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2024-2025 General Catalog and Student Handbook > Financial Aid > Financial Aid Funds and Withdrawals

Financial Aid Funds and Withdrawals

Treatment of Title IV Funds When a Student Withdraws

The Return of Title IV Funds procedure shall apply to all students who withdraw, drop out, or are involuntarily removed from Wayne Community College (WCC) and receive financial aid from Title IV funds. The term "Title IV Funds" refers to the federal financial aid programs authorized under the Higher Education Act of 1965 (as amended) and includes the following programs at WCC:

• Federal Pell Grants
• Federal SEOG

Students who are dropped or withdrawn from all classes prior to completing more than 60% of an enrollment term will have their eligibility for aid recalculated based on the percentage of the term completed.  For example, a student who withdraws after completing only 30% of the term will have "earned" only 30% of any Title IV aid received.  The remaining 70% must be returned by the school and/or the student.  WCC encourages you to read this procedure carefully.  If you are thinking about withdrawing from all classes, you should contact the WCC Financial Aid & Veteran Services Office to see how your withdrawal will impact your financial aid.  It can negatively affect your overall academic progress AND it may create a debt to WCC, the Department of Education, or both that you are responsible for paying! Once you have completed more than 60% of the enrollment term, you earn all assistance that you were scheduled to receive for that period.  You are also exempted if you complete and earn credit in a module or combination of modules that include 49% or more of the number of days in the payment period OR complete coursework and earn credit equal to or greater than 6 credit hours.

Withdrawal Date

As WCC is an institution that requires attendance keeping for all courses, a student's withdrawal date is the last day of attendance in a class, regardless of whether the withdrawal is official or unofficial.

Refunds due on all institutional charges, including tuition and fees, will be calculated using the state refund procedure published in the WCC Catalog.

Calculating the Return of Title IV Aid

Title IV aid is earned in a prorated manner on a per-day basis up to and including the 60% point in the semester. The percentage of Title IV aid earned shall be calculated by dividing the number of days completed by the student by the total number of days in the semester/term, less any applicable breaks. The percentage of term completed shall be the percentage of Title IV aid earned by the student.  If you withdraw from or cease attending all coursework on or before 60% of the period, WCC is required to return any portion of your federal financial aid that is unearned.  Unearned aid being returned from the institution will be returned to the Department of Education within 45 days of the date the institution determines you have withdrawn.

The total number of calendar days in a term of enrollment shall exclude any scheduled breaks of more than five days.  For purposes of the 49% calculation, the total number of calendar days in a term of enrollment excluding any breaks between modules are used to determine if the student completed at least 49% of the term.

As a result of this calculation, federal funds may not cover all unpaid school charges due to WCC upon your withdrawal.  Any debt created by WCC returning a portion of your aid to the federal programs is due and payable by you.  Unpaid debts to WCC will prevent you from receiving an official academic transcript and prevent you from registering for more coursework a WCC until the debt is paid in full.

If you did not receive all of the funds that you earned, you may be due a post-withdrawal disbursement.  WCC will automatically use all or a portion of your post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds for tuition, fees, and other institutional charges.  We need your permission to use the post-withdrawal grant disbursement for all other school charges.  If you do not give your permission, you will be offered the funds.  However, it may be in your best interest to allow WCC to keep the funds to reduce your debt at the school.  Any funds you are due will be refunded to you within 14 days of completing the Return to Title IV Calculation.

Returning Funds to the Department of Education

Unearned Title IV aid shall be returned to the following programs in the following order:

• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal SEOG
• Other Title IV grant programs

Any amount of unearned grant funds that you must return is called an overpayment.  You do not have to repay a grant overpayment if the original amount of the overpayment is $50 or less.  You must make arrangements with the school or the Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds.  Failure to repay the balance created at WCC by a Return to Title IV calculation could result in a hold being placed on your account, preventing you from registering for classes or obtaining an official college transcript.  If you owe an overpayment to the Department of Education, failure to resolve the overpayment will result in a denial of Federal Student Aid at all institutions until resolved.  An overpayment owed to the Department of Education can, in most cases, be paid at WCC.

Unofficial Withdrawal Procedure for Federal Student Aid

As a student, when you stop attending all classes for a period of 14 calendar days within the semester without following the official procedures for withdrawal, your aid could also be processed as a Return to Title IV aid.  Instructors will contact you if you have not attended for more than 14 days to confirm whether you plan to return.  If you do not plan to return, or do not return as planned, the instructor will have you withdrawn from the class.  If you do not have any remaining classes that you are attending, a Return of Title IV funds will be processed.  The withdrawal date used is the last day of attendance.

Failure to complete courses may also have a significant impact on your financial aid status.  When you fail to earn any credit for a semester, you may be defined as "unofficially withdrawn" for Title IV purposes.  At the end of each term, if you have not earned at least one credit, your record will be reviewed for the last date of attendance.  If you did not attend through the end of the semester, a Return of Title IV calculation will be completed using the last day of recorded attendance.  As an "unofficially withdrawn" student, you will be billed for resulting institutional charges and repayments of Federal Student Aid.