Return of Title IV Funds and Institutional Aid

The withdrawal date established by the Office of the Registrar is the date used by the Office of Financial Aid to determine the percentage of Title IV aid earned by the student. Students are responsible for notifying the Office of the Registrar of their intent to take a Leave of Absence (LOA) or Withdraw (W) from courses. Please visit the Office of the Registrar’s website for more information on how to withdraw or take a leave of absence officially.

Unofficial Withdrawals

When the student withdraws, whether an official withdrawal or unofficial, the amount of aid earned by the student must be determined. If the amount disbursed to the student is greater than the amount earned, unearned funds must be returned. Students who fail to earn a passing grade in at least one class will be evaluated to determine if they withdrew unofficially (stopped attending classes) or must prove they participated in an academically related activity past the 60% point of the payment period. In most cases, if a student cannot prove they were in attendance past the 60% point of the payment period, the institution can use the midpoint of the payment period (semester) as the last date of attendance for calculation purposes.

Examples of academically related activities are exams, quizzes, tutorials, computer-based instruction, academic advising or counseling, academic conferences, completing an academic assignment, paper or project, and attending a school-assigned study group.

In some cases, a student may be eligible to receive a “post-withdrawal” disbursement after the student completely withdraws from the university when the amount of aid earned is less than the amount of aid disbursed. In such cases, LMU Financial Aid will notify the student of the “post-withdrawal” disbursement by sending an award letter to the student via US postal service. The award letter must be returned to LMU Financial Aid within fourteen (14) days or the “post-withdrawal” disbursement will be canceled.

Some Title IV funds a student may have been scheduled to receive may not have been disbursed to a student once they have completely withdrawn because of other eligibility requirements. For example, suppose a student is a first-time, first-year, undergraduate student and has not completed the first 30 days of their program before they withdraw. In that case, they will not receive any Federal Direct Loan funds that they would have received if they had remained enrolled past the 30th day.

Federal Title IV financial aid is returned in the order mandated by the U.S. Department of Education. Funds must be returned within 45 days of the established withdrawal date. Federal guidelines require that we return federal funds in the following order:

• Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan
• Federal Direct Subsidized Loan
• Federal Direct PLUS loan
• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
• Federal Teach Grant

Institutional Aid 

The Return of Title IV Fund Policy does not apply to state grants such as the Cal Grant, institutional loans, university grants, or scholarships. These types of aid are returned based on the LMU Refund percentage calendar. The percentage calendar below provides the ‘earned’ percentages by dates. Please contact LMU Financial Aid for more information on the consequences of dropping classes if you receive these types of financial aid.

The amount of earned financial aid is calculated on a daily basis from the first day of classes. Earned aid is determined by taking the number of days attended before enrollment ended divided by the total number of days in the term (first day of instruction until the last day of finals, excluding Thanksgiving break, spring break, and Easter Break).  

                Enrolled days ÷ total number of days in the semester = % of Aid Earned    

Return policies apply to students who withdraw on or before the 60% point of the term. For a student who withdraws after the 60% point-in-time, there is no unearned financial aid. The 60% point is illustrated below by the semester. If you have questions about the percentage of aid earned by the day, please view our detailed calendar here 2023-2024 Earned Percentage Calendar for Federal Aid

Law School Students please review the Return of Federal Aid Due To Withdrawal Section of the Resource page.  

Example 1

Jane McKay is an undergraduate student. Her fall semester is 105 days long. It begins on August 27 and ends on December 14.  On September 30th, Jane drops all of her classes via PROWL. Jane attended 35 days of the fall semester and has earned 33 percent of her federal financial aid (35 days divided by 105 days = 33 %)

Jane's cost of attendance is as follows:

Jane's financial aid package consists of:

As Jane has completed only 35 days of her semester, she earned 33 percent of the $25,655. According to the federal calculation, 67 percent of her federal aid, equaling $17,189, must be returned to the Department of Education.

LMU is required to return all of the following:

Since Jane dropped during the 25 percent university withdrawal period, Jane will receive $4,777 in tuition credit. The credit will be applied to the balance owed on Jane’s account, and she will be billed for any difference owed to LMU.

Example 2

Charles Von der Ahe is a Graduate student in the School of Education. His fall semester is 105 days long. It begins on August 27 and ends on December 14.  On October 30th, Charles drops all of his classes via PROWL.  Charles attended 65 days of the fall semester and has earned 62 percent of his federal financial aid (65 days divided by 105 days = 62 %)

Charles’s cost of attendance is as follows:

His financial aid package consists of:

Based on Charles’s attendance (63 percent of the term), Charles has earned all of his federal financial aid for the term and will not have to return any funds. In addition, Charles withdrew after LMU’s withdrawal percentage period and will not receive any credit for tuition.

Example 3

Sally Desmond is an Undergraduate Liberal Arts major at LMU. Her term begins on August 27 and ends on December 14. On August 24, her federal direct student loans were applied to her student account to cover tuition and fees, and she received a refund for the funds in excess of the charges. Before the term begins, Sally decides to take the semester off and withdrawals from all her courses.

When courses are dropped before a student attends the first class, LMU is required to return all federal funds that were applied to tuition and fees. Because Sally dropped her courses before the first day of class, she is not subject to the Title IV calculation. A full tuition and fee reversal will be applied to Sally’s student account, creating a balance owed for the refund she received. A record hold will be placed on Sally’s account until her balance is paid in full.

Note: The procedures and policies listed above are subject to change without notice based on changes to federal laws and regulations. For further guidance on Title IV Refund‘s (R2T4) policies and procedures, please see the reference material in Volume 5 of the Federal Student Aid Handbook under Withdrawals.