Refund Policy and Return to Title IV Funds
Refund Policy
Students who leave the College early in the term may be eligible for a refund of certain fees according to the College's refund policy listed in the fee brochure and on this website: http://studentaccounts.hampshire.edu/. Students must follow the College's procedures for leave of absence or withdrawal.
Returning aid and the refund policy schedule may cause a student to have outstanding charges on the student’s College bill that the student or the student’s family will be responsible for paying.
The refund schedule will determine the amount of institutional aid that would be reduced. If the student has Title IV federal aid the amount of this aid that the student may keep is determined by the Return of Title IV Funds process, which is discussed below.
Return of Title IV Funds (Federal aid)
We follow the rules in 34 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 668.22 (34 CFR 668.22) when we need to return Title IV funds. Title IV funds (federal aid) 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, the student may no longer be eligible for the full amount of Title IV funds that the student was originally scheduled to receive.
If a recipient of Title IV grant or loan funds withdraws from Hampshire after beginning attendance for an academic term, the amount of Title IV grant or loan assistance earned by the student must be determined. If the amount disbursed to the student is greater than the amount the student earned, the unearned funds must be returned. If the amount disbursed to the student is less than the amount the student earned, and for which the student is otherwise eligible, she or he may be eligible to receive a post-withdrawal disbursement of the earned aid that was not received.
Returns are applied in the following order as mandated under that methodology: federal student loans; federal PLUS loans; federal grants.
Part of determining a student’s eligibility is calculating the percentage of the semester the student completed. The formula used to calculate this percentage is:
Number of calendar days completed in the period
Total number of calendar days in the period
Returning aid using the federal return of funds formula may cause a student to have outstanding charges on the student’s college bill that the student or the student’s family will be responsible for paying.