Policy for the Return of Title IV Funds

Federal Student Aid funds are awarded and disbursed at Cowley County Community College on a standard semester basis. Students are awarded under the assumption that the student will attend the entire semester for which the aid was awarded. When a student withdraws or ceases attending all courses, the student may no longer be eligible for the full amount of federal funds awarded and/or disbursed for the semester.

If a student receiving federal Title IV aid, which includes grants and loans, withdraws or ceases attending all courses within the first 60% of the semester for which the aid was awarded and disbursed, the college must determine how much of the aid awarded for the semester was actually earned based on the number of days in the semester the student actually attended or the date the student officially withdrew.  The college will return to the appropriate program, all funds that were unearned for the semester based on the calculation. The student will be responsible for all unpaid charges on their student account due to proration and the return of federal funds. The student will be notified in writing of the unpaid charges and will have 45 days from the notification date to repay the college.

In determining the amount of funds to be returned, Cowley County Community College uses software provided by the Department of Education to calculate the amount of unearned aid to be returned by the college and/or by the student. This is a Pro Rata Calculation. In the event the funds have not been disbursed at the time the student withdraws, the college will calculate the amount that the student should have received at the time of withdrawal and disburse aid accordingly to the student.

In documenting an official withdrawal, the college will use the date posted in the registration system. For unofficial withdrawals, the college will use the date reported by the instructor of each individual course, as the last date of attendance.

Federal funds to be returned will be returned to the appropriate programs from which the student received aid in the order mandated by the Department of Education: 1.Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans 2.Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans 3.Federal PLUS Loans 4.Federal Pell Grants 5.Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants.

The Financial Aid Office checks attendance and satisfactory progress at midterm of the fall and spring semester and at the end of each semester.  Students determined to have officially or unofficially withdrawn within the first 60% of the semester will be required to repay federal aid that has been awarded.  The amount to be repaid will be calculated within 30 days of the determination that a student has withdrawn.  Students should access the policy on how to request an “Official Withdrawal”.

Students that require a calculation for return of funds due to a withdrawal will be sent a letter informing them if they owe funds back to the college. Copies of the calculation worksheets will be provided upon request by the student.

Return of Title IV Funds Due to Overaward

Students are awarded Federal Pell Grant based on the amount of credit hours enrolled and charged for a semester.  Those levels are the following: 12 hours – fulltime, 9-11 hours – three quarter time, 6-8 hours – halftime and 1-5 hours – less than halftime.  If a student withdraws from a course(s) without charges for that course(s), after being awarded at a higher level of enrollment, the student may owe a repayment back on the Federal Pell Grant.

In the case of an overaward, Cowley will return the amount of the overaward back to the Pell Grant program within 30 days of the determination.  The student will be responsible for repaying Cowley for the overaward balance. The student will be notified in writing of an overaward balance.