Financial Aid Returns
If you drop/withdraw all of your classes or receive all F's in a semester, you may be impacted by a Return of Title IV
Title IV funding are awards that come from the Department of Education that you receive after completing your Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA. When you receive this funding, you are paid on the understanding that you will complete your classes. If you drop/withdraw from all of your classes or receive all F's in a semester, then your school has to calculate a Return of Title IV. Read below for more information about this process.
What is a Return?
An Official Withdrawal is where the student talks with their Academic Advisor/Counselor and is removed from their class. This can result in your class being removed from your Transcript or you receiving a W grade for the class. The last day to withdraw with a refund and the final withdrawal date vary from class to class. Please see your Campus Schedule to find your specific class.
An Unofficial Withdrawal is where the student stops attending but never drops the class. This would result in a F grade for that class.
With an Official Withdrawal, the effective date is the date that the student notifies Student Services that they wish to withdraw from the class. The last day to withdraw with a refund and the final withdrawal date vary from class to class. Please see your Campus Schedule to find your specific class.
For an Unofficial Withdrawal, we will use the last date of academically related activity for that class.
- Physically attending a class where there is an opportunity for direct interaction between the instructor and students;
- Submitting an academic assignment;
- Taking an exam, an interactive tutorial, or computer-assisted instruction;
- Attending a study group assigned by the school;
- Participating in an online discussion about academic matters; and
- Initiating contact with a faculty member to ask a question about the academic subject studied in the course.
A Return of Title IV is an R2T4. This is the calculation that a school must perform if a student withdraws from all classes in a semester or receives all F's.
This calculation is done within 30 days from the day that we determine you have withdrawn. We then have 45 days from the date we determine you withdrew to return any funds needed.
We are required to calculate a Return of Title IV or R2T4 when you withdraw from all of your classes in the semester or if you receive all F grades.
How is a Return done?
Title IV aid are the awards that you can receive when you complete your FAFSA.
Specifically when we perform a R2T4 we use the following awards in the calculation:
- Unsubsidized Direct loans
- Subsidized Direct loans
- Direct PLUS loans
- Federal Pell Grants
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG)
- Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant (IASG)
Schools are required to calculate a R2T4 within 30 days of determining that a student withdrew. Then within 45 days of determining the student withdrew, any funds must be returned or paid (if grants).
Here are the steps that are taken when calculating a R2T4:
- Determine the Withdrawal date to use
- Determine which classes are used in the calculation
- Determine which awards are used in the calculation
- Perform the calculation
- Did the student earn their aid that was already paid to them?
- NO - The school sends back the aid not earned to the Department of Education
- YES - No changes are made to the student's awards
- Is the student eligible for a Post Withdrawal Disbursement (PWD)?
- NO - No changes are made
- YES
- If the award is a Grant (Pell or Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants) then the school will credit the student's account
- If the award is a Direct Loan then the student will be contacted for their consent before the loan is paid
- Did the student earn their aid that was already paid to them?
- CMC will send the student 2 emails
- One will go to the students CMC email with the results of the calculation
- One will go to the students personal email to refer them to complete Exit Counseling
The classes used in the calculation will vary based on the classes the student was registered in and what kinds of awards the student was offered.
Please know that only classes that count towards your eligible degree seeking program are used in the R2T4.
The dates that are used in the calculation are based on the class start and end dates of the classes that are used in the R2T4. We also will determine your last date of attendance depending on if you have an Official or Unofficial withdrawal.
The R2T4 will determine the amount of aid the student earned. This is calculated by taking the # of days the student attended divided by the # of days the student was supposed to attend. This will provide CMC with a % earned.
When the calculation is complete, if it is determined that the student was paid more aid than they earned, CMC will send back the amount of the over payment to the Department of Education. This most likely will result in a balance owed by the student to CMC. The student is not eligible to return to CMC until that balance is paid in full.
If you end up owing a balance you will need to work with Student Accounts to either make payment arrangements or pay your balance in full.
When the calculation is completed, if it is determined that the student earned more aid than was already paid to their student account, they are eligible for a Post Withdrawal Disbursement.
- If the award is a grant, then CMC will credit the student's account with the additional disbursement.
- If the award is a loan, the student must sign a separate DocuSign form that lets CMC disburse that loan to the student's account.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. An R2T4 is separate from the refund policy on Tuition/Fees for when you drop your class. Please see our Refund Policy for those guidelines.
- Stay enrolled in all classes you register for
- Attend and participate in all of your classes until the class is over
- Work with your Academic Advisor/Counselor to decide on a schedule each semester that you can complete
- Contact the Office of Financial Aid before withdrawing from your classes to understand how if an R2T4 calculation will be required and what implications an R2T4 calculation may have on your financial aid awards and student account.
If you are not receiving any Title IV aid (Pell Grant, Direct Loans, etc.) then this calculation does not affect you.
However, your scholarship may still need to be returned if you withdraw from your classes. This would depend on where the scholarship comes from and if they have any rules on if a student withdraws. Please contact the Office of Financial Aid and a Financial Aid Specialist can research your specific scholarship.
If you are taking multiple classes in a semester and pass all of your classes but receive an F grade in 1 class then the R2T4 process will not apply to you.
Example schedule:
ENG-1021 Grade: B
MAT-1340 Grade: C
ACC-2031 Grade: F
ANT-1005 Grade: B
In this example, since the student passed 3 of their classes they are not subject to an R2T4.
If you are enrolled in multiple classes in a semester and only drop 1 of those classes but stay enrolled in the other's then you may not be subject to an R2T4. In this case we would wait until the end of the semester to see if you passed your classes. If you passed the other classes that you remained enrolled in, you would not be subject to an R2T4. However, if you failed all of the classes that you remained enrolled in, you would have a R2T4 calculated.
Once you are no longer enrolled at least half time in an eligible program, you’ll receive a 6-month grace period on your Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans during which you are not required to make loan payments. You must begin repayment at the end of your grace period. You will need to complete Exit Counseling each time you graduate, withdraw or drop below half time. We encourage all borrowers to complete this through the FSA online counseling. If you are unable to complete it online you can view the Exit Counseling PDF.