Return of Title IV Funds

Financial aid is awarded with the assumption that students will remain enrolled for the entire semester. The Office of Financial Aid is required by federal statute to recalculate federal financial aid eligibility for students who withdraw (officially or unofficially), are dismissed, or take a leave of absence.

An official withdraw is when a students submits an Application to Withdrawal to the Office of the Registrar or when the student withdrawals from all of his/her classes using BullDog Connect.

An unofficial withdraw is when a student stops attending all of his/her classes during the semester, does not follow the college procedure to officially withdraw as outlined by the Office of the Registrar, and fails to successfully complete the term (i.e., receives all final grades of F, W, WA, U, AW, NG, or a combination of both). 

When a student completely withdraws from Bowie State University while receiving Title IV aid, the Office of Financial Aid must determine what portions of the student’s aid will be returned to the financial aid programs. The financial aid office uses a federal formula created by the Department of Education to calculate the amounts of “earned” vs. “unearned” aid. 

Number of days completed divided by the Total days in the semester = percentage of aid earned

100% - percentage of aid earned = percentage of aid unearned 

Funds are returned to the appropriate federal programs based on the percentage of unearned aid. 

The institution must return the amount of Title IV funds for which it is responsible no later than 45 days after the determination of the date of the student’s withdrawal. Any return of financial aid funds may cause a balance, which the student will be responsible for paying.

Refunds are allocated in the following order:  

  1. Unsubsidized Stafford Loan
  2. Subsidized Stafford Loan
  3. Federal Perkins Loan
  4. Federal Graduate PLUS Loan
  5. Federal Parent PLUS Loan
  6. Federal Pell Grant
  7. Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG)
  8. Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH)