Financial Aid

Refund & Repayment Policy

The United States Department of Education requires an institution to determine the last day of attendance for federal financial aid recipients who stop attending or never attend classes during a semester. These students have unofficially withdrawn from the college because the student did not complete a withdrawal form with the College.

When a student who receives federal financial aid receives all F’s for a semester, the College determines if the F’s are for unofficial withdrawal from the college based on non-attendance information submitted to the Records Office by the student’s instructors. If a student stops attending or never attends a class during the semester, the student may owe funds to the College and/or the federal financial aid program from which the student received financial aid. In accordance with federal student financial aid regulations, Southwest Tennessee Community College faculty are required to maintain attendance records and indicate the last day of attendance for each student who earns an F grade. 

Refunds and Repayments

When a student who receives financial aid officially withdraws from the College, never attends classes, or ceases attending classes during a semester, the College performs refund and repayment calculations to determine if any financial aid funds need to be refunded to the financial aid program by the College and/or repaid by the student. If the student has received federal Title IV financial aid such as Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Employment Opportunity Grant (SEOG), or Tennessee Student Assistance Association Grant (TSAA), the institution must calculate the amount of Title IV financial aid the student has earned. This is accomplished by multiplying the percent of the semester completed times the federal Title IV financial aid that was disbursed. This is the earned amount. The earned amount is subtracted from the total financial aid disbursed as of the date the College has determined that the student withdrew. The difference is the unearned amount which must be returned to the Title IV programs. The portion of the unearned amount which paid institutional charges is repaid by the institution. The portion of the unearned amount which was disbursed to the student must be repaid by the student.

Federal regulations require that repayment of Title IV financial aid be distributed in the following order:

1. Federal Pell Grant
2. Federal Supplemental Opportunity Grant
3. Tennessee Student Assistance Association Grant
4. Other State, private or institutional aid
5. The student

Billing and collecting repayments are performed by the College. A student who fails to repay an amount of Title IV financial aid which the student owes will be referred to the U.S. Department of Education. A student who does not make repayment will not be  eligible to receive further federal student financial aid until the repayment has been made. Examples of refund and repayment calculations are available upon request.