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Withdrawals and Financial Aid

Return of Title IV (Federal) Aid

UNF must comply with federal regulations for students who receive federal financial aid and withdraw (either officially or unofficially) from ALL courses before completing more than 60% of the term. According to federal regulations, students in these situations will have a percentage of their Title IV funds returned. UNF will calculate any amounts disbursed that must be returned to the Title IV programs.

Complete Withdrawals (Official Withdrawal)

A complete withdrawal occurs when a student officially notifies UNF they are withdrawing from all of their courses in a term or from the University completely.

If you withdraw from all your courses on or before the 60% point in time of the term, which is calculated using calendar days, a portion of the total federal aid funds awarded must be returned. The withdrawal date will be the date the student began UNF's official withdrawal process. The return of these funds will result in the student owing a balance to the University and/or the federal government. Please review the Return of Title IV Funds When a Student Withdraws (R2T4) policy for more information.

This calculated amount will be returned to the Title IV Programs in the following order:

  1. Unsubsidized Federal Direct Loans
  2. Subsidized Federal Direct Loans
  3. Federal Grad PLUS loans
  4. Federal PLUS loans
  5. Federal Pell Grants
  6. Federal SEOG
  7. Federal TEACH Grants
  8. Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant
Learn more about the requirements and procedures for officially withdrawing from the school.

Unofficial Withdrawals

An unofficial withdrawal occurs when a student stops attending all of the courses in a term without officially withdrawing/notifying UNF or if a student receives a combination of all "F"s, "W"s (withdrawals) and/or "I"s (incompletes) at the completion of the term.

  • If a student stops attending without officially withdrawing, the last documented date of attendance will be the withdrawal date.
  • If all grades are a combination of "F", "W" (withdrawal) and/or "I" (incomplete), the student's professors will be asked to report the last date of attendance. Based on this information, students may be required to repay the "unearned" portion of their federal aid.
  • If a student's grades were all "F"s, "W"s or "I"s and the student never attended, the student will be required to pay back the full amount of federal aid disbursed.
  • A student who does not attend any of their courses in a term is not eligible for federal aid for the term in question.

Determining Earned Aid

Though your aid may be posted to your student account before the start of each term, funds are earned upon completion of the term. Title IV funds are earned by the calendar day, not class day. This includes weekends, holidays and breaks of less than five consecutive days. The University is required to determine the amount of Title IV aid the withdrawing student has earned and then either disburse any additional funds the student may be entitled to up to the amount earned, or return funds in excess of the amount earned which the student has already received.

The "unearned" Title IV funds must be returned to the respective federal aid programs. Unearned aid is the amount of disbursed Title IV aid that exceeds the amount of Title IV aid earned based on attendance in the enrollment period.

Post-Withdrawal Disbursement

If the student did not receive all of the funds that were earned prior to withdrawing, a post-withdrawal disbursement may be due.

  • If the student is eligible for a post-withdrawal disbursement of a grant, it must be disbursed within 45 days.
  • If the post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, the student must give permission before the funds can be disbursed.

A post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds will be applied towards outstanding term charges on the student’s account and may pay up to the amount of the allowable charges (i.e., tuition, fees and book advance charges).  Any remainder of grant aid will be paid to the student.

Students will be notified within 30 days of the date of the withdrawal determination of any direct loan eligibility, or a parent for a Direct Parent PLUS Loan eligibility. Permission is required to use post-withdrawal disbursement loan funds to pay allowable charges.

If a post-withdrawal disbursement from a loan results in a credit balance, the credit balance will be refunded to the student and/or the parent in the case of a Direct Parent PLUS Loan as soon as possible, but no later than 14 days after the credit balance has occurred.

The school must return the Title IV funds within 45 days of the date the school determines the student withdrew.

Repayment

  • If it is determined a student has received excess funds, any "unearned" portion will be returned to the United States Department of Education, resulting in a balance owed to UNF for the amount of those excess funds.
  • This amount will be placed on accounts receivable, prohibiting any registration activity and/or the receipt of academic transcripts or diplomas until these funds are repaid.
  • If these funds are not repaid, UNF will turn the charge over to a collection agency.

How is the Amount Calculated?

Federal regulations require the use of a formula based on the number of calendar days in the term and the number of days attended by the student prior to withdrawal. For students enrolled in parts-of-term, UNF does not use a Return of Title IV freeze date to determine the number of calendar days in the term. This formula determines how much financial aid was "earned" by the student. The difference between aid disbursed and aid earned is used to calculate the amount the student must repay.

  • Step 1: Determine the percentage of the enrollment period the student attended prior to withdrawing (days attended divided by total days in the period).
  • Step 2: Determine the amount of Title IV aid earned by multiplying the total Title IV aid (other than Federal Work-Study) for which the student qualified by the percentage of days attended.
  • Step 3: Compare the amount earned to the amount disbursed. If more aid was disbursed than was earned, determine the amount of Title IV aid that must be returned by subtracting the earned amount from the disbursed amount.
  • Step 4: The school and the student may both have a responsibility for returning funds. Funds that are not the responsibility of the school to return must be returned by the student. The school must return the lesser of: The amount of Title IV funds the student does not earn OR The amount of institutional charges the student incurred for the payment period or period of enrollment multiplied by the percentage of funds that was not earned.
  • Step 5: Distribute the unearned funds back to the appropriate Title IV program.

Treatment of Title IV Aid When a Student Dies

Per federal regulations, if a student dies during an enrollment period in which the student has received Title IV aid, the school must perform an R2T4 calculation. The date of withdrawal is determined using the official or unofficial withdrawal method as applicable and cannot be later than the date of death of the student. If the student did not earn 100% of the Title IV aid for the payment period, the school must return the Title IV funds for which it is responsible.