Federal Title IV Refunds

Students who are entitled to a refund for withdrawal and are receiving student financial aid (SFA) are subject to having all or part of the refund returned to the appropriate financial aid programs. For those students who withdrew prior to 60% of the enrollment period elapsing, a pro-rated schedule is used to determine how much SFA funds were earned at the time of withdrawal.

The University must return to SFA Programs the lesser of:

• The amount of SFA Program funds that the students do not earn; or
• The amount of institutional costs that students incurred for the period of enrollment multiplied by the percentage of funds unearned.

However, students are not required to return 50 percent of the grant assistance received.

SFA funds must be returned in the following order:

• Unsubsidized Stafford Loans
• Subsidized Stafford Loans
• Federal PLUS Loans
• Federal Pell Grants
• Federal Supplement Educational Opportunity Grants
• State Scholarships

If more aid is received that could have been reasonably spent for non-institutional costs (excluding Federal Direct Loan Programs), the unearned portion must be returned to SFA Programs.

Per federal regulations, students who fail to earn a passing grade in any course are considered to have unofficially withdrawn from Georgia College.  At the end of each semester, the Financial Aid Office will identify any such students and will notify them with further explanation denoting any calculated financial obligations of unearned aid. A student’s failure to respond to this notification within the specified time frame will result in the university imposing its due diligence procedures regarding outstanding balances.