Return of Title IV Funds
The law specifies how the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) must determine the amount of Title IV program assistance that a student earns if the student withdraws from school. The Title IV programs that are covered by this law and offered at UAPB are: Federal Pell Grants, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, William D. Ford Federal Direct Subsidized, Unsubsidized and PLUS Loans.
The institution has 45 days from the date the institution determines that the student withdrew to return all unearned funds for which it is responsible. The school is required to notify the student if they owe a repayment via written notice. The school must advise the student or parent that they have 14 calendar days from the date the school sent the notification to accept a post-withdrawal disbursement. If a response is not received from the student or parent within the permitted time frame or the student declines the funds, the school will return any earned funds that the school is holding to the Title IV programs. Post-withdrawal disbursement must occur within 120 days of the date the student withdrew.
When a student withdraws, the amount of Title IV program assistance a student has earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. If the student received (or UAPB or the student’s parent received on the student’s behalf) less assistance than the amount that the student earned, the student may be able to receive additional funds in a post-withdrawal disbursement. A post withdrawal disbursement from grant funds is applied to a student’s account to pay any outstanding balance from tuition, fees, room and board and other charges authorized by the student. If a post-withdrawal disbursement is a result of loans made to the student or parent, authorization must be given to apply the disbursement to the students account. Any funds from either a grant or loan that result in a credit balance after charges are paid may be given to whom the credit is owed (student or parent), if authorized. If the student received more assistance than the student earned, the excess funds must be returned by the university and/or the student.
The amount of assistance the student earned is determined on a prorata basis. For example, if the student completed 30% of the semester, the student earned 30% of the assistance the student was scheduled to receive for that semester. Once the student has completed more than 60% of the semester, the student has earned all the assistance that he/she was scheduled to receive for that period; however, there are some Title IV funds that the student may have been scheduled to receive that cannot be disbursed to the student once the student withdraws because of eligibility requirements. For example, if the student is a first-time, first-year undergraduate student and has not completed the first 30 days of the semester before he/she withdraws, the student will not receive any Federal Direct loan funds that would have been received had the student remained enrolled past the 30th day.
If a student receives (or UAPB or the student’s parent receives on the student’s behalf) excess Title IV program funds that must be returned, UAPB must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of:
- Student’s institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of the student’s funds, or
- The entire amount of excess funds.
UAPB must return this amount even if it did not keep this amount of the student’s Title IV program funds. The funds will be returned in the following order, up to the amount disbursed from each source:
- Unsubsidized William D. Ford Federal Direct Loans
- Subsidized William D. Ford Federal Direct Loans
- William D. Ford Federal PLUS Loans
- Federal Pell Grants
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants
The amount of aid that is unearned is considered an overpayment of Title IV funds. It is the student’s responsibility to repay the total amount of the overpayment. During this time the student will remain eligible for Title IV aid for a maximum of 45 days if the student either:
- Repays the overpayment to UAPB in full
- Makes satisfactory arrangements to repay with UAPB
- Makes satisfactory arrangements to repay with the U.S. Department of Education
UAPB must notify the student within 30 days that repayment of federal funds is owed, the student then must respond within 45 days. After the 45 days, the student’s portion of the repayment will be referred to the U.S Department of Education as an overpayment. The student will then become ineligible for federal aid.