Withdrawals and Return of Title IV (Federal) Funds Policy

Federal regulations require that the Financial Aid Office recalculates federal* financial aid eligibility for a student who withdraws, drops out or otherwise stops attending prior to the end of a term. This is called the Federal Return to Title IV Calculation. Title IV is the regulation under which federal student aid programs are administered.

Recalculation is based on the percent of aid earned using the following formula: the number of days completed up to the withdrawal date†, divided by the total days in the term.

Federal financial aid is returned based on the percentage of unearned aid using the following formula: 100%, minus the percent earned, multiplied by the amount of aid disbursed for the term. Students who complete at least 60 percent of the term are eligible to keep 100 percent of their federal aid for that term.

When aid is returned, the student may owe a balance to the University. The student should contact the Bursar’s Office to make arrangements to pay the balance.

Students will be sent a notice regarding the amount of aid they are eligible to keep. For loans not disbursed at the time of withdrawal, the student (or the parent-borrower of a Parent PLUS loan) must notify the Financial Aid Office in writing if they wish to accept the post-withdrawal disbursement of any loan funds. Students have 21 days from the date of the notice to accept a post-withdrawal disbursement of their loans.

Funds that could not have been disbursed at the time of withdrawal cannot be used as part of the calculation. This may include cases where master promissory note, loan entrance counseling, verification or other documents were not complete at the time of the withdrawal. 

Institutional aid will be pro-rated based upon the withdrawal date. Students who are responsible for 100% of the tuition for the term are eligible for their institutional aid, so long as they met all other eligibility requirements for the aid at the time of withdrawal (i.e. GPA required for renewal, enrolled full-time, verification is complete for need-based aid, etc.). 

Aid from the State of Florida will be credited towards the tuition bill for the term in which the student withdraws if the student is responsible for 100% of their tuition for the term. The State requires schools to pro-rate Bright Futures awards based on the number of credits enrolled throughout the term, therefore we are required to return Bright Futures funds to the State for students who do not complete a term. 

Students who withdraw during a term may also lose future aid eligibility. See the section on Renewal of Awards for more information.  

*Federal financial aid includes the Pell Grant, SEOG Grant, TEACH Grant, Perkins Loan and Direct, PLUS and Grad PLUS loans.

†Withdrawal date is defined as the date on which the student began the institution’s withdrawal process, the student’s last date of recorded attendance or academically related activity, or the midpoint of the semester if the aforementioned dates cannot be determined. The withdrawal date used is determined by the Financial Aid Office.