Withdrawals

When a student who is a Title IV recipient withdraws, there are two policies related to finance that the student should be familiar with. The first is STC's Tuition Refunds Policy, which is located in the Financial Information Section of the STC Catalog. The second policy is the U.S. Department of Education's Return of Title IV Funds policy, which is described in the text to the right of this summary.

These two processes are managed by different offices and have different requirements and deadlines and can be a little confusing. If you have questions after reviewing the Financial Information section of the STC Catalog and the Return of Title IV Funds information please contact the office that is responsible for administering the process that you have questions about. The Financial Aid Office may be reached at (956) 618-8375, and the Cashier's Office may be reached at (956) 618-8309 or both may be reached at (800) 742-STC.

The Return of Title IV Funds Policy

There are three types of Title IV grant funds available at STC.

· Federal Pell Grant
· Federal SEOG Grant
· Federal LEAP Grant

If a Title IV recipient withdraws from school after beginning attendance, the amount of aid earned by the student must be determined. Students earn funds by being enrolled in school. The percentage that a student earns is directly related to the length of time that they are enrolled for. If the amount disbursed to the student is greater than the amount the student earned, unearned funds must be returned. If the amount disbursed to the student is less than the amount the student earned, and for which the student is otherwise eligible, he or she is eligible to receive a post-withdrawal disbursement of the earned aid that was not received.

What happens when a student fails to earn a passing grade for any of his or her classes in a semester?

According to the Department’s new SFA Handbook students who do not earn at least one passing grade per semester are considered to have withdrawn from school. For example: if a student attempts 3 courses, withdraws from one course with a “W” and earns “Fs” for the other two courses, or if he or she earns all “Fs” the Office of Financial Aid must assume that the student withdrew from school. The Office of Financial Aid is required to re-calculate their eligibility and remove some of the financial aid funds that were disbursed on their student account. In most cases, students will end up owing both South Texas College and the U.S. Department of Education hundreds of dollars.

For students in this situation, the only relief available is related to the date when they stopped coming to school. If the student participated in a verifiable academically-related activity past the 60% point of the semester (Fall 60% point was November 4, 2002 and the Spring 60% point is March 31, 2003) and proof of this can be collected, then the Office of Financial Aid does not have to perform the calculation. The Department of Education has defined acceptable academically-related activities as class attendance, examinations or quizzes, tutorials, computer-assisted instruction, academic advising or counseling, academic conferences, completing an academic assignment, paper, or project, or attending a school-assigned study group.

Students may not provide documentation of these activities, it must come from either an instructor or in the case of academic advising, the Office of Counseling and Advising.

Persons with questions related to this issue may contact the Office of Financial Aid at 928-3420

The process for students who withdraw themselves from STC

For students who go through the process of officially withdrawing themselves from school, a simple calculation is used to determine the amount of Title IV funds a student has earned as of the date he or she ceases enrollment. The percentage of the period completed is determined by dividing the number of calendar days completed in the semester as of the day the student withdrew, by the total number of calendar days in the semester. The total number of calendar days in a semester includes all days within the term, except for institutionally scheduled breaks of five or more consecutive days. The day the student withdrew is counted as a completed day. This percentage is multiplied by the amount of Title IV Federal Student Aid that was disbursed to the student for the semester. The result is the amount of aid that the student earned. Once the student reaches the 60% point in a semester, they have earned 100% of their Federal aid and no adjustment is required.

The process for students who are withdrawn or dropped by STC for reasons including but not limited to TASP non-compliance or non compliance with instructional policies

When the Financial Aid office is notified that a student has been dropped from school, the date that the student was withdrawn is used as the withdrawal date in the calculation. A letter will be sent to the student informing them of the results of the calculation and of their responsibilities. Most of these calculations are completed during the final weeks of the semester, after the last day to drop a class has passed.
If the calculation results in the return of funds that were used by the student to pay for tuition and fees, the student will be responsible to reimburse South Texas College for the amount of aid that had to be returned.

Students may owe funds in excess of what they earned to the U.S. Department of Education

In many cases students end up owing the Department of Education for amounts from Title IV Funds that they received that were in excess of the costs of tuition and fees. This is a debt that is separate from any amount that a student may owe STC as a result of their withdrawal from the semester. When a student owes money to the Department of Education, he or she has 45 days from the date STC notifies them of the debt to pay the Department of Education through STC. Students who want to repay the Department of Education through STC should make a payment to the Cashier's office and then notify the Financial Aid office that payment was made to be sure that it is sent to the Department of Education.

If the student does not pay STC within 45 days, STC will turn the student over to the Department of Education for collections. Students who have been turned over for collections may call ED Collections at 1-800-621-3115, email them at DCS_HELP@ed.gov, or write them at U.S. Department of Education Student Financial Assistance Programs P.O. Box 4222 Iowa City, IA 52245.

Two Examples

Example #1

Joe Student enrolled for 12 credit hours in the Fall Semester at STC. He withdrew from his classes 45 days into the semester. His bill for tuition and fees was $630.00. There are a total of 110 days in the semester, so Joe earned 40.9% of his Title IV aid. Joe received a total of $400.00 in Federal Pell Grant for the Fall Semester. He paid the balance ($230.00) of his bill tuition and fees in cash before the semester started.

To determine how much Pell Grant Joe earned, we must multiply the percentage earned by the amount he was eligible to receive.

40.9% X $400.00 = $163.60

Since Joe attended 40.9% of the Fall Semester, according to U.S. Department of Education Regulations, he has earned $163.60 of his Pell Grant. STC will be required to return $236.40 to the U.S. Department of Education. Since Joe withdrew after the 20th day of the semester, there will be no tuition refund. Joe will owe STC $236.40 to pay for the Federal Aid that he did not earn. Students who have debts to STC should contact the Cashier's office at (956) 618-8309, or at (800) 742-STC.

Example #2

Wilbur Student enrolled for 12 credit hours in the Fall Semester, attended a few weeks of his classes and decided to leave school. He was eligible for $400.00 in Federal Pell Grant which was posted to his student account to help pay for his tuition. He did not inform STC of his decision, and did not follow the process for withdrawing from school. Wilbur was dropped from all of his classes for non-attendance, and the Financial Aid office was notified of his withdrawal. Since he was withdrawn from school after the 20th day of class, the Cashier's office did not make any changes to the charges that he is responsible for from the semester.

He was withdrawn at the 50% point of the semester, therefore he earned 50% of his Pell Grant. $400.00 X 50% = $200.00. STC was required to return $200.00 for him because the Pell Grant funds were used to pay for his tuition and fees. After the money was returned, Wilbur owed STC $200.00 to pay for the aid that had to be returned. It is important to note that if Wilbur had been eligible to receive funds in excess of the cost of tuition and fees for the schedule that he was enrolled in, he would have been responsible to repay the DOE a portion of the funds that he received.