If you withdraw
or stop attending your classes,
you may have to repay the funds.
Class Attendance: First day class attendance and an eligible academic standing is required to
receive Federal
Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational
Opportunity Grant (SEOG) and State of Florida
Scholarships and Grants and the USF Grant. You may be billed up to 100% of any
of these funds received if your enrollment status changes due to first day
non-attendance or academic dismissal.
Official/Unofficial Withdrawals: If you totally withdraw or stop attending
all classes before completing more than 60% of the term a portion of
the total federal aid you received, excluding Federal Work Study earnings, may
need to be repaid immediately.
Students should monitor their grades closely at
the end of each semester and respond as soon as possible to the “unofficial”
withdrawal notice to avoid unnecessary processing, billing and delays.
If you receive all F, I, U or M grades for a term you will be considered an
“unofficial” withdrawal. After grades are posted, you will be notified that you
are being considered an “unofficial” withdrawal. After 30 days, we are required
to begin the Return to Title IV Repayment calculation and billing process and
assume you unofficially withdrew at the 50% point of that term.
To ensure your Last Date of Attendance is
documented correctly, you may submit the Change Last Date of Attendance form to
your instructor/academic department and return in to the Office of Financial
Aid. The calculation will be revised to include the new date and the amount you
owe may be revised. You will be notified of the result of our review. It may
take 2-4 weeks to restore funds that were billed and returned to the Federal
Student Aid programs (including loans).
The amount of
federal aid that you must repay is determined via the Federal Formula for Return
of Title IV funds (Section 484B of the Higher Education Act). This law also
specifies the order in which funds are to be returned to the financial aid
programs from which they were awarded, starting with loan programs.
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You may be required to make a repayment when
cash has been disbursed from financial aid funds, in excess of the amount of
aid that you earned (based on the date of your total withdrawal) during the
term. The amount of Title IV aid earned is determined by multiplying the
total Title IV aid (other than FWS) for which you qualified by the percentage
of time during the term that you were enrolled.
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If less aid was disbursed than was earned, you
may submit a request to receive a late disbursement for the difference.
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If more aid was disbursed than was earned, the
amount of Title IV aid that you must return (i.e. not earned) is determined by
subtracting the earned amount from the amount actually disbursed.
The
responsibility for returning unearned Title IV aid is shared between the
University and you. It is allocated according to the portion of disbursed aid
that could have been used to cover University charges, and the portion that
could have been disbursed directly to you once those charges were covered. USF
will distribute the unearned aid back to the Title IV programs, as specified by
law.
You will be
notified if you owe a repayment due to an official/unofficial withdrawal within
30 days of the date the determination of the withdrawal is made.
You will be
billed for the amount that you owe to the Title IV programs, as well as any
amount due to the University, as a result of Title IV funds that were returned that
would have been used to cover University charges.
If you are
eligible for a post-withdrawal disbursement, you have 14 days from the date of
the notice to request the disbursement. Post Withdrawal disbursements may take
4-6 weeks to process.
TREATMENT OF FEDERAL STUDENT AID WHEN A STUDENT WITHDRAWS
In general, all financial aid grants, scholarships and
student loans will be reimbursed by any refund until those programs are repaid
in full.
The following addresses the distribution of any refund if
financial aid funds were received during the term:
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If you received Federal Student Aid the refund will
be applied to any repayment amount owed first (see Repayment Policy) and then
until all Federal Student Aid funds are repaid in full.
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If you were paid a State of Florida Scholarship or
Grant (e.g. Florida Bright Futures, Florida Student Assistance Grant, etc.) a
refund approved during that term will be applied to the scholarship or grant
until it has been repaid in full for that term.
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If you only received a USF Scholarship, or
scholarship/grant funds from another State or private agency/organization, the
refund may be applied to the scholarship(s) until repaid in full for that
term. This depends on the specific guidelines for each program.
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Expired Refund Checks: Federal regulations require
institutions that mail refund checks to students to return those funds to the
Federal Student Aid programs if the checks are not cashed before they expire.
USF checks expire 90 days after they are printed.
If a refund check is returned for a bad address, the
Cash Accounting Office (ADM 125) will attempt to contact the student and re-mail
the check if a new address is available.
Once funds are returned to the aid program(s), it may
not be possible to get the funds reinstated because aid programs have
reconciliation deadlines.
The best way to avoid this scenario is for students to
sign up for eDeposit via OASIS in the Tuition, Fees and Payment link.
NOTE: You may submit a written request to the Office of
Financial Aid to have a refund for a corresponding term returned to a particular
scholarship, grant or loan program from which you received funds for that term.
In certain circumstances, this may allow you to regain future eligibility for
specific scholarships or reduce the outstanding principal balance on a student
loan.
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