Graduate Financial Aid

Financial Aid Withdrawal Policy for Graduate Students

Federal Financial aid recipients who withdraw from the university should be aware that they may need to return part or all of the funds they were awarded/paid.   This is a federal aid regulation referred to as Return to Title IV (Federal) Aid.   Before officially withdrawing from classes, we recommend that you contact the Graduate Financial Aid Office. Students are also encouraged to view and be aware of the Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy for Graduate Students. Students must complete at least 67% of all attempted credits in order to remain eligible for financial aid.

Return of Title IV (Federal) Aid

If you withdraw from the University of St. Thomas during a semester/term, a calculation of "earned" versus "unearned" federal aid must be determined. This federal policy assumes that to earn all of the federal aid awarded/paid to you, you must attend/actively participate in the entire scheduled course(s) in the term (payment period/period of enrollment).   If you do not attend or actively participate in the scheduled course(s) during the payment period/period of enrollment, you do not earn any of the federal aid awarded/paid.   If you partially attend/actively participate in a scheduled course(s) during the payment period/period of enrollment, you earn a portion of the federal aid awarded/paid based on how much time you have attended or actively participated in the entire schedule of the course(s) in the payment period/period of enrollment.  For online courses, any activity prior to the payment period/period of enrollment and start of a course, does not qualify as attendance in an academically related activity. 

There are three steps that the University of St. Thomas must complete to comply with the federal policy:

  1. Determine the last date of attendance or academic activity. The financial aid office must first verify with your instructor(s) that you attended or participated in academic activities related to your course(s) during the payment period/period of enrollment.  If you did not attend or actively participate during the payment period/period of enrollment you are not eligible for the federal aid awarded/paid and it must be returned/cancelled/repaid.
  2. Determine the amount of earned federal aid, if any.  
  3. Return the amount of unearned federal funds to the appropriate federal aid program(s).

If you last attend or actively participate before completing 60 percent of the scheduled course(s) in the term, you "earn" federal funds in direct proportion to the length of time you attended or actively participated in the scheduled course(s) during the payment period/period of enrollment. The percentage of earned aid is determined by dividing the number of calendar days for all scheduled course(s) in the payment period/period of enrollment that you attended or actively participated in by the total number of calendar days in the scheduled course(s) for that payment period/period of enrollment including weekends and holidays and excluding any scheduled breaks longer than five days. If you complete 60 percent of the term or more, you earn all federal financial aid for the term.

Example:  If you last attended or academically participated on the 53rd day of the term, and the term was a total length of 110 days, the percentage of your earned aid would be 53 divided by 110, or 48%.   If a total of $10,250.00 in federal aid was disbursed to you, you would earn 48% ($4,920.00) and the unearned portion of 52% ($5,330.00) would be returned to the respective federal aid program. 

The responsibility to repay unearned aid is shared by the institution (University of St. Thomas) and the student. The institution's share is the lesser of unearned aid or unearned institutional charges. The institution will return unearned funds for which it is responsible no later than 45 days from the determination of a student’s withdrawal. The institution's share must be repaid to the federal aid programs in the following order, before the student's share is considered:

  1. Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan
  2. Federal Direct Subsidized Loan
  3. Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan
  4. Other Title IV (federal) assistance

If you are required to repay a portion of your loan through the student's share calculation, you will not be expected to return those funds immediately, but rather when repayment begins according to the terms and conditions of the master promissory note. If a portion of your unearned Federal Loan funds must be returned to the federal aid program, you will then be responsible for repaying this money back to Business Office/Student Accounts at St. Thomas if the return of federal funds creates a balance due to the business office after all adjustments are made.  Official notification of the results of the calculation will be emailed to your St. Thomas email and your personal email on file. 

If you are entitled to a Title IV credit balance (i.e. refund), the school is required to release the credit balance within 14 days after the Return to Title IV Calculation is completed.  The school does not need to receive your authorization to release the Title IV credit balance.   However, if you wish to reduce your student loan debt and have the credit balance returned to your student loans, you can provide this specific written authorization to the institution. 

If you receive less Title IV aid than the amount earned based on the Return to Title IV Calculation, the institution will offer you a disbursement (referred to as post-withdrawal disbursement) of the earned loan funds that were processed by, but for which you did not receive, prior to your last date of attendance or academic activity.  

Post-withdrawal of Title IV Loan funds:  The institution will obtain confirmation from you before making any disbursement of loan funds that you have accepted/applied for from a post-withdrawal disbursement. The institution will notify you in writing prior to making any post-withdrawal disbursement of loan funds.  The information provided will include the details necessary for you (i.e. type and amount of the loan funds) to make an informed decision as to whether you would like to accept any disbursement of loan funds and this notification will be provided within 30 days of the date of the institution’s determination that you have been withdrawn.  This notice will include information that you do have the right to decline all or a portion of the funds.  The notice will request written confirmation of any post-withdrawal disbursement that you wish to have disbursed.  The institution will make any disbursement approved by you within 180 days from the date of the school’s determination of your withdrawal. If no confirmation is received within 14 days, the institution is not required to make the post-withdrawal disbursement.  

Withdrawal Exemptions for Graduates or Completers:  

A student meets the withdrawal exemption for graduates or completers if they complete all of the academic requirements for their degree program and are able to graduate before completing all of the days in the payment period/period of enrollment in which they were scheduled to complete.   This withdrawal exemption can apply to any type of program (with or without modules).   A module is defined as a smaller period of enrollment (i.e. 7-week session) within a full payment period/period of enrollment (i.e. semester/term) that does not span the full semester/term.    

Withdrawal Exemptions for Programs offered in Modules:  

Withdrawal exemption for successful completion of 49% or more of a payment period/period of enrollment:  The number of days within the module the student has successfully completed is divided by the total number of days in the payment period/period of enrollment after any breaks of five or more consecutive days are excluded.   If the resulting figure is 49% or more, the student meets the withdrawal exemption and is not considered withdrawn for Return of Title IV purposes (i.e. they have earned all of their aid). 

Withdrawal exemption for successful completion of half-time coursework:    Students enrolled in programs with modules are not considered withdrawn for Return to Title IV purposes if the student successfully completes coursework equal to or greater than the coursework required for the definition of half time for the payment period/period of enrollment.  For financial aid purposes, half-time at the graduate level is 3 or more credits/term.  

Withdrawal exemption if written confirmation is received about future attendance within the payment period/period of enrollment:   If at the time a student ceases attendance in a module within the payment period/period of enrollment the student provides written confirmation that they will attend a module that begins later in the same payment period/period of enrollment (and that module is no more than 45 calendar days after the end of the module the student ceased attending) then the student is not considered to have withdrawn for Return to Title IV purposes and the institution can hold off performing the Return to Title IV Calculation at that time.   If the institution received written confirmation of future enrollment in the payment period/period of enrollment but the student does not attend as scheduled, the student is then considered to have withdrawn from the payment period/period of enrollment for Return to Title IV purposes and the institution must then proceed with the Return to Title IV calculation within 14 days after the date the student was scheduled to resume attendance.