Financial Aid Office

Students who withdraw from the university and have received federal financial aid, a refundable amount of your institutional charges (tuition and fees and/or university housing costs) may be required to be returned to appropriate financial aid sources. Students may be expected to repay the “unearned” portion of federal financial aid if withdrawn from school or receive any combination of non-passing grades in all courses in a particular term. Students are also required to complete exit counseling.

A Return of Title IV Funds calculation is performed within 30 days of the date of determination that the student withdrew.  Any necessary return of funds are returned within 45 days after the date determined that the student withdrew.

The University Financial Aid Office will be notified by the University Registrar’s Office at the time a student withdraws, or otherwise ceases to be enrolled. The withdrawal date is the date that the student informs a university official of withdrawal from the university. This date is maintained by the University Registrar’s Office and used to recalculate financial aid eligibility. 

Additionally, any student who fails to earn a passing grade in at least one course in a given semester shall be considered as having “unofficially withdrawn.”  Financial Aid personnel work with the Registrar’s Office to identify students who have no passing grades as a result of “non-attendance” or “unofficial withdrawal.” Faculty members are then contacted to find out if the non-passing grades are earned or unearned. The Return of Title IV calculation will be performed after the semester has ended using the midpoint of the semester as the unofficial withdrawal date for students whose faculty members cannot access grades for them. Based on this calculation, the school will be required to return any “unearned” federal assistance, possibly resulting in an outstanding student account balance for which the student is responsible to repay. Non-payment of this balance will prohibit a student from registering for a future semester.  Students will be notified by the Financial Aid Office regarding this Unofficial Withdrawal review.

At the time notification of withdrawal is received, the University Financial Aid Office will:

1. Determine the number of calendar days completed and divide this by the total number of days in the academic term (e.g., semester). This will determine the percentage of the academic period that has been completed by the student, thereby determining the percentage of ‘earned’ Title IV aid.
2. If the student has completed more than 60% of the academic period, then no further action is required. After the 60% point in the payment period or period of enrollment, a student has earned 100% of the Title IV funds they were scheduled to receive during the period.
3. If the student has completed less than 60% of the academic period, then the refund process will continue as follows in Steps 4 and 5 below.
4. The percentage of unearned aid will be determined by subtracting the percentage of earned aid (as calculated in Step 3 of the Title IV calculation) from 100%.
5. The amount of unearned aid will be determined by multiplying the percentage calculated (in Step 4 of the Title IV calculation) by the total amount of Title IV aid (excluding Federal Work Study and the non-federal share of Federal SEOG grants) for the designated academic period.

Once the amount of unearned aid is assessed, the amount that must be returned by Thomas Jefferson University will be determined by comparing the “Title IV unearned aid” (i.e., federal aid less earned aid portion equals unearned aid portion) to the amount of “unearned charges.” The lesser amount is amount the school must return. 

EXAMPLE: Based on the date of withdrawal, the student has earned 45% of total Title IV aid, therefore the required return of funds is calculated as follows:

1. Tuition for one semester is $15,000.
2. Student has received Federal Direct Subsidized Loan funds for $2,000 (net amount), Federal Perkins for $4,000, and a Direct Unsubsidized Loan for $10,000 (net amount).
3. 45% of tuition for the specified period is $6,750.
4. 45% of total Title IV aid is $7,200.
5. Thomas Jefferson University is responsible for returning the lesser of the two, which is $6,750.
6. The student is responsible for returning the difference between the total unearned TIV aid ($7,200) and the amount TJU is responsible for returning ($6,750). For the example noted above this amount equals $450.
7. Thomas Jefferson University’s Financial Aid Office will notify the student as to the portion of Title IV funding that will be returned by the College as well as the amount that must be returned by the student. This notice will also include instructions as to how to return the funds.

Both Thomas Jefferson University and the student are responsible for returning funds in the following order:

• Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan
• Federal Direct Subsidized Loan
• Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loans
• Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loans
• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal SEOG Grant
• TEACH Grant
• Iraq & Afghanistan Service Grant

A student may exercise standard repayment options in fulfilling the obligation to return Title IV (loan) funds.

If the student’s portion of unearned Title IV funds includes a federal grant, the student is required to pay no more than 50% of the total grant funds disbursed to or that could have been disbursed to the student for the payment period.

If at the time a student withdraws and they have ‘earned’ Title IV funds in excess of the amount disbursed, this is termed a “post withdrawal disbursement.”  The school will offer any post withdrawal disbursement of loan funds to the student within 30 days of the date the school determined that the student withdrew, and make a post withdrawal disbursement of grant funds within 45 days of that date. The Financial Aid Office will provide the student with the option of accepting or declining the “post withdrawal” disbursement. Students will be required to respond to this notice within 14 days. If the student does not respond, the post withdrawal disbursement will be cancelled.

If the 'post withdrawal' disbursement results in a credit balance (after payment of all applicable university charges), the student will have the option to accept the refund or request the return of the funds to the applicable Title IV program. If a student does not wish to keep this credit or does not respond to the school’s inquiry in the specified 14 day period, then Title IV loan funds will be returned to the respective lending source.  This return of funds is not a requirement in the Return of Title IV process.   The return of this credit balance is at the student’s discretion and will decrease the amount the student owes on the loan(s).