Title IV aid is federal aid that is awarded to a student as a result of completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and submitting required documents to verify a student’s eligibility for this aid. Title IV Federal Student Aid consists of the following:
Federal Pell Grant
Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG)
National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grant
Federal Perkins Loan
Federal Stafford Loan, both subsidized and unsubsidized
Federal PLUS Loan
Federal Graduate PLUS Loan
A Title IV authorization allows Carnegie Mellon University to apply a student’s excess Title IV funds to non-institutional charges such as course materials, library and parking fines, other fees, penalties, and prior-year charges (up to $200). Students must authorize the application of these funds to non-institutional charges by completing the Title IV Authorizations page in Student Information On-Line (SIO). If a student does not complete this authorization, students will be required to pay for these charges through some other means (cash, check or E-Check).
Students can gain access to this authorization by logging into Student Information On-line (SIO). The student should follow these steps to access the Title IV Authorizations page:
select “Aid/Account”
select “Student Account”
select “Title IV Authorizations”
select your response to Questions 1 and 2
submit your responses by selecting “Submit Authorizations”
The most recently submitted responses are in affect when determining a student’s excess Title IV funds.
Excess Title IV funds occur whenever a student’s Title IV Federal Student Aid fund disbursements exceed his/her allowable institutional charges. Allowable institutional charges include: tuition, fees, and housing and dining charges billed by Carnegie Mellon University. The amount of disbursed federal funds that exceeds institutional charges is called excess Title IV funds which are refunded to the student, unless the credit balance is the result of a Parent PLUS Loan, when it is refunded to the parent borrower.
Carnegie Mellon University can apply excess Title IV funds to other non-institutional charges on a student’s account such as course materials, library and parking fines, other fees, penalties, and prior-year charges (only up to $200 in prior-year charges) with a Title IV authorization, which can be found on Student Information On-Line (SIO). To avoid any confusion regarding the payment of these charges, students should authorize Carnegie Mellon University to apply any excess Title IV funds to all charges on their student account.
Carnegie Mellon University encourages all students to authorize an electronic funds transfer of their excess Title IV funds into a designated checking or savings account. Students can set up an e-refund account by accessing the E-Refund section on Student Information On-Line (SIO) by following the steps below:
select “Aid/Account”
select “Student Account”
select “E-Check/E-Refund”
select “Click here to set up a New Account” in the Electronic Refund section
complete your specific bank account information and check the “Refund” box
select “Submit” to set up your E-Refund account
Carnegie Mellon University will refund all Title IV credit balances as you authorize, but is required to issue you a refund at the end of an academic year. Please refer to the Department of Education’s requirement for this refund:
34CFR 668.165 (6) (b) (5) (iii): Because Title IV funds are awarded to students to pay current year charges, notwithstanding any authorization from the student or parent, any remaining Title IV credit balance of Federal Student Aid funds remaining by the end of the last payment period in the award year for which they were awarded must be refunded.
Specific Information:
CFR’s credit balance regulation: 34CFR 668.164 (e): Whenever a school disburses Title IV aid funds to a student's account and the total amount of all Title IV aid funds credited exceeds the amount of tuition and fees, room and board, and other authorized charges the institution assessed the student, the institution must issue the resulting credit balance directly to the student or parent as soon as possible but:
1. No later than 14 days after the balance occurred if the credit balance occurred after the first day of class of a payment period;
or
2. No later than 14 days after the first day of class of a payment period if the credit balance occurred on or before the first day of class of that payment period.