All students receiving Title IV Federal financial aid funds (which includes PELL, ACG and FSEOG Grants) who completely withdraw within the first 60% of a term, payment period, or period of enrollment are subject to a refund and repayment provision, effective Fall 2000, called the RETURN OF TITLE IV FUNDS Policy. Section 485 of the 1998 Higher Education Amendments changed section 484B of the HEA of 1965, as amended, to reflect Title IV recipients who totally withdraw from an institution during a semester (period of enrollment). When a student receives Title IV program funds to attend an institution and subsequently completely withdraws, stops attending, takes an unapproved leave of absence, is expelled, or otherwise fails to complete the period of enrollment for which he or she was charged, federal law and regulations require the institution to calculate the percentage and amount of Title IV assistance the student did not earn and return those funds to the Title IV programs. The difference between the total amount of unearned Title IV aid and the amount the institution is required to return is the amount for which the student is responsible. The amount of Title IV aid (PELL, ACG and FSEOG) that a student must repay is determined by the Federal Formula for Return of Title IV funds as specified in Federal Regulations of HEA. This law also specified the order of return of the Title IV funds to the programs from which they were awarded. A repayment may be required when cash has been disbursed to a student from financial aid funds in excess of the amount of aid the student earned during the term. The amount of Title IV aid earned is determined by multiplying the total Title IV aid (other than FWS) for which the student qualified by the percentage of time during the term that the student was enrolled. If less aid was disbursed than was earned, the student may receive a late disbursement for the difference. If more aid was disbursed than was earned, the amount of Title IV aid that must be returned (i.e., that was unearned) is determined by subtracting the earned amount from the amount actually disbursed. The responsibility for returning unearned aid is allocated between the college and the student according to the portion of disbursed aid that could have been used to cover college charges and the portion that could have been disbursed directly to the student once college charges were covered. RCC will distribute the unearned aid back to the Title IV programs as specified by law. The student will be billed for the amount the student owes to the Title IV programs and any amount due to the college resulting from the Return of Title IV funds used to cover college charges. Student records will be frozen if unearned aid is not repaid to the College. Students will not be allowed to return to RCC until the account is cleared. Students will not be eligible for financial aid until the federal portion of unearned aid is repaid.

Virginia state law requires that state aid of the VSFAP award, which includes the Commonwealth grant (COMA) and the Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program grant (VGAP), is subject to the Return of Title IV aid calculation when a student receiving those grants withdraws completely, officially or unofficially, from the institution.

This page was last modified on October 21, 2010. If you are looking for previous catalog information, please reference the 2006-2007 Catalog, 2008-2010 Catalog, 2010-2012 Catalog.