Awarding and Disbursement Information
Your enrollment will determine your actual financial aid disbursement. The award amounts indicated on your financial aid award letter are estimates based on full-time enrollment (12 credit hours or more for federal programs and 15 credit hours for Illinois Monetary Award Program grant) for the fall and spring semesters. The amount you receive is calculated based on your actual enrollment and the requirements of the student aid programs for which you qualify. If you are not enrolled as a full-time student at the time of disbursement, your aid awards are adjusted accordingly. You may view actual awards based on current enrollment in your student portal.
To be considered enrolled in a course for financial aid purposes, you must be registered in the course before the 50 percent refund period for the class concludes.
If you enroll in a course beyond the refund period, your financial aid package will not reflect that course. Students may retake courses as often as desired; however, financial aid will only pay for a repeated course once after a course has been successfully completed.
Pending financial aid funds are credited to your account in the Business Office and will be applied to your institutional charges approximately the third week of classes. Students with sufficient pending financial aid to cover all tuition and fees may use a portion of the remaining Pell grant funds to purchase necessary books and supplies in the Triton College Bookstore beginning one week prior to the start of the semester.
Any remaining monies after tuition is paid and books are purchased will be issued to students as outlined below:
The refund will be issued in the form of a check mailed to the home address listed at Triton College within 8 to 10 weeks from the start of the semester.
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Federal Direct Stafford Loan funds will be applied directly toward your account. Loan proceeds that exceed tuition and fees will be refunded to you in the form of a check.
Return of Federal Funds Policy
Students who withdraw from coursework in a semester may be required to return a portion of the federal financial aid that had been applied to their account. The final amount of financial aid earned will be based on the period of time the student participated during the semester. Students receiving federal funds who fully withdraw, either officially or unofficially, before the conclusion of the semester are subject to a "Return of Title IV Aid" calculation established by the federal government.
The Return of Title IV Aid calculation determines the portion of federal funds that were earned by the student up to the time of withdrawal. The withdrawal date (last date of attendance) will be determined by official withdrawal from classes by the student, or as reported by the instructor in cases of unofficial withdrawal. If the student withdraws beyond the 60 percent point in the semester, they are considered to have earned 100 percent of the federal financial aid they were scheduled to receive.
Students enrolled in classes that do not span the entire semester are considered withdrawn if, at the time of the withdrawal, they are not actively attending another class and have not provided written confirmation of anticipated return in the semester for a late start class.
Federal financial aid disbursed in excess of the earned amount must be returned to the federal government. The college will perform the "Return of Title IV Aid" calculation within 30 days of the date of determination that a student has completely withdrawn and return any unearned federal funds it is responsible for returning within 45 days of the date the school determined the student withdrew. If the student previously received a refund from financial aid, which was to be used for education-related personal or housing expenses, they may be required to return a portion of those funds to the college. When the college returns a student's unearned funds to the government, they will be billed for any balance due for any unearned refunds received or institutional charges that are now unpaid as a result of the return of federal funds.
If it is determined through a "Return of Title IV Aid" calculation that the federal financial aid already disbursed to the student is less than the earned amount, the school will generate a post-withdrawal disbursement to the student no later than 45 days after the date of the school’s determination that the student withdrew.
Funds returned to the federal government based on the "Return of Title IV" Aid calculation referenced above, reduce the outstanding balances in individual federal aid programs. Federal financial aid returned by the student, the parent or the college are allocated in the following order:
- Federal Unsubsidized Direct Loan
- Federal Subsidized Direct Loan
- Federal Direct Parent Loan (PLUS)
- Federal Pell Grant
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG)
If financial aid is awarded after the conclusion of the semester, federal aid is awarded based on the courses completed for that semester.
Students receiving federal financial aid and considering withdrawing from registered coursework should make an appointment with a financial aid specialist to examine the implications to their financial aid.