The law specifies how Citrus College must determine the amount of Title IV program assistance that you earn, if you withdraw from school. The Title IV programs offered at Citrus College that are covered by this law are Federal Pell Grants, Direct Loans, Direct PLUS Loans, and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOGs).
Though your aid is posted to your account at the start of each period, you earn the funds as you complete the period. If you withdraw during the payment period or period of enrollment during the fall, spring, or summer semesters, the amount of Title IV program assistance that you have earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. If you received (or Citrus College, or your parent received on your behalf) less assistance than the amount that you earned, you may be able to receive those additional funds. If you received more assistance than you earned, the excess funds must be returned by the school and/or you.
The amount of assistance that you have earned is determined on a pro rata basis. For example, if you completed 30% of your payment period or period of enrollment, you earn 30% of the assistance you were originally scheduled to receive. Once you have completed more than 60% of the payment period or period of enrollment, you earn all the assistance that you were scheduled to receive for that period.
If you did not receive all of the funds that you earned, you may be due a post-withdrawal disbursement. If your post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, Citrus College must get your permission before we can disburse them. You may choose to decline some or all of the loan funds, so that you do not incur additional debt. Citrus College may automatically use all or a portion of your post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds for tuition, and fees per your indication on your authorization form. Citrus College needs your permission to use the post-withdrawal grant disbursement for all other institutional charges. If you do not give your permission, you will be offered the funds. However, it may be in your best interest to allow Citrus College to keep the funds to reduce your debt at the school.
There are some Title IV funds that you were scheduled to receive that cannot be disbursed to you once you withdraw because of other eligibility requirements. For example, if you are a first-time, first-year undergraduate student and you have not completed the first 30 days of your program before you withdraw, you will not receive any Direct Loan funds that you would have received had you remained enrolled past the 30th day.
If you receive (or Citrus College or your parent receive on your behalf) excess Title IV program funds that must be returned, Citrus College must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of:
- your institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of your funds, or
- the entire amount of excess funds.
Citrus College must return this amount even if we didn't keep this amount of your Title IV program funds. The return of the Title IV funds to the programs from which the student received aid during the payment period must be in the following order.
- Unsubsidized Federal Direct Loans
- Subsidized Federal Direct Loans
- Federal Direct Plus Loans
- Federal Pell Grant
- Federal Supplemental Educational Grant (FSEOG)
Time Frame for the Return of Title IV Funds
Citrus College must return unearned funds for which it is responsible as soon as possible, but no later than 45 days from the determination of a student's withdrawal. Citrus College returns any unearned funds as soon as the R2T4 calculation has been performed, but no later than 45 days from the determination of a student's withdrawal.
For any loan funds that you must return, you (or your parent for a Direct PLUS Loan) repay in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. That is, you make scheduled payments to the holder of the loan over a period of time.
Any amount of unearned grant funds that you must return is called an overpayment. The maximum amount of a grant overpayment that you must repay is half of the grant funds you received or were scheduled to receive. 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 your school or the Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds. Students who owe an overpayment have 45 days to repay or their debt will be referred to the U.S. Department of Education for collection and reported on the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).
The requirements for Title IV program funds when you withdraw are separate from the refund policy of Citrus College. Therefore, you may still owe funds to Citrus College to cover unpaid institutional charges. Citrus College will charge you for any Title IV program funds that the school was required to return. You can view the Citrus College refund policy in the online college catalog. You can view the drop/withdrawal policies in the online college catalog.