Withdrawing mid-term and the grant money already paid
This article helps a student who is thinking about leaving a term partway through understand what happens to grant money already paid. Reading it before you withdraw gives you time to talk with the aid office about timing and other options.
How federal grants are earned
Federal grants and loans are earned day by day over a term. The federal rules call the calculation a Return of Title IV funds, and the aid office runs it for every student who withdraws. If you leave before completing about three fifths of the term, you have earned only part of the federal aid paid for it.
Once you pass that point, you have earned all of the term's federal aid. Before it, the unearned share goes back to the government. The college returns its portion first, which can leave a balance on your account for tuition it had already covered.
What you might owe back
Sometimes the calculation also leaves part of a Pell Grant or other federal grant for the student to repay. Federal rules reduce the grant share a student has to return, and the aid office works out the exact sum. If any loan money is part of the unearned share, it is repaid under the loan's normal terms.
A grant overpayment has to be repaid or arranged with the college or the Department of Education within a set time. Leaving it unresolved can block federal aid at any college later. Ask the aid office for the calculation in writing so you can see each figure.
The calculation also works in the other direction. If you earned aid that had not been paid yet, the college may owe you a post-withdrawal payment, and it has to tell you about it.
A tuition refund schedule and a grant return calculation are separate, so ask about both.
Talking to the right offices first
State grants and college grants follow their own refund rules, set by the state agency and the college. The bursar or student accounts office can show how a withdrawal changes your bill. A tuition refund schedule and a grant return calculation are separate, so ask about both.
Stopping attendance without a formal withdrawal still counts. The college works out the last date you took part in classes and runs the same calculation. Before you leave, ask the aid office whether a lighter course load, an incomplete grade or an approved leave of absence would cost less.
Steps to take this week
- Find the date that marks three fifths of your term
- Ask the aid office for a written return calculation
- Ask the bursar how a withdrawal changes your bill
- Compare a withdrawal with a lighter course load
Who decides
Your college's financial aid office and student accounts office
Leaving a term before about three fifths of it has passed means returning part of the federal grant money, so talk to the aid office before you withdraw.
