Financial Aid Refund Dates and FAQs

The Admission and Records Office notifies the Financial Aid Office of all financial aid student withdrawals from all coursework prior to the 60% date. The Financial Aid Supervisor will request a withdrawal query configured from the PeopleSoft system on a regular basis to complete Return of Title IV funds within the required timeline.

The Financial Aid Office will use the last day of attendance on the withdrawal reported, or as indicated and documented by the instructor, Admissions and Records, or the student, in determining the percentage of the pay period the student completed.

If the Financial Aid Office learns independently that a student has stopped attending classes, the instructors will be contacted and requested to submit the last day the student attended a class-related activity.

The Financial Aid Office will use the PeopleSoft delivered Return to Title IV functionality to determine the required repayment from the institution and the student.

Assessed refunds will be refunded to the financial aid programs from which they were paid in the following order:

1. Unsubsidized Direct Loan

2. Subsidized Direct Loan

3. Direct PLUS Loans

4. Pell Grant

5. Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant

Calculation and Notification Deadline:

R2T4 calculations must be completed within 30 days of the date the campus determined the student withdrew and the student must be notified of the results of the calculation. Calculations include any aid eligible for a post-withdrawal disbursement. For further information see SFA Handbook beginning on page 5- 100.

If the student owes a repayment based on the R2T4 calculations the notification must be mailed within the 30 days of the date the campus determined the student withdrew. The following items must be included in the notice:

 The amount of the overpayment
 The student’s eligibility for Title IV aid will end if the student fails to resolve

the overpayment in 45 days from the date of the notification (or the date

the campus was required to send the notification).
 The options the student has to resolve the overpayment (see Student

Overpayment section below)

 Failure to resolve the overpayment will result the campus reporting the overpayment to NSLDS and the debt will be referred to the Debt Resolution Services for collection

 The contact information for the campus representative who can discuss options for resolution

Institutional Overpayment – the amount indicated in box O on R2T4 worksheet. This is an overpayment due from the campus and cannot not be referred to the Department of Education (DOE) for collections or reported to NSLDS as an overpayment.

Return Deadline:
Funds must be returned as soon as possible but no later than 45 days from the date the campus determined the student’s withdrawal.
Return Process:

1. 2.

3.

The Financial Aid Office will reduce the student’s award by the amount of the institutional overpayment.

This will result in the award reduction on the student’s account and the student will be responsible repaying this balance to the campus.

If the overpayment is in the current academic year the reduced award must be reported to COD and the amount available for the campus to draw down will be reduced by this amount. If the award reduced is SEOG the amount spent will be reduced in the campus fund.

Student (Federal) Overpayment – the amount indicated in box U on R2T4 worksheet
The student will retain financial aid eligibility for 45 days from the earliest of:

 The date the campus notified the student of the overpayment
 The date the campus was required to have notified the student (within 30 days of the date the campus determined that the student withdrew)

The student does not have to repay a grant overpayment of $50 or less. If the amount of grant aid owed is $50 or less no further action is required.

Return Deadline:

The student must resolve the overpayment with the 45 day deadline.

Return Process:

The student has two options to resolve the overpayment:
1. Repay the amount owed to the Financial Aid Department within the 45 day deadline

The Financial Aid Office will than return funds to the Business office for

processing. The Financial Aid Office will than return funds to the department by reducing the amount in COD and in PeopleSoft. The Business Office/Finance department will deposit the repayment back to the appropriate account. No hold should be placed since the debt has been paid in full.

2. If the student does not resolve the overpayment by the above options, the financial aid office will submit the student overpayment to Debt Resolution Services and NSLDS immediately after the 45 day deadline has passed.

3. Once the Student Federal Overpayment is referred to Debt resolution services, the student must make satisfactory payment arrangements with Debt Resolution Services and make all payments within the timeframe included in the arrangement. Failure to meet any of the terms of the payment arrangement will result in loss of any future Title IV aid. The campus will not enter into payment arrangements overpayments due from the student

For further information about referring R2T4 over payments see SFA Handbook beginning page 5-108.

Return to Title IV Policy for Unofficial Withdraws

Since Peralta is an institution that is not required to take attendance, PCCD acknowledges that it does not have a documented process to determine students who unofficially withdraw.

Financial Aid Procedures

Moving forward, in order to meet Federal Compliance, Financial Aid has implemented the following procedure to identify students who have unofficially withdrawn from the institution in order to calculate Return of Title IV in a timely manner.

After all grades are posted by Admissions and Records (generally within two weeks from the end of the term) , the District Office will run a report from our PeopleSoft system to identify students with failing grades in all enrolled classes immediately after all grades are posted. Failing grades include “F”, “FW”, and “NP”.

A student with a grade of “F” may be required by the financial aid office to provide documentation from the grading instructor that the grade was earned by the student. The student must have attended class for the term and earned a failing grade by such measure as determined by instruction that qualifies a grade of “F”.

Students with no passing grades along with any “I”, “RD”, or “IP” will continued to be monitored until final grades are posted.

These students will be considered unofficial withdrawals and the Financial Aid offices will complete R2T4 calculations within 30 days from the last day of the term using the midpoint of the term (period of enrollment) as the withdrawal date. PCCD will complete calculations and send notification to the student within 21 days of the end of the enrollment period.

The Financial Aid Offices will include in its notification to students the option to provide documentation of their last date of attendance. The Financial Aid Offices will than recalculate R2T4 using the documented last day off attendance as the withdrawal date. The student may also provide documentation that at least one of their failing grades was earned, that they continued attendance through the entire term, to have R2T4 calculations reversed. The student will be given 21 days to provide this documentation to allow the Financial Aid Offices adequate time to change the R2T4 calculate and return funds within the 45 day deadline

repackages the student for financial aid based on their new eligibility status and notifies the student with a new award notification
.
As reviewed, additional student ISIR corrections may be submitted for transmission via our PeopleSoft software system. When the corrected ISIR is received, final review of the file takes place and an award is made if the student is eligible.

Students who fail to submit verification documents will not be awarded Financial Aid.

Because the Financial Aid Office is liable for disbursements made prior to verification, it is the policy of the Office not to award nor disburse funds until verification is complete. PCCD’s policy does not allow interim disbursements. Students must complete the verification process before aid is awarded or disbursed.

Financial Aid Office policies and procedures are designed to eliminate the possibility of an overpayment from any fund. If, however, an overpayment does occur, a service indictor is placed on the student’s records by the financial aid office and a letter is sent to the student. Academic transcripts and enrollment for future terms are withheld until the account has been cleared.

Exclusions

Certain circumstances excuse students from completing verification. Financial Aid staff must identify and document in the aid folder why the student is not required to complete verification. These circumstances may follow:

1. Incarceration
2. Recent immigrant
3. Spouse unavailable
4. Parents unavailable
5. Death of the student
6. Applicant verified by another school 7. Pacific Island resident
8. Not an aid recipient

Federal Work Study

The Federal Work study Program (FWS) is employment financed primarily with federal funds. Students who apply for financial aid, demonstrate financial need, and indicate they will accept work will be considered for Federal Work Study. Students receive a monthly paycheck for hours worked (hourly rate set by the Board of Trustees). The total a student may earn depends on the amount of the student’s award as determined by the College Financial Aid Office, based on the funds available to the College, and the student’s unmet needs. Students must be enrolled at least 1⁄2 time to be eligible for Work Study funds. There may be off-campus jobs available with non-profit organizations. Depending on funding and individual awards, students may work up to 20 hours per week when school is in session. Students may be allowed to work more than 20 hours per week when between semesters or when school is not in session if funding is available.

Colleges are required to expend a minimum of 7% of their FWS allocation toward Community Service employment. Federal Work Study statistics are reported on annual FISAP.

Federal Work Study (FWS) Selection and Awarding

FWS is awarded on a first come, first served basis if enough financial need exists until all funds are exhausted. If a student is offered Federal Work Study as part of his/her financial aid package, the student must log onto their Campus Solutions account and “accept” the Federal Work Study award. If the student does not accept the award within a certain timeframe as defined by the institution, the award will be canceled and will be given to another student based on a first come, first served basis.

Federal Supplemental Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)

FSEOG is a grant award made by the College to students with exceptional financial need. Because funds are limited, students who apply early and are eligible for Pell Grants, and who demonstrate the highest need with priority awarding going to those with a ZERO EFC, will receive first priority consideration for FSEOG. Unlike Pell Grants, there's no guarantee every eligible student will receive one. In addition, funds are limited. These grants don't need to be paid back. Students are considered for FSEOG when they submit documents to the Financial Aid Office with a valid ISIR by April 1st. FSEOG award amounts vary by the funding available at each College.

PCCD specifies the circumstances in which tuition refunds can be made. The full refund policy is found in the College Catalog.

For students receiving financial aid who officially withdraw from the College and if the student has a credit balance, the necessary credit will be applied to the financial aid funds. The refund must first be applied to the Financial Aid programs in the following order:

1. Pell - Repayment of a portion of the funds received will be required if a student stops attending classes before the 60% point of the term.

2. SEOG – Repayment of a portion of the funds received will be required if a student stops attending classes before the 60% point of the term.

Scholarships, State Grants, Institutional Grants, require no repayment. Work-study funds are paid for work performed, and no repayment is required.

Students are not allowed to receive official transcripts and enroll in future if they have an outstanding balance.

A student can request to be considered independent if the student does not meet the federal requirement by submitting the Dependency Override Request form. The form is available from the Financial Aid Office or by downloading it from the financial aid website. The required documentation is listed on the Dependency Override Request form. Students may also be required to submit additional documentation in order for the Financial Aid Specialist or Supervisor to make a determination whether to approve or deny the request.

Issues of professional judgment are reviewed by the Financial Aid Specialist or the Financial Aid Supervisor for final determination.

FERPA - Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 applies to the education records of persons who are, or have been in attendance in postsecondary institutions. The Peralta Community Colleges will not release student information without the written consent of the student unless specifically allowed according to FERPA regulations. Please refer to your home campus catalog for the complete FERPA policy.

You have the right to:

• Know what financial aid programs are available;
• Know the deadline for submitting applications for the programs available;
• Be informed of financial aid policies and procedures;
• Know how your financial need was determined and what resources (such as your income, assets, parental contribution and other financial aid) were considered in the calculation of need;
• Know how much of your financial aid eligibility has been met as deter- mined by the Financial Aid Office;
• Know what portion of your financial aid must be repaid, and what portion is gift or aid received from work;
• Know how the Financial Aid Office determines whether you are making satisfactory academic progress and the consequences are if your are not;
• Access student right-to-know information consisting of campus security statistic, graduation and completion rates, and institutional demographic statistics.

• Request an explanation of the various programs in your financial aid package; • Know the terms of any loans you receive, your deferment, cancellation, and forbearance rights;

You have the responsibility to:

• Complete all application forms accurately and submit them on time;
• Provide correct information. Misrepresentation of information on financial aid applications is a violation of federal law and may be a criminal offense;
• Return all documentation, verification, corrections, and/or new information requested by either the Financial Aid Office or the agency to which you submitted your application in a timely manner;
• Read and understand all forms that you are asked to sign and keep copies of them;
• Accept responsibility for all agreements that you sign;
• Repay all loans including the interest on those loans;
• Perform the work that is agreed upon in accepting a Federal Work-Study award in a satisfactory manner;
• Be aware of refund and repayment procedures;
• If you are a recipient of a student loan, notify your lender, the Financial Aid of changes to name, address, or school enrollment status
• If you have a loan, attend a loan Entrance Interview prior to receiving the first disbursement of your loan(s) and an Exit Interview prior to graduation or prior to leaving your college for any other reason;
• File all required student loan deferment or cancellation forms on time;
• Report any change in the information used to determine your eligibility, including name, family size, or financial resources;
• Notify the Financial Aid Office immediately if you withdraw from school or reduce enrollment.

If you enroll in a Peralta Community College sponsored study abroad program, you may apply for financial aid through the Home College Financial Aid Office. You will be considered for all aid programs (Pell Grant, Cal Grant (California Residents), BOGW (California Residents), Foundation Scholarships and Loans) except Federal Work- Study.

Depending on the cost of your study abroad program, the financial aid you receive may or may not meet your full demonstrated financial need. To make up the gap between your aid and the cost of your program, you may want to apply for a private scholarship or an alternative loan. You are responsible for making any payments for the program by the appropriate deadlines.

Students may receive Title IV aid if they are taking coursework at two or more schools if the participating institutions enter into a consortium agreement. A consortium agreement specifies that courses from the host institution will transfer to the home institution and that the home institution will process and disburse student aid. The institution disbursing financial aid funds is responsible for keeping records and returning Title IV funds in the case of an over award.

Process:

When the Consortium Agreement is approved by PCCD, the credit hours will be included as hours attempted for the term. The hours will be used, along with the hours from PCCD for that term. It should be noted Peralta Colleges have a standing consortium between all four schools; consortium agreements with colleges outside Peralta must be approved by the College, and may be granted only if the student cannot find required coursework within Peralta. It will be the responsibility of the student to provide a grade transcript from the hosting college. If the transcript is not received from the host school, the course hours will be counted as not completed. The student will be sent a letter stating that the transcript has not been received, and that if it is not received those hours will still be counted, and future Consortium Agreements may not be approved.

The Peralta Community Colleges Financial Aid Office(s) provides information through various channels, including the Financial Aid Section of each of the four Peralta Colleges websites, the Peralta District website, our PeopleSoft Student Service Campus Solutions portal, e-mails and catalogs (electronic and print). The PCCD FAOs e-mail a variety of important information to the student’s primary institutional peralta.edu e-mail address. The FAO will use this as the primary means of contacting the students. The FAO will utilize the main campus website to notify students of any targeted or general announcements. Students may find other consumer information topics throughout the Peralta.edu website.