans, and the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loans, which includes the Direct Subsidized, Direct Unsubsidized and Direct PLUS Loan programs.

Federal Work-Study (FWS) is reviewed for notification to appropriate employer, but is not part of the calculation.

Institutional Charges

Institutional charges for R2T4 purposes at Catholic University primarily consist of tuition, fees, room, and board.

When determining the student’s institutional charges, the charges present at the time the student withdrew or stopped attending class are taken into consideration. If a student receives a refund as a result of the withdrawal, the refund of institutional charges is not used to reduce the amount of institutional charges used in the calculation. However, if prior to the complete withdrawal, the student received a refund as the result of dropping a course, the refund will be included when determining the amount of the institutional charges.

Fee waivers are treated as scholarships and are not used to reduce institutional charges for R2T4 calculation purposes.

Attendance and Earned/Unearned Percentage

The type and amount of aid that must be returned to the aid programs is based on the percentage of aid that is considered to have been unearned at the point of withdrawal. Before calculating the unearned percentage, the earned percentage must first be calculated. This is calculated by dividing the number of days attended in the semester (excluding calendar breaks of five or more days) by the number of days in the semester (excluding calendar breaks of five or more days). Weekends are included in the calculation except where a break coinciding with a weekend exceeds five days.

Once the earned percentage has been calculated, it is then subtracted from 100 to get the unearned percentage. The unearned percentage is then multiplied by the Title IV assistance received to determine the amount of Title IV aid that is unearned and must be returned.

Unearned/Earned Aid and Return of Funds

There are two types of unearned aid: unearned aid by the institution and unearned aid by the student.

Unearned Aid by the Institution represents the unearned aid applied toward institutional charges and is returned within 45 days of the institution’s knowledge that the student withdrew. A charge is placed on the student’s account for the portion of institutional charges that are no longer paid as a result of the return.

Unearned Aid by the Student represents the total unearned aid less the amount unearned by the institution. Because the student is no longer attending school, he/she will simply enter the “grace” period of the loans and the student will return no loan funds. In the case of grants, half of the grant is protected and excluded from the calculation. The student is will not be required to return any grant funds if the amount is $50 or less. Any grant funds the student is required to return are automatically returned to the federal programs by Catholic University. The student is then billed for the amounts returned. Because Catholic University returns the funds, the student does not have an overpayment and is eligible to receive financial aid in future terms. If the student is identified as withdrawing under circumstances outlined in the Heroes Act of 2003 or the student is deceased, the student portion of unearned grant aid is not returned.

The following is the specified order for returning unearned aid: Direct Unsubsidized Loan, Direct Subsidized Loan, Federal Perkins Loan, Direct Plus Loan, Federal Pell Grant, Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG), National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG).

NOTE: Catholic University performs all calculations using U.S. Department of Education R2T4 Website.

Post-Withdrawal Disbursement

If the student has accepted his/her federal aid and it has not disbursed, the reason for the non-disbursal will be ascertained. If any of the following conditions have been met below the aid will be included in the “Aid that Could Have Disbursed” section of the calculation to determine if a post-withdrawal disbursement is due:

a. Federal Pell Grant- ISIR received date with an “official” EFC preceding the withdrawal date and student meets all other eligibility criteria.

b. FSEOG- Aid was awarded prior to withdrawal date.

c. Direct Plus, Subsidized, Unsubsidized, and Perkins Loans- Loan had originated prior to withdrawal date and Master Promissory Note was signed prior to R2T4 calculation date.

If the post-withdrawal disbursement calculation indicates that a post withdrawal disbursement is due from grant funds and the student has outstanding institutional charges, the funds are automatically applied to the student’s billing account. If the calculation indicates that a post-withdrawal disbursement is due from loan funds or grant funds remain available after being applied to outstanding institutional charges, the student/parent is sent a letter notifying him/her of the amount available. The student/parent is asked to return the letter within 14 days indicating whether he/she wishes to receive the aid and if so, the amount.

A school may not make a Post-Withdrawal Disbursement to the account or estate of a student who has died. Also a student's estate is not required to return any Title IV funds.

Notification

In addition to notifying students of potential eligibility, letters are mailed to all students and parents (Plus only) any time aid is returned as a result of the R2T4 calculation. The letters are mailed to the students’ permanent address.

Federal Loans

If you have borrowed from the Federal Student Loan Program, you can complete your federal exit loan counseling online. If you have borrowed from the Federal Perkins Loan Program, you visit UAS Accounting Services at uasexit.com to complete your Perkins Loan exit interview.

Federal Title IV Withdrawal Worksheet

The Federal Title IV Withdrawal Worksheet is available on the Office of Student Financial Assistance's Forms page.

Withdrawal Calculation Examples

The following examples are given to show the basic theory behind the federal return of funds formula.

Example 1: For a student living on campus who withdraws on the 23rd day of the fall term

Title IV Financial Aid is Pell Grants, SEOG Grants, Perkins Loans and Federal Direct Loans

TITLE IV Aid


Pell	1,500
SEOG	500
Perkins	500
Direct Student Loan	2,750
Direct PLUS Loan	5,000
TOTAL	10,250
Unearned Title IV Aid	8,128

Catholic University Aid


Catholic University Grant	1,000
Catholic University Scholarship	2,000
Total	3,000

Institutional Charges


Tuition	9,100
Fees	400
Room	2,500
Board	1,500
TOTAL	13,500
Unearned Inst. Charges	10,705

*Unearned Percentage equals TOTAL * [1 - (23 days completed / 111 days in semester)] OR 79.3 percent

School returns the lesser of Unearned Title IV Aid or Unearned Institutional Charges. (Aid is returned to programs in the following order: Direct Plus, Direct Student Loan, Perkins, SEOG and, finally, Pell.)

$8,128

Student returns the Unearned Title IV Aid minus Unearned Institutional Charges if Unearned Title IV Aid is greater then Unearned Institutional Charges. (Aid is returned in same order as above. Students loans are returnable under the normal repayment terms. Grants are returned at a 50 percent proration.)

TOTAL AMOUNT STUDENT WILL HAVE TO RETURN

$8,128

Example 2: For a student living off campus who withdraws on the 23rd day of the fall term

Title IV Financial Aid is Pell Grants, SEOG Grants, Perkins Loans and Federal Direct Loans


Pell	1,500
SEOG	500
Perkins	500
Direct Student Loan	2,750
Direct PLUS Loan	5,000
TOTAL	10,250
Unearned Title IV Aid	8,128

Catholic University Aid


Catholic University Grant	1,000
Catholic University Scholarship	2,000
Total	3,000

Institutional Charges


Tuition	9,100
Fees	400
Room
Board
TOTAL	9,500
Unearned Inst. Charges	7,534

*Unearned Percentage equals TOTAL * [1 - (23 days completed / 111 days in semester)] OR 79.3 percent

School returns the lesser of Unearned Title IV Aid or Unearned Institutional Charges. (Aid is returned to programs in the following order: Direct Plus, Direct Student, Perkins, SEOG, and finally Pell.)

$7,534

$8,128 - $7,534 = $594

TOTAL AMOUNT STUDENT WILL HAVE TO RETURN

$7,534

Example 3: For a student living off campus who withdraws on the 23rd day of the fall term

Title IV Financial Aid is Pell Grants, SEOG Grants,
Perkins Loans and Federal Direct Loans

TITLE IV Aid


Pell
SEO
Perkins
Direct Student Loan	5,250
Direct PLUS Loan
TOTAL	5,250
Unearned Title IV Aid	4,163

Catholic University Aid


Catholic University Grant	2,500
Catholic University Scholarship	5,000
Total	7,500

Institutional Charges


Tuition	9,100
Fees	400
Room
Board
TOTAL	9,500
Unearned Inst. Charges	7,534

*Unearned Percentage equals TOTAL * [1 - (23 days completed / 111 days in semester)] OR 79.3 percent

$4,163

$4, 163- $7,534= $0

TOTAL AMOUNT STUDENT WILL HAVE TO RETURN

$4,163

Example 4: For a student living on campus who withdraws on the 23rd day of the fall term

Title IV Financial Aid is Pell Grants, SEOG Grants,
Perkins Loans and Federal Direct Loan

TITLE IV Aid


Pell
SEOG
Perkins	500
Direct Student Loan	1,312
Direct PLUS Loan	6,100
TOTAL	7,912
Unearned Title IV Aid	6,274

Catholic University Aid


Catholic University Grant
Catholic University Scholarship	7,500
Total	7,500

Institutional Charges


Tuition	9,100
Fees	400
Room	2,000
Board	1,200
TOTAL	12,700
Unearned Inst. Charges	10,071

*Unearned Percentage equals TOTAL * [1 - (23 days completed / 111 days in semester)] OR 79.3 percent

$6,274

$6,274- $10,071= $0

TOTAL AMOUNT STUDENT WILL HAVE TO RETURN

$6,274

Example 5: For a student living off campus who withdraws on the 23rd day of the fall term

Title IV Financial Aid is Pell Grants, SEOG Grants,
Perkins Loans and Federal Direct Loans


Pell	1,750
SEOG	500
Perkins	500
Direct Student Loan	1,750
Direct PLUS Loan	2,800
TOTAL	7,300
Unearned Title IV Aid	5,789

Catholic University Aid


Catholic University Grant	8,111
Catholic University Scholarship
Total	8,111

Institutional Charges


Tuition	9,100
Fees	400
Room
Board
TOTAL	9,500
Unearned Inst. Charges	7,534

*Unearned Percentage equals TOTAL * [1 - (23 days completed / 111 days in semester)] OR 79.3 percent

$5,789

$5,789 - $7,534 = $0

TOTAL AMOUNT STUDENT WILL HAVE TO RETURN

$5,789

Example 6: For a student living off campus who withdraws on the 23rd day of the fall term

Title IV Financial Aid is Pell Grants, SEOG Grants,
Perkins Loans and Federal Direct Loans


Pell
SEOG
Perkins
Direct Student Loan	2,750
Direct PLUS Loan	12,000
TOTAL	14,750
Unearned Title IV Aid	11,967

Catholic University Aid


Catholic University Grant
Catholic University Scholarship
Total

Institutional Charges


Tuition	9,100
Fees	400
Room
Board
TOTAL	9,500
Unearned Inst. Charges	7,534

*Unearned Percentage equals TOTAL * [1 - (23 days completed / 111 days in semester)] OR 79.3 percent

$7,534

$11,697 - $7,534 = $4,163

TOTAL AMOUNT STUDENT WILL HAVE TO RETURN

$7,534

* Your institutional return amount can be calculated by multiplying the unattended percentage by the amount of institutional aid