There is a very complicated formula that governs the return of Title IV funds. Believe me, it took me a very long time to wrap my head around it, and I work in financial aid. I actually use a federal website that I just plug numbers into. What I have to use is the Cost of Attendance (which includes real and estimated costs - it’s published on your school’s website); start and end dates of the term; any scheduled vacation periods of a week or more during a term; date the student began the withdrawal process (dropped classes, informed the Registrar he is withdrawing, or other dates mandated by regulations if the student just disappears); types of Title IV aid disbursed, types of Title IV aid that could have been disbursed, types of other Title IV programs (state grants identified as LEAP, formerly SSIG) the student received or was eligible to receive. The formula dictates how the funds have to be applied and how much has to be returned. Your earned aid is applied to “school” and “student” in the formula. The school has to return some of the aid, and it will often result in a balance the student owes to the school. It’s a formula that is difficult to understand and does not necessarily seem logical to me - but it’s the law & schools have to follow it. You can certainly ask the school to show you your R2T4 calculation and explain to you what they did.
You will need to inform your new school of the aid you have received in the current semester before they will be able to award you any aid for this semester. Not only do you need your academic transcript, but you also need your financial aid transcript (to show what you actually received).
All federal aid is split equally between terms. Some schools do pay the term amount in two equal installments, with the second installment part-way through the semester. I also wonder if this is a for-profit school …
I’m still confused. It sounds like this student has withdrawn from school ONE…but didn’t do so until,the start of this term. In the meantime, he has enrolled in school TWO, and is expecting the loan refunds from school ONE to pay for school TWO.
Something isn’t adding up here for me.
Why did the student apply for financial aid at school TWO?
I have actually seen this situation more than you might think. I hope OP takes a few minutes to post a synopsis - what exactly happened, how far into the semester it happened, etc. As it is, it is difficult to follow - so difficult to advise.
Lol… No that’s not right… Sorry if I have some how confused you… I attended school 1 for about 2 years . I did my exit counseling at end of my first session before the September session started. But it has to do with the title iv process, that I’m now aware of…
Please help me understand what happened. Did you begin a semester and withdraw? If so, on what date did you inform the school that you were withdrawing? Or did you just not return to school for the semester that began August 29th? You mention doing exit counseling July 22 - were you enrolled in classes for the August 29th session when you did exit counseling, and if so, did you assume that doing exit counseling would alert the school that you didn’t plan to return - rather than officially withdrawing from classes?
July 22 I did exit counseling I was also pre registered for September courses, so I contacted them told them that I would not be taking the courses in September and that I would be transferring to a new college. So my July- August would be my last courses. I also asked then when would the rest of disbursement be released to my account so that I would be able to get my official transcript sent to other college. I was told all disbursements happen the second week of course start in September, that I would have to wait till then…
If you were due a refund from the 2015-2016 school year, you should have received that during THAT school year.
It sounds like you were NOT enrolled at School One at all for the 2016-2017 academic year…the one that began in September. Therefore, you would NOT have been eligible to receive aid from that school…at all. @kelsmom am I misinterpreting what has been presented her by the OP?).
Did you apply for aid at College TWO?
Did School One award you need based aid for the fall term? If so, why?
If there was no enrollment in 2016-2017 classes (that is, if the withdrawal was done according to regulations & the school is not saying the student did not properly withdraw and so owes as a result), there is no 2016-2017 aid. That means the aid in question is 2015-2016 … or maybe not. It’s possible that the summer was part of 2016-2017 - and it is also possible that the courses are in modules. In that case, there are all sorts of rules related to taking courses in modules. If aid is based on completing x number of modules & the student does not complete them, there is a return of Title IV funds calculation required. Only the school can answer OP’s questions - make sure they answer you in writing, with a full explanation. Go as far up the chain of command as possible until you get an answer.