2014 Tri-State Fall Conference Presented by Yvonne Davis and Julie Lindenmeier

 Best known as UMUC, our headquarters are located in Adelphi, MD, but our students and course offerings are worldwide.  We have campuses in Europe and Asia and offer face-to-face courses in those locations as well as on military bases throughout the world.

 In addition to face-to-face classes, we are a comprehensive virtual university teaching on- line and hybrid courses on a variety of schedules and paces.  UMUC is standard semester with modules.  Our undergraduate program has 11 modules  Our graduate program has 6 modules.

Undergraduate schedule

 Projected volume  Modified our administrative computing system to collect students certification of intent to return  Redesigned process and all queries  Hired additional staff  Worldwide trainings (students and staff)

Designed queries to determine the impact. We projected a 700% increase in calculations. It’s actually been a 2000% increase.

 A modification was designed to allow students to certify their return when they changed their enrollment.

If the student has any future enrollment the classes are listed.

 Our queries are based on our modification. Weekly queries are run and distributed to the team.

 Assistant Director of R2T4  9 Financial Aid Accountants  Review all scenarios and respond to student inquiries.

 Extensive training to Financial Aid staff, external call centers, students, faculty, academic advisors.  Retraining and reminders!

Welcome to the Wonderful Land of Return of Title IV Funds

  Mailings  Website  Student portal  FA TV Custom Video

 Weekly reviews  Review a sample from each Financial Aid Accountant  Provide feedback  Monthly accuracy rate

R2T4 is short for Return of Title IV Funds: Federal student financial aid is awarded under the assumption that students will be enrolled for a specified period of time, such as a semester. When students receive these funds but do not complete enrollment as expected, the Financial Aid Office is required to determine if they have completed more than 60% of the enrollment period. Financial Aid Offices must perform “Return of Title IV Funds” calculations any time a student terminates their enrollment (withdraws, drops, or stops participating in classes) before the end of the semester and do not certify their intent to return in another session within the semester.

Students earn Title IV aid through attendance in the payment period or period of enrollment. The % of aid that the student earns is = to the % of the payment period/period of enrollment that the student completes. If the school has disbursed more aid than the student has earned, money must be returned to the Title IV programs. If the school has disbursed less aid than the student has earned, the student is due a post-withdrawal disbursement. The school must complete the R2T4 calculation in order to determine which of these scenarios is applicable when a student withdraws or otherwise ceases attendance in all of his/her classes.

Two main deadlines impact most Return of Title IV Funds calculations: 1. The 45-day timeframe for the Return of Funds. So, when an institution corrects a Return of Title IV Funds calculation, and, as a result, returns funds after the 45-day deadline, it is a late return. 2. The 30-day required notification of the need for authorization to make a Post-withdrawal disbursement of Title IV Loan funds. When the school makes a correction and notifies the borrower later than 30 days after the date of the institution’s determination that the student withdrew of the need for authorization to make any loan Post-withdrawal disbursement of Title IV loan funds, the school has violated that deadline. *Any action taken after a deadline, even a correction, is a violation of the deadline requirement.

 Official Withdrawal from one or all classes with no certification of intent to return  Official Withdrawal from one or all classes with certification of intent to return  Unofficial Withdrawal  Dropping or Failing to begin classes prior to the start date while not enrolled in any other classes  Dropping/Adding a new class after completing a module  Withdrawing, or Failing to participate in one or more classes while actively attending other classes

Any time a student makes one of these changes to their enrollment, we need to review the student’s record to determine if we need to calculate their Financial Aid eligibility for Federal loans and/or grants. The review for Return of Title IV funds may result in:  Loss of a portion or all Federal Aid  Post Withdrawal Disbursement (PWD)  A re-calculation of Campus-Based aid

 Once your office determines that funds must be returned to the Title IV program, schools return the funds to the Department of Education on behalf of the student.  This is why the student owes the school a balance following the return of Title IV Funds.  Overpayments.

 QUESTION 1:  After beginning attendance in the payment period or period of enrollment, did the student cease to attend or fail to begin attendance in a course he or she was scheduled to attend?  If the answer is no, this is not a withdrawal.  If the answer is yes, go to question 2. TRANSLATION:  Has the student Dropped, Officially Withdrawn, or Unofficially Withdrawn?

 Question 2:  When the student ceased to attend or failed to begin attendance in a course he or she was scheduled to attend, was the student attending any other courses?  If the answer is yes, this is not a withdrawal. However, a re-calculation of Campus-Based aid may be required.  If the answer is no, go to question 3. TRANSLATION: Was the class in question the LAST ACTIVE ENROLLMENT FOR THE STUDENT?

 Question 3  Did the student confirm attendance in a course in a module beginning later in the period?  If the answer is yes, this is not a withdrawal, unless the student does not return.  If the answer is no, this is a withdrawal. TRANSLATION: Has the student given written notice that they will rreturn by a specified date?

We use reports delivered from our Learning Management System.

 Determine if R2T4 or other adjustment is required.  If an R2T4 calculation is required, we calculate the student within PeopleSoft.  If an R2T4 calculation is not required, we will adjust Pell according to their enrollment change.

the Department of Education’s R2T4 worksheet:

 Sometimes we determine the student is eligible for federal aid AFTER they have already withdrawn.  In these cases we are required to offer the student a Post Withdrawal Disbursement.  For Pell grants, we do not need the student’s permission to disburse.  For loans: the student has 15 days to accept/decline.  If they accept it we will disburse the aid.  If they do not accept within the given deadline, we will cancel the aid and send them a notification.

 School must provide to prospective and current students:  Any refund policy with which the school must comply.  The school’s tuition refund policy.  Requirements for treatment of Title IV funds after withdrawal.  Procedures for official withdrawal  Office(s) accepting official withdrawal notices

 Every Friday we run the R2T4 queries to identify new students to review.  Generally we try to have the students reviewed within 5-7 business days from the date of the last enrollment change.  At the end of each session most of the official or unofficial withdrawal grades are posted. During this time our turn-around timeframe might be a little bit longer.