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 NGCSU, the university 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 NGCSU for the semester.

NGCSU Withdrawal Process:

NGCSU Institutional Refund Policy:

NGCSU 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 university during a term, the university 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 NGCSU receives 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 NGCSU 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 that 60% of the semester, you have earned all (100%) of your assistance. If you withdraw from NGCSU before completing 60% of the semester, you may have to repay any unearned financial aid funds. The date you have earned 100% of your scheduled awards appears on the Deadlines List.

If you received excess funds based on this calculation, NGCSU must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of:

• The student's institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of funds, or
• The entire amount of the excess funds

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

• Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loan
• Subsidized Federal Stafford Loan
• Federal Perkins Loan
• Federal Plus Loan
• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal SEOG Grant
• Other Title IV programs
• HOPE Scholarship program

If you are 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 NGCSU within 45 days.

Example:

Student received the following financial aid:

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

• Fall Semester began on August 22 and ends on December 2, 2000
• Student totally withdrew on September 1
• Student withdrew on the 11th day of the semester that is 106 days long

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

NGCSU and the student will share the 89.6% of unearned aid to be returned. NGCSU's portion is determined by multiplying the total charges ($1177.00) by the unearned percentage (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.

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.

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