Transcript A long time ago… in a galaxy far far away…

2014 Tri-State Fall Conference
Presented
by
Yvonne Davis
and
Julie Lindenmeier
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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.
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In addition to face-to-face classes, we are a
comprehensive virtual university teaching online and hybrid courses on a variety of
schedules and paces.
UMUC is standard semester with modules.
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Our undergraduate program has 11 modules
Our graduate program has 6 modules.
Undergraduate
schedule
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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.
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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.
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Our queries are based on our modification.
Weekly queries are run and distributed to the
team.
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Assistant Director of R2T4
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9 Financial Aid Accountants
Review all scenarios and respond to student
inquiries.
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Extensive training to Financial Aid staff,
external call centers, students, faculty,
academic advisors.
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Retraining and reminders!
Welcome to the Wonderful Land of
Return of Title IV Funds
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Email
Mailings
Website
Student portal
FA TV Custom Video
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Weekly reviews
Review a sample from each Financial Aid
Accountant
 Provide feedback
 Monthly accuracy rate
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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.
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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
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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.
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QUESTION 1:
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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?
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Question 2:
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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?
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Question 3
Did the student confirm attendance in a course in
a module beginning later in the period?
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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:
r
Has the student given written notice that they will
return by a specified date?
We use reports delivered from our Learning Management System.
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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.
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School must provide to prospective and current
students:
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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
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 Office(s) accepting official withdrawal notices
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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.