Financial Aid Notification
Written notification will be sent to the student after the official registration process has taken place and once classes are in progress. Students taking out a Direct Student Loan will receive information regarding their loan servicer from the U.S. Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education applies a loan origination fee to all student loans before the funds are sent to the school.
Disbursement of Funds
At Lorain County JVS Adult Career Center, all federal financial aid funds are disbursed by the Treasurer’s Office. Students that have taken out federal student loan amounts exceeding the tuition cost will be refunded the excess amounts once their account is paid in full for the payment period. These students will be sent a check in the mail to the address on file in the Adult Career Center.
Credit Balance Policy
A credit balance occurs when the amount of funds that is applied to a student’s account exceeds the amount the student owes for tuition and other required institutional charges. When a credit balance exists, a refund is made to the student within 14 days.
Federal Return of Title IV Funds Policy
Title IV funds are awarded to a student under the assumption that the student will attend school for the entire period for which the assistance is awarded. When a student withdraws from a program, the student may no longer be eligible for the full amount of Title IV funds that the student was originally scheduled to receive. For students who notify the school they are withdrawing, the school uses the last date of attendance as the withdrawal date for calculating any return of Federal funds to the U. S. Department of Education, and the date the student notified the school they were withdrawing as the official date of determination. An Adult Career Center Supervisor monitors student attendance on a weekly basis, and students are contacted via phone, text, and/or email after missing three consecutive program scheduled days. The Supervisor continues outreach to the student until the student re-establishes attendance. Once 14 calendar days have passed since the student’s last day of attendance, the student is contacted to determine if the student plans to return to class or withdraw. Once a student has missed eight consecutive scheduled program days, the student will be administratively withdrawn. The last day the student attended will be used as the withdrawal date for calculating any return of Federal funds to the U. S. Department of Education. The official date of determination of the student’s withdrawal will be either the 8th consecutive program day missed, or the 14th calendar day following the last day of attendance, whichever occurred first.
Financial aid only covers the percent of class hours scheduled up to the date of withdrawal. A student withdrawing is responsible for the difference between any monies owed to the school as determined by the withdrawal policy and any financial aid that has been earned based on the official program withdraw date. Note: The calculation of Title IV funds earned by the student has no relationship to the student’s incurred institutional charges.
Federal financial aid recipients who withdraw or are administratively withdrawn prior to completion are subject to the Return of Title IV Funds (R2T4) policy. The policy calculates how much Title IV aid a recipient has earned for the period that he/she was enrolled in class. At LCJVS, Title IV aid subject to R2T4 calculations include Federal Pell Grants and Federal Direct Loans. If a recipient of Title IV (Pell Grant or Direct Loan) funds withdraws after beginning to attend the program, the amount of Title IV grant or loan assistance earned by the student must be determined. The return calculation will be completed based upon a student’s official or unofficial withdrawal from their program. If the amount disbursed to the student is greater than the amount the student earned, the unearned funds must be returned.
Any grant amount the student has to return is considered a Federal Title IV grant overpayment and arrangements must be made with the school or the U. S. Department of Education to return the funds. The school will return Title IV funds within 45 days to the programs from which the student received aid during the payment period or period of enrollment, as applicable, in the following order up to the net amount disbursed from each source: • Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans • Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans • Federal Pell Grants
If the amount disbursed to the student is less than the amount the student earned, and for which the student is otherwise eligible, he or she is entitled to receive a post-withdrawal disbursement (PWD) of the earned aid that was not yet disbursed. Grant funds will be applied to their tuition account to settle any tuition still owed the school as a result of the student’s withdrawal. If the funds are due from the federal loan program, the student will be notified within 30 days of the date the school determined that the student had withdrew. The student is required to provide the school with written authorization for a post-withdraw disbursement of loan funds. The student has 14 days to respond either accepting or denying funds. If student accepts the loan funds, the school will apply the funds to pay any balance owed to the school at that time. All PWD disbursements are applied to student accounts first, and any resulting credit balance will be disbursed to the student as soon as possible and no later than 14 days from the date of disbursement.
The amount of federal financial aid that the student earns is determined on a percentage basis. A student who is enrolled at least 60% of the scheduled hours in a period of enrollment earns 100% of the Pell Grant and Direct Loan funds awarded for that period. A student who withdraws after the 60% point of the program is responsible for any remaining balance owed to the school. If a student who withdraws was enrolled for less than 60% of the scheduled hours in the period of enrollment, the school will prorate the amount of the student’s aid by the percentage of scheduled hours completed as of the official withdraw date. In this case, the school will prorate the amount the student owes based scheduled hours as of the date of withdrawal.
If an R2T4 calculation results in a Title IV credit balance on the student’s account, it will be disbursed as soon as possible but no later than 14 days after the calculation of the R2T4. The LCJVS Treasurer’s Office will disburse the credit balance by check within this time frame. If the check
Appeal for Loss of Financial Aid
Any student who fails to make Satisfactory Academic Progress at the end of a payment period will be notified that he/she has been placed on “Financial Aid Warning” and may continue to receive aid for one payment period. No appeal is necessary for this status. Satisfactory Academic Progress will be reviewed at the end of the next payment period. If a student on “warning status” has failed to restore SAP standards at this time, he will lose financial aid eligibility. A student in this situation has the right to appeal this decision. To do so, he must write a letter to the Director of Adult Education including the reasons that prevented him from meeting SAP standard, including supporting documentation. The student should also share a plan as to how SAP will once again be restored if the director chooses to reinstate financial aid. If the director approves the reinstatement of financial aid for the student, it will be on a probationary status. The student will only be permitted to continue receiving aid for one additional payment period unless probationary conditions are met and SAP has been restored by that time. A student who fails to adhere to the goals of the plan when checked at the end of subsequent payment period will once again lose financial aid eligibility. No further appeals would be accepted. If the Director denies the appeal, the student will be expected to personally finance the remainder of the course or be withdrawn from the program.
Overpayments and Fraudulent Cases
If a student receives an overpayment of federal funds, the school will attempt to adjust any remaining disbursements to the student. If that is not feasible, the student will be required to repay the overpayment amount. Students who do not repay the overpayment amount will be referred to the U.S. Department of Education and will be ineligible for future federal financial aid. In cases where a student misrepresents or falsifies information in order to alter financial aid eligibility, the student will be reported to the U.S. Department of Education. By submitting purposely false or misleading information on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the individual is subject to a $20,000 fine, prison sentence, or both. If a student receives financial aid based on inaccurate information, he/she will be required to repay the portion of aid that should not have been received.
Unusual Enrollment History Policy
The U.S. Department of Education has established new regulations to prevent fraud and abuse in the Federal Pell Grant Program. They have done this by identifying financial aid students with unusual enrollment histories. If a student has received Pell Grant funding while attending multiple institutions during the last four academic years, the student may be flagged for unusual enrollment history (UEH). While most students have legitimate reasons for unusual enrollment histories, other students enroll in school just long enough to receive cash refunds of federal student aid. These students will often leave school, after receiving their financial aid refund, and repeat the process again by enrolling at another school.
Students with unusual enrollment histories will be flagged by a central processor on their Student Aid Report (SAR) as having either a possible or questionable enrollment pattern problem. Once identified as having a UEH flag, the Student Services Coordinator is required to review the student’s enrollment information and determine if academic credit was earned during the last four award years. Students with UEH flags will be required to provide the Adult Career Center with their official signed academic transcripts from each college from which financial aid was received in the past four award years. As part of the review process, the Supervisor has the authority to request missing official academic transcripts from the student. The Supervisor is able to determine if academic records are missing by reviewing data from the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).
Students will be ineligible for financial aid until all required transcripts are received. Once all required academic transcripts are received, the Supervisor will review the student’s enrollment and financial aid records to determine if academic credit was earned. Records may be reviewed from previously attended schools.
- Academic Credit Earned: If the school determines that academic credit was earned, and the student is not enrolling just receive a financial aid refund, no further action is required. The student becomes eligible for financial aid.
- Academic Credit Not Earned:If the school determines that the student did not earn academic credit at a previously attended institution, the student will be required to providing additional documentation before eligibility for financial aid can be determined. If academic credit was not earned, students will be asked to provide documentation explaining why they failed to earn academic credit. Documentation provided by the student must support the following:
- The reason(s) why the student was unable to earn passing grades; and
- That the student did not enroll solely for the purpose of receiving a credit balance of financial aid.
Students may include personal and academic reasons to explain their failure to earn academic credit. Personal reasons include: illness, a family emergency, a death in the family, changes in living status, and military obligations. Academic reasons may include unexpected academic challenges, or a determination that the academic program did not meet the student’s needs.
The documentation provided when academic credit is not earned will be reviewed by a committee consisting of the Director and Supervisors. Students who have lost their eligibility for financial aid will be notified in writing by a Supervisor.
If a student is denied Title IV aid for Unusual Enrollment History, the student may attend a full time program without receiving Title IV aid and pay out-of-pocket for the first payment period. At the end of the first payment period, if the student is meeting the requirements of Satisfactory Academic Progress, the student could then be considered for Title IV Eligibility for the remaining program hours.