Refund Policy and Procedures
FEDERAL TITLE IV REFUNDS
Students who are entitled to a refund for withdrawal and are receiving student financial aid (SFA) are subject to having all or part of the refund returned to the appropriate financial aid programs. For those students who withdrew prior to 60 percent of the enrollment period elapsing, a pro-rated schedule is used to determine how much SFA funds were earned at the time of withdrawal.
The university must return to SFA Programs the lesser of:
-The amount of SFA Program funds that the students do not earn; or
-The amount of institutional costs that students incurred for the period of enrollment multiplied by the percentage of funds unearned.
However, students are not required to return 50 percent of the grant assistance received.
SFA funds must be returned in the following order:
• Unsubsidized Stafford Loans
• Subsidized Stafford Loans
• Perkins Loans
• Federal PLUS Loans
• Federal Pell Grants
• Federal Supplement Educational Opportunity Grants
• State Scholarships
If more aid is received that could have been reasonably spent for non-institutional costs (excluding Federal Family Loan Programs), the unearned portion must be returned to SFA Programs.
Per federal regulations, students who fail to earn a passing grade in any course and received federal aid are considered to have unofficially withdrawn from Georgia College. At the end of each semester, the Financial Aid Office will identify any such students and will notify them with further explanation denoting any calculated financial obligations of unearned aid. A student’s failure to respond to this notification within the specified time frame will result in the university imposing its due diligence procedures regarding outstanding balances.
HOPE-ONLY REFUND
If a refund is due and the student received HOPE funds only (no federal aid), then such amounts must be refunded to HOPE, rounded to the nearest dollar, by applying the institution's refund policy to the student's original HOPE award for tuition and HOPE-approved mandatory fees. The book allowance is not part of the refund calculation.
TITLE IV and HOPE REFUND
If the student received Federal Title IV funds in addition to HOPE funds, the school must follow the Title IV Return of Funds policy for any federal aid received. To determine the refund to HOPE, the school must then follow their institutional refund policy, if different from Title IV Return of Funds. If all or part of the student's Title IV aid was disbursed directly to the student, the school may not have funds on hand to refund HOPE. In this case, the school must bill the student for the refund. The school must notify the Authority of the amount of refund due HOPE, and the Authority will put a refund due on the student's record. This will prevent the student from receiving any additional scholarships or grants from the Authority until the refund is paid.
If you have additional questions, please contact the Financial Aid Office.
