Treatment of Federal Title IV Aid When a Student Withdraws from SMU
Federal regulations specify how SMU must determine the amount of Title IV program assistance that you “earn” if you withdraw from school. The Title IV programs that are covered by this law are: Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), Federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans, and Federal Direct Parent or Grad PLUS Loans. In some cases, state grant aid (Tuition Equalization Grant) and institutional aid will also be reviewed.
When you withdraw during your term payment period, the amount of Title IV program assistance that you have earned up to that point is determined by a specific calculation formulated by the Department of Education. If you received less assistance than the amount that you “earned,” you may be able to receive additional funds as a post-withdrawal disbursement. If you received more assistance than you “earned,” the excess funds must be returned to the Department of Education by the school.
The amount of assistance you have “earned” is determined on a pro rata basis. For example, if you completed 30% of your term payment period, you have earned 30% of the assistance you were originally scheduled to receive. Once you have completed more than 60% of the term payment period, you have “earned” all the assistance 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 the post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, you may choose to decline the loan funds so that you do not incur additional debt. SMU may automatically use all or a portion of your post-withdrawal disbursement (including loan funds, if you accept them) for SMU tuition, fees, and housing and food charges. For all other SMU charges, your permission is needed – collected via the “Authorization to Credit Account” (ACA) form – to use the post-withdrawal disbursement.
Any amount of unearned grant funds that must be returned is called an overpayment. Should an overpayment be determined, SMU will return the amount of unearned grant funds to the Department of Education on your behalf.
Financial aid that must be returned as a result of the required calculation must be allocated in the following order:
- Unsubsidized Federal Direct Loans
- Subsidized Federal Direct Loans
- Federal Direct Parent or Grad PLUS Loans
- Federal Pell Grant
- Federal SEOG
The requirements for Title IV program funds when you withdraw are separate from SMU’s refund policy. Therefore, you may still owe funds to SMU to cover unpaid institutional charges. SMU may also have to charge you for any Title IV program funds that SMU was required to return or returned on your behalf. You may review SMU’s refund policy concerning the reduction of tuition and fees on our Withdrawal & cancellation refunds webpage, or by contacting the Mane Desk at mandedesk@smu.edu or 214-768-5555.
Students who receive financial aid should discuss the financial implications of withdrawing by contacting the Mane Desk at mandedesk@smu.edu or 214-768-5555.
You can view the requirements and procedures for officially withdrawing from SMU on our Withdrawal procedures webpage.
If you have questions about your Title IV program funds, you may visit the Federal Student Aid webpage or call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FEDAID (1-800-433-3243).