Repayment of Unearned Financial Aid
If students are enrolled beyond the tenth-day census date in any semester in which they receive financial aid and then withdraw (officially or unofficially) or otherwise do not complete the full length of the semester, repayment of a portion of the financial aid received for that semester may be required.
If students enroll but do not attend classes, they will need to repay all financial aid. Students who do not attend classes have not established eligibility for the financial aid received, and all financial aid must be repaid within 30 days.
Students agree that if they withdraw or otherwise cease attendance up through and including the 60 percent point of a semester, they may owe a repayment of a portion of the financial aid received and agree to pay back any and all amounts due to either the College or the U.S. Department of Education.
Please note: If (as determined by classroom instructors) a student attends beyond the 60 percent point of a semester, that student is considered to have earned 100 percent of the aid received for the semester.
These procedures apply to all financial aid recipients. Financial aid is awarded and disbursed to students in anticipation of students' successful completion of their courses and progression toward graduation. The U.S. Department of Education regulates the management of Title IV funds and, in some cases, students who receive Title IV financial aid but do not complete their coursework are not considered to have "earned" the Title IV aid they received.
When a student officially withdraws from all of their courses, audits all of their courses, receives unsatisfactory grades in all of their courses, or otherwise fails to attend the full period of enrollment, The College of Idaho is required to determine the earned and unearned portions of Title IV aid the student was scheduled to receive.
The earned and unearned portions of Title IV aid are determined as of the date a student ceased attendance, based on the amount of time the student spent in attendance. Up through the 60 percent point in each period of enrollment, a prorated schedule is used to determine the amount of Title IV funds the student had earned at the time of withdrawal.
After the 60 percent point in the period of enrollment, students have earned 100 percent of the Title IV funds they were scheduled to receive during the period.
When a student officially withdraws at any time through the 60 percent point of a period of enrollment, the official withdrawal date is the earlier of these two options:
- The date the student begins the official withdrawal process (submits a signed complete withdrawal form); or
- The date the student otherwise provides official notification of intent to withdraw.
When a student fails to officially withdraw (does not complete the official withdrawal process), but receives unsatisfactory grades in all their courses:
- If the unofficial withdrawal is due to circumstances beyond the student's control, the date the College identifies as the withdrawal date will be related to the circumstances that were beyond the student's control.
- In all other cases the midpoint of the enrollment period or the last date the student participated in an academically-related activity will be counted as the last date of attendance (as reported by the student's instructors), whichever is later.
When a student is determined to have withdrawn either officially or unofficially, the College will use federal law/regulations to make the following determinations and complete the following activities:
- Determine the amount of the student's institutional charges.
- Determine the Title IV aid disbursed to the student.
- Determine the Title IV aid that could have been disbursed to the student (if any).
- Determine the student's official withdrawal date.
- Calculate the amount of the student's earned and unearned Title IV aid.
- Calculate the amount of Title IV aid the College must return.
- Calculate the amount of Title IV aid the student must return.
- Notify the student of the determinations and calculated values used in the R2T4 calculation.
- Notify the student of the resulting balance owed to the College and/or the U.S. Department of Education.
The following list is of financial aid programs, Title IV, to which the Return of Title IV Funds requirement applies. The financial aid programs are listed in the order that the school must return per the federal formula:
- Unsubsidized Direct Loans
- Subsidized Direct Loans
- Parent PLUS Loans
- Pell Grant
- Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG)
- Iraq/Afghanistan Service Grant
Amounts required to be returned to the U.S. Department of Education by The College of Idaho become debts immediately due and payable to the College upon completion of the R2T4 calculation and will be billed to the student. The student must make prompt payment or payment arrangements to satisfy the debt owed to the College. The College reserves the right to refer the debt to a collection agency for servicing. Amounts returned by the College to the U.S. Department of Education on the student's behalf and owed to the College must be paid directly to the Business Office. Do not send payments to any other department or agency.