Return of Title IV Funds

Financial aid is awarded with the assumption that students will remain enrolled for the entire semester. The Office of Financial Aid is required by federal regulations to determine if the school and student is required to return Title IV funds if students withdraw or were dismissed from the university.

If students are withdrawing they must first meet with the Dean of their school and obtain a signed and dated Withdrawal Routing Process Form and a Withdrawal From School form. The Dean or designated other must indicate on the Withdrawal From School  form the action that applies to the student. Also the effective date must be entered because it is the official date of the withdrawal. Each office listed on the routing form must sign and if deemed necessary per office policy enter comments.

An official withdrawal is when a student submits both the Withdrawal Routing Process Form and the Withdrawal From School form to the Office of the Registrar or when the student withdrawals from all of his/her classes.

An unofficial withdraw is when a student stops attending all of his/her classes during the semester, does not follow the college procedure to officially withdraw as outlined by the Office of the Registrar, and fails to successfully complete the term (i.e., receives all final grades of F, NA, or a combination of both).

When a student completely withdraws from Morgan State University while receiving Title IV aid, the Office of Financial Aid must determine what portions of the student’s aid will be returned to the federal aid programs. The financial aid office uses the Federal Return of Title IV Funds formula  provided by the Department of Education  to calculate the amounts of  "earned” (can keep aid) vs. “unearned” (cannot keep aid).

Number of days completed divided by the Total days in the semester = percentage of aid earned 

Funds are returned to the appropriate federal programs based on the percentage of unearned aid.

Per the following process:

1. Student obtains a signed Withdrawal Routing Process Form and a Withdrawal From School Form from the student’s department.
2. Students are to get signatures from all departments listed on the Withdrawal Routing Process Form.
3. The Office of Financial Aid will review the forms for signatures and dates from the Dean’s office and Residence Life, as well as a signature and date from the student.
4. The Office of Financial Aid will request that students complete a loan Exit Counseling Interview if they received any loans at any time while they were enrolled.
5. A Return of Title IV calculation is performed using the FAA online program.
6. The Office of Financial Aid uses the official withdrawal date that is entered for the RT24 calculation is the effective date enter on the withdrawal from school form.
7. If return of funds are required by the school the advisor will manually input the adjustments by decreasing aid per the RT24 calculation in Banner. The advisor will also notify all areas of the Office of Financial Aid of the adjustment in Banner for COD to be updated.
8. Students are notified immediately in person or via Email message of any aid adjustments.                                     

Morgan State is required to return the calculated amount of federal Title IV funds no later than 45 days after the determination of the date of the student’s withdrawal date if the students withdrew on or before completing 61% of the semester. Funds that are returned may cause a balance and the student is responsible for paying the balances to the university.

Below you will find the order in which funds are returned:

• Unsubsidized Direct Loans 
• Subsidized Direct Loans
• Direct PLUS Loans (parent or graduate)
• Federal Pell Grants for which a return of Title IV funds is required
• Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant, for which a return of Title IV funds is required
• FSEOG for which a return of Title IV funds is required
• TEACH Grants for which a return of Title IV funds is required