Withdrawal and the Return of Title IV Funds

Federal Title IV aid is awarded to a student with the assumption that the student will attend school for the entire period for which the assistance was awarded.  When a student withdraws, the student is no longer eligible for the full amount of Title IV funds that the student was originally scheduled to receive.  Federal Tile IV aid includes Federal Pell Grants, Federal SEOG Grants, Federal Perkins Loans, Federal Direct Student t Loans (subsidized and unsubsidized), Federal Direct PLUS Loans and Federal Direct Grad PLUS Loans.

If a recipient of Title IV grant and/or loan funds ceases to be enrolled for any reason before completing 60% of the enrollment period,  the amount of Title IV grant or loan assistance earned by the student  is  determined by the Student Financial aid Office.  The unearned portion of those funds must be repaid immediately.  Carnegie Mellon must return a defined percentage of the unearned portion of the funds based on the student's date of the withdrawal.  The student should realize that the amount of these funds  may be significant and in addition to the amount of funds Carnegie Mellon must return, the student may also be required to repay a portion of those funds.

Once the Federal Title IV return calculation is completed, the student will receive an adjusted award notice with revised award amounts and this will be reflected on the student's account.  The exact amount a student may owe on his/her student account  depends on each student's unique situation, including outstanding obligations for campus housing, campus dining, and other charges that are not pro-rated as tuition is pro-rated. Please not that the amount of federal financial aid that is returned is not related in any way to any amount of institutional refund of charges (tuition, etc.) that you may have received.

Federal Funds will be returned in the following order:

Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans, Federal Direct Subsidized Loans, Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Direct PLUS Loans, Federal Direct Grad PLUS Loans, Federal Pell Grants, and Federal SEOG Grants.  Federal Work Study funds are not included in the refund formula because they reflect payment for actual hours of work completed by the student.

Note:  If the total amount of the federal grant and/or loan assistance that the student earned is greater than the total amount of federal grant and/or loan assistance that was disbursed to the student as of the date of withdrawal, the student is eligible for a "post-withdrawal" disbursement.

Tuition Adjustments

Students who withdraw or take a leave of absence before completing 60% of the semester will be charged tuition based on the number of days completed within the semester.  This includes calendar days, class and non-class days, from the first day of classes to the last day of final exams.  Breaks which last five days or longer, including the receding and subsequent weekends, are not counted.  Thanksgiving and Spring break are not counted.  There is no tuition adjustment after 60% of the semester is completed.  The exact amount of tuition charged is defined  the Tuition Adjustment Schedules found on the HUB website.

Withdrawal from the University

For students who notify the university of their intent to withdraw or take a leave of absence, the official date of withdrawal or leave of absence is the earliest of:

• Date the student began the withdrawal or leave of absence process;
• Date the student notified his or her home department;
• Date the student notified the associate dean of his or he college; or
• Date the student notified the dean of students.

For students who do not notify the university of their Intent to withdraw or take a leave of absence (unofficially withdrawal), the official date of withdrawal or leave of absence is:

• The midpoint of the semester;
• The last date the student attended an academically-related activity.

Federal Title IV

The Federal Department of Education requires that Federal Title IV Financial Assistance recipients meet academic progress standards each year. Federal Title IV Financial Assistance includes the Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Work-Study, Federal Direct Student Loan and Federal Direct PLUS Loan programs. Each university determines its own policy regarding satisfactory progress standards.

Federal academic progress standards must include two elements: cumulative QPA and cumulative units. At Carnegie Mellon, we define this as follows: first-year freshman students must pass 80 percent of all cumulative units attempted at Carnegie Mellon and have a 1.75 cumulative QPA after the first year; all other students (excluding graduate students in Tepper and Heinz) must pass 80 percent of all cumulative units attempted at Carnegie Mellon and have a 2.00 cumulative QPA. For standard undergraduate programs, Carnegie Mellon has established a maximum timeframe of 12 semesters for students to finish a program and receive federal aid.

Appeal Process

Carnegie Mellon realizes that extenuating circumstances may contribute to a student's inability to achieve satisfactory academic progress, and thus we encourage students to appeal after they receive notification of failure. A student appeals by writing a letter explaining the extenuating circumstances, defining information that prevented the student from making academic progress and what has changed in the student's situation that would allow the student to demonstrate satisfactory academic progress at the next evaluation. Appeal examples include: Extended illness, changes in major, difficult transition to first-year in college (academically and socially), recent diagnosis of learning disability or a recent death of a close family member. Students may also be required to submit a Federal Financial Aid Academic Progress Improvement Plan as part of the appeal to have their federal aid eligibility reinstated. Learn more about the plan. Contact The HUB for more information.

Federal Financial Aid Academic Progress Improvement Plan

Students who are unable to meet the minimum satisfactory academic requirements for federal aid are required to design and submit a Federal Financial Aid Academic Progress Improvement Plan. The goal of the Academic Progress Improvement Plan is to ensure the student makes documented steady progress toward meeting our federal "satisfactory academic progress" standards and graduates within the university's normal time frame to complete a degree. The need for the plan will be determined on an individual student basis and depend on the length of student's enrollment, class completion rate and earned grade point average. All subsequent or second appeals will require an academic plan.

We recommend that students and/or parents review their borrowing history and servicer information in the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). NSLDS is a helpful resource in federal student loan management, as it allows students to view a summary of all of their federal student loans, as well as the contact information for the holder(s) and servicer(s) of their loans.

Carnegie Mellon submits all federal student loan information to the NSLDS.  This loan data is accessible by guaranty agencies, lenders, and institutions determined to be authorized users of the data system.