Refund and Repayment Policy

Return of Federal and State Funds and Repayment Policy

DigiPen Institute Of Technology’s Institutional Refund Policy operates independently from the Return of Title IV Funds policy required for all Financial Aid recipients. The return of Title IV and State Funds policy applies to students who cease enrollment prior to the end of a financial aid “payment period.” The return of federal Financial Aid funds policy is applied to all Financial Aid recipients who withdraw, drop out or otherwise fail to complete 60% of the payment period for which they have received federal funds. Unearned Title IV funds (grants and loans) must be returned to the appropriate federal program by both the college and the student. The percent of funds “earned” is based upon the number of days completed in the payment period divided by the number of hours in the payment period for which the student received federal funds. The percentage of assistance “earned” is equal to the percentage of the payment period completed. The percentage of federal funds “unearned” equals 100% minus the percent of federal and/or state aid “earned.” The student and the college may retain the earned portion of aid, but are required to return a portion of the unearned aid to the appropriate federal grant and/or loan program. Amounts returned to grant programs if applicable, are reduced by 50%.

This federal law means that the federal government expects that student must “earn” the aid they receive. Once a student receives federal aid and state funds such as Federal Pell grant, or Federal Stafford loans, she/he is expected to “earn” those funds by attending school and completing the number of credit hours for which she/he was paid.

If a student shows eligibility for funds not disbursed, then the school performs a Return of Title IV funds calculation and determines that the student did not receive Title IV funds for which they were eligible to receive is called a “post-withdrawal disbursement.”

The above Return of Title IV funds formula will be applied to students with Washington State Need Grant. If the return of funds based on the Federal Title IV calculation results in no repayment to the state programs, the obligation to repay the State Need Grant fund is the student’s responsibility.

DigiPen Institute Of Technology allocates unearned Title IV funds and State funds to the following financial aid programs, in the order shown:

• Unsubsidized Stafford Loan
• Subsidized Stafford Loan
• Grad PLUS
• PLUS (Parents)
• Pell Grant
• ACG
• SMART
• Washington State Need Grant

The Institution will repay the programs the unearned aid based on dates of attendance.

If a student owes a repayment due to the lack of attendance, the overpayment will first be adjusted by subsequent payments of State Need Grant award. If the overpayment cannot be resolved first by adjusting the subsequent payments, then the student is responsible for returning the State Need Grant funds. DigiPen Institute Of Technology will be responsible for submitting the collected repayments directly to the Higher Education Coordinating Board. If students do not make payment arrangements within 45 days, it will be reported to the Higher Education Coordinating Board.