Return of Title IV Funds Policy
Financial aid is disbursed under the assumption that students will remain enrolled for the entire semester.
What are Title IV Funds?
Title IV, part of the Higher Education Act, refers to the following federal student financial aid programs.
- Federal Direct Subsidized or Unsubsidized Loan
- Federal Direct Parent & Graduate PLUS Loan
- Federal Pell Grant
- Federal SEOG
Johns Hopkins University is required by federal regulations to recalculate federal financial aid eligibility for students who withdraw, drop out, are dismissed, or take a leave of absence prior to completing 60% of a payment period or term.
The recalculation is based on the percentage of earned aid using the following formula:
- Percentage of payment period or term completed = the number of days completed up to the withdrawal date divided by the total days in the payment period or term. (Any break of five days or more is not counted as part of the days in the term.)
Funds are returned to the appropriate federal program based on the percentage of unearned aid using the following formula:
- Aid to be returned = (100% of the aid that could be disbursed minus the percentage of earned aid) multiplied by the total amount of aid that could have been disbursed during the payment period or term.
If a student earned less aid than was disbursed, the institution returns the unearned funds to the government, and the student must then repay those funds to the institution. The balance will appear as a charge on the student’s Hopkins account.
If a student earned more aid than was disbursed, the institution would owe the student a post-withdrawal disbursement, which must be paid within 180 days of the student’s withdrawal.
The institution must return the amount of Title IV funds for which it is responsible no later than 45 days after the date of the determination of the student’s withdrawal date. Refunds are allocated in the following order:
- Unsubsidized Federal Direct (or Stafford) Loans
- Subsidized Federal Direct (or Stafford) Loans
- Federal Perkins Loans
- Federal Direct Graduate or Parent PLUS Loans (or Federal Parent or Graduate PLUS through private lender)
- Federal Pell Grants
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants
- Federal TEACH Grant
- Other assistance under this title for which a return of funds is required
Refer to the flow chart to see if you may be subject to a Return to Title IV calculation.