Withdrawals and Return of Title IV Funds and DOD TA Military Funds Policy


The Financial Aid Office is required by federal statute to recalculate federal financial aid eligibility and DOD TA Military funds eligibility for students who withdraw, drop out, are dismissed, or take a leave of absence prior to completing 60% of a payment period or term.  The federal Title IV financial aid programs and DOD TA Military funds must be recalculated in these situations.

If a student leaves the institution prior to completing 60% of a payment period or term, the financial aid office recalculates eligibility for Title IV funds and DOD TA Military funds.  Recalculation is based on the percentage of earned aid using the following Federal Return of Title IV funds formula:

Percentage of payment period or term completed = the number of days completed up to the withdrawal date / the total number of days in the payment period or term.  (Any break of five days or more is not counted as part of the days in the term).  This percentage is also the percentage of earned aid.

Funds are returned to the appropriate federal program based on the percentage of unearned aid using the following formula:

Aid to be returned = 100% of the aid that could be disbursed - ( the percentage of earned aid x the total amount of aid that could have been disbursed during the payment period or term).

If a student earned less aid than was disbursed, the institution would be required to return a portion of the funds and the student would be required to return a portion of the funds.  Keep in mind that when the Title IV funds and/or DOD TA Military funds are returned, the student may owe a debit balance to the institution.

If a student earned more aid than was disbursed to him/her, the institution would owe the student a post-withdrawal disbursement which must be paid within 120 days of the student's withdrawal.

Refunds are allocated in the following order:

Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans
Federal Direct Subsidized Loans
Federal Perkins Loans
Federal Direct PLUS Loans (Graduate Students)
Federal Direct PLUS Loans (Parents)
Federal Pell Grant
Federal Supplemental Opportunity Grant
Federal TEACH Grant
Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant

Official Withdrawals
A student who officially withdraws from a course will receive a "W" grade which will not affect the student's GPA. However, withdraws will affect the quantitative (pace) standards of satisfactory academic progress. In accordance with federal government regulations, when a federal financial aid recipient withdraws from all classes during a term, it is Duquesne University's responsibility to determine the withdrawal date and amount of financial aid they have earned. This may result in an overpayment of financial aid funds and a bill owed to the school as explained above.

Unofficial Withdrawals
If a student did not successfully complete any course for a previous semester, the Financial Aid Office must determine if the student stopped attending all of their courses and failed to withdraw from the university.  When a student receives all F, and/or N grades for a semester, financial aid will be adjusted depending on the last date of attendance.  The Financial Aid Office contacts your advisor/instructor(s) for a documented last date of attendance in each course.  This may result in an overpayment of financial aid funds and a bill owed to the school as explained above.