Return of Funds Policy

There are two types of withdrawals, an official withdrawal and an unofficial withdrawal. The official withdrawal dates are determined by the Registrar based on when a student drops all of their classes or notifies a university official of their intent to withdraw. Unofficial withdrawals are students who failed all of their classes per the grades reported at the end of each semester. The withdrawal date used for Title IV return purposes is the calendar midpoint of the semester.

Aid eligibility will be recalculated based on withdraw, dropout or dismissal prior to completing 60% of the semester. Recalculation is based on the percentage of earned aid using the following formula:

Number of days completed up to the withdrawal date divided by the total days in the semester (excluding scheduled breaks of five days or more) = percent earned

Aid is returned to funding source based on the percent of unearned using the following formula:

100% of aid - percent earned = percent of unearned aid

The percentage of unearned aid x the Institutional costs = amount of aid paid to institution that must be returned to the funding source

When the aid is returned to the funding source there may be tuition, housing, or meal plan balance with the University.

The balance of the unearned aid is used to determine if any funds need to be returned for non-institutional costs.

Unearned aid - return of institutional costs = balance of unearned aid for non-institutional cost

The institution will determine the amount of Title IV financial aid that has been disbursed to your account versus the amount of Title IV financial aid that could have been disbursed to your account. In most cases, the full amount of aid will have disbursed. In the instance that your aid has not been disbursed you may be eligible for a post-withdrawal disbursement.

The institution multiplies the percentage of aid earned by the total amount of disbursed aid and aid that could have been disbursed. This is the amount of aid the student has earned. The institution takes the amount of aid the student has earned and subtracts it from the total aid disbursed for the student. This is the amount of aid the student has not earned.

The institution determines the amount of institutional charges that have been applied to the students account. This amount is multiplied by the percentage of aid earned. This is the amount of earned institutional charges.

The institution reviews the amount of unearned aid versus the amount of unearned institutional charges. The lesser of the numbers is the amount of aid that is returned.

The institution has 45 days from the date the school determined the student withdrew (officially and unofficially) to return this amount. The least desirable aid is returned first, in ascending order of desirability as follows:

1. Federal Unsubsidized Direct Loan
2. Federal Subsidized Direct Loan
3. Federal Parent Plus Direct Loan
4. Federal Pell Grant
5. Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant
6. Talent Incentive Grant
7. Wisconsin Grant (aid will be returned to this program only if the institution has remaining funds available after satisfying federal programs)

If a student did not receive all of the funds earned, the student may be eligible for a post-withdrawal disbursement. If the post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, the institution is required to get the student's permission before these can be disbursed. The student may decide to decline some, or all of the loan funds so additional debt is not incurred. The institution may use all of a portion of the post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds for tuition, fees, and room and meal plan charges. The institution is required to get the student's permission for any post-withdrawal grant disbursement for all other institution charges. If the student does not give permission, the student will be offered the grant funds. Please note there are some Title IV funds that may be scheduled to be received and cannot be disbursed to the student after withdrawal because of other eligibility requirements.

• You may need to return aid for non-institutional costs.
• Any amounts attributed to your loans will be repaid in accordance with the terms of your promissory note.
• Amounts to be returned to your grants are reduced by 50%.
• If you need to repay money for non-institutional costs, you will be contacted by the Financial Aid Office.
• If you do not respond within 45 days, the institution is obligated to send your outstanding balance to the federal government for collection.
• You will not be allowed to receive additional federal aid until you have paid the over-payment in full.