Withdrawals and Return of Title IV Funds Policy

Introduction
Withdrawal / Leave of Absence (LOA) Procedure
Refund Policy
Attendance
Calculating Earned and Unearned Title IV Funds
Institutional Charges
Post-withdrawal Disbursements
Leave of Absence (LOA) Policy

1. Introduction

The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama complies with U.S. Department of Education regulations if you withdraw from your course whilst in receipt of Title IV funds. Using a Return of Title IV (RT24) calculation, the School recalculates your Financial Aid eligibility based on the time you attended. It is important to note that you may have to repay a percentage of the Title IV Funds you have received to your Direct Loan provider, if you withdraw from your course. This document covers the following areas:

The procedure for withdrawing or taking a leave of absence (LOA) from the School
The School’s Refund Policy and the impact on the Return of Title IV funds on a student’s liability for tuition fees
What happens to Title IV funds when a student withdraws or takes a Leave of Absence

2. Withdrawal / Leave of Absence (LOA) Procedure

A Leave of Absence (LOA) is a temporary interruption in a student’s programme of study for Return of Title IV funds purposes.

For a LOA to be approved, the student must return at the exact same point as to when they interrupted their studies (within 180 days of the start of the LOA date).

The LOA policy runs concurrently with the School’s Suspensions of Studies Policy.

Any student wishing to withdraw or take a LOA from the School must contact their relevant course support officer with a written, signed and dated request. The Course Support Office will notify the Admissions and Student Recruitment department when any student who is in receipt of Title IV funds has expressed their desire to withdraw or take a LOA.

Any student who does not meet the above LOA criteria but either choses to interrupt their studies or must due to health grounds or other mitigating circumstances, will be reported as Withdrawn.

The School’s Handbook of Academic Regulations and Guidance explains in detail the processes required to withdraw or take a suspension of studies.

3. Refund Policy

The School’s refund Policy operates independently of any Return of Title IV calculation.

If a student withdraws and the School must repay funds to the U.S. Department of Education for tuition fees, then the student may be requested to make an additional fee payment to the School to replace these funds.

For example, if you attended for four weeks in term 1 but then withdrew, you would be liable for the fees for term 1 but would not have attended enough to qualify for the full loan amount for the term. See Calculating Earned and Unearned Title IV funds.

4. Attendance

The School routinely monitors student course attendance. Faculty report any absences in class, tutorials, or seminars to the School’s Programs Office that keep a record of all student attendance. As stated in ‘8.5. Attendance Requirement’ of the 2022-23 Handbook of Academic Regulations and Guidance, the School operates a 100% attendance policy for all students on all courses. 4 unauthorised absences from scheduled contacts (lectures, seminars, tutorials, rehearsals, performances) will result in an informal warning letter to the student from the Programmes Office; 8 will result in a formal warning from the Course Leader. After 10 unauthorised absences, the matter will be referred to the Academic Registrar, and the student will be at risk of immediate termination of studies.

5. Calculating Earned and Unearned Title IV Funds

When a student withdraws, the School calculates amount of Title IV that has been earned up until that point. The calculation involves working out the percentage that a student has been in attendance by dividing the total number of days completed against the total number of days in a payment period. The calculation will takes place no later than 30 days from the day the student withdraws. The School must return the funds within 45 days of the calculation.

Return to Title IV Calculations are carried out in accordance with US Government regulations, using the US Federal Loan Return to Title IV Worksheet.

If you withdraw from the School, a calculation will be carried out by the School to determine the amount of financial aid that has been earned, and hence the amount (if any) to be returned. The calculation is based on the number of days a student has attended their course, minus any unscheduled leave of 5 days or more, divided by the total number of days in the payment period.

If you have attended for more than 60% of the payment period, then you have earned 100% of your Title IV funds and no action is necessary. If you withdraw before the 60% point, then a prorate schedule is used to determine the amount of funds that you need to return.

For example, if a payment period is 100 days and you withdraw after 50 days, you will need to return 50% of the funds you have received. If you withdraw after 70 days, then you have been in attendance for 70% and therefore have earned 100% of the funds you have received.

The date that the School receives your official notification of your desire to withdraw is the withdrawal date that is used to calculate whether there is unearned aid that needs to be returned. An unofficial withdrawal is where the School has not received official notification of the withdrawal, but the student has ceased attendance. The last day of attendance at an academic- related activity will be used as the withdrawal date.

Any credit balance refund for a student withdrawing from a course will be put on hold until the Title IV return calculation is made. Any remaining credit balance resets to 14 days from the day the Title IV return calculation is performed.

The School will return any unearned funds VIA G5 no later than 45 days after the withdrawal date. The unearned funds will be returned in the order listed below:

Unsubsidized Federal Direct Stafford
Subsidized Federal Direct Stafford
Federal Direct PLUS

If the student is notified by the School that there are loan funds that must be returned (by the student) the student should repay in accordance with the terms of their Master Promissory Note. That is, scheduled payments are made to the borrower over a period. Students who have received a refund of their loan proceeds before withdrawing may be required to return part or all those funds to the lender.

The student (or parent borrower of PLUS Loan) who has withdrawn will be contacted in writing within 30 days of the withdrawal date, detailing how much and how they can also they can return unearned funds. The student (or parent borrower of PLUS Loan) will be instructed to visit www.nslds.ed.gov to determine which Direct Loan agency services their loan.

Alternatively, the student can pay the overpayment amount to the School who can return it via G5 on their behalf. They will also be notified of the value of unearned Title IV (for institutional charges) that is going to be returned.

The school will notify the U.S. Department of Education if any withdrawn student recipient who has received an overpayment has not paid it back to the School or entered a repayment agreement with the U.S. D.o.E.

6. Institutional Charges

The School deducts the following amount of tuition fees (minus any deposit paid) from each disbursement.

October – 34%

January – 33%

April – 33%

If you have attended for more than 60% of the payment period, then the School has earned 100% of their Title IV funds and no action is necessary. If you withdraw before the 60% point, then a prorate schedule is used to determine the amount of funds that the School will need to return to the U.S. Department of Education.

7. Post-withdrawal Disbursements

If you do not receive all the funds that you have earned, they you may be due a post-withdrawal disbursement. The University may automatically use all or a portion of the post-withdrawal disbursement (if you accept it) for any existing tuition fees owed. You may decline the loan funds so that your loan debt does not increase. However, it is advisable to accept the disbursement and allow the School to keep the funds owed in order to reduce what you may owe.

The Student Funding Manager will notify the student within 30 days of the student’s withdrawal date if this is applicable to them. They will be given 14 days from the notification to respond as to whether all or a portion of the post-withdrawal disbursement is required. These funds will be disbursed within 180 days from the withdrawal date.

8. Leave of Absence (LOA) Policy

To qualify for a leave of absence (LOA) and be counted as a temporary interruption instead of a withdrawal that would require a withdrawal calculation, the LOA must meet the conditions detailed below:

The student must submit their request for a LOA in accordance with the School’s procedures for requesting a suspension of studies.
The LOA must be approved by the Head of Student Experience in accordance with the School’s policy for the taking a suspension of studies.
The reason for the LOA must be one that allows for a reasonable expectation that the student will return.
The LOA cannot exceed a total of 180 days (together with any additional leaves of absence) in a 12- month period.
A student must return from the LOA at the same point in the academic programme that the LOA began.
The LOA must be requested in advance unless unforeseen consequences prevent the student from doing so.
All requests for LOA will be reviewed by the Head of Student Experience and Head of Admissions before a decision is made.
Prior to granting the LOA, the Student Funding Manager will explain to the student the potential consequences of not returning the LOA will have on their repayment terms, including the expiration of the 6-month grace period for Stafford loans.
The date use for the start of the LOA is the date that it was signed off by the Head of Academic and Student Services.
If a student does not return from a LOA, then a withdrawal calculation will take place using the date that the LOA began as the withdrawal date. NSLDS will be notified of this date.
During the LOA period, the School will not charge the student any additional intuitional charges, the student’s financial need cannot increase, and the student is not eligible for any disbursements. Any student on an approved LOA will have their status reported as ‘A’ (Approved Leave of Absence) on NSLDS therefore maintaining in-school status for Title IV repayment purposes.