Funds
Disbursing FSA Funds
Merryfield uses Financial Aid Management for Education (FAME) a third party servicer to request Title IV funds from G5; once the funds have been requested through G5 automated system, the funds will be deposited to Merryfield federal account and it is the responsibility of Merryfield’s business office to draw down the funds and transfer it to the operating account within three business days to avoid excess cash on the account. The funds will then be posted to the students’ ledger to offset the funds received. Once the funds have been posted to the ledger, the business office will transmit back to our third party servicer to confirm receipt of funds. The third party service will report the confirmation of funds to COD to offset the federal funds that was sent us.
Awarding FSA Funds
- Type of loans received (subsidized, unsubsidized, PLUS)
- Anticipated date and amount of the disbursement (gross and estimate net)
- Student (or parent’s) right to cancel all or part of the loan or disbursement
- Procedure and the time by which the student (or parents) must notify the school that he/she wishes to cancel the loan/disbursement.
Notification(s) will be handed directly to the student or mailed no earlier than 30 days before, and no later than 7 days after crediting the student(s’) account. If a student or parent borrower wishes to cancel all or a portion of the loan, he/she must inform the school and complete a loan cancellation form and submit directly to the financial aid office.
When the school receives a loan cancellation request, the loan funds will be cancelled and or funds returned within 30 days of the date the school notified the student or parents of his/her rights to cancel all or a portion of the loan.
If the school receives a request for cancellation outside of this timeframe, the school may, but is not required to honor the request and must inform the concerning parties in writing of the outcome of the request.
If FSA funds credited to a student’s account exceed the student’s allowable charges, depending on the student’s credit balance choice or funds authorization form, the funds will be handled accordingly.
- If a student wishes to accelerate payments on his or her account, any credit balance that occurs on the student’s ledger during the 1st payment period that was not caused by Title IV aid will be credited to the 2nd payment period towards the balance of the tuition.
Merryfield will return any excess PLUS loan funds to the parent, however, the parent can direct the funds to be transfer to the students account by providing the school with written authorization.
Before disbursing FSA funds, the Financial Aid Administrator will determine and document that a student remains eligible to receive funds and the following will be confirmed:
student is enrolled for classes for the period
student enrolled in a clock hour program has competed the previous payment period in (hours and weeks of instruction)
disbursement occurs on or after the first day of classes, that the student has begun attendance
for Direct Loan, the student is enrolled at least half time
for second Pell within an award year, the student is enrolled at least half time
for second Pell within an award year, the student is taking hours attributable to a second academic year within the same award year
If a student’s pell falls within two award years, the student will paid in the year which is most beneficial to the student…
Vocational Rehabilitation Funds
Merryfield is a participant of Vocational Rehabilitation Program
All students that participate in the Vocational Rehab program are required to complete a Free Application for Federal Aid. Because this is the agreement between, Voc rehab agency and the school, if the student is qualified for any pell, the pell will be applied towards the student’s equipment and any remaining balance will be applied to the student’s tuition. Vocational Rehab will pay the remaining balance of the tuition.
If the vocational rehabilitation agency doesn’t fully meet a student’s disability costs, the financial aid office may wish to include the unmet disability expenses in the student’s cost of attendance, and increase his or her aid award. The student is required to provide documentation about his or her financial need and the financial aid administrator will calculate the documented aid as needed. All Students will also be counsel on additional debt burden.
It is the student’s responsibility to notify the admission and financial aid office if they have outside aid or scholarships that could be consider as Estimated Financial Assistance (EFA) or other aid.
TREATMENT OF OVERAWARDS
If at any time during the award period, a student receives additional Estimated Financial Assistance that was not considered in calculating the student’s eligibility for Campus-Based aid and if the estimated financial assistance combined with the expected financial aid will exceed the student’s need, the amount in excess of the student’s need is considered an over award. The treatment of over awards in the Stafford/PLUS programs depends on whether the loans have been fully disbursed—if the financial aid office at Merryfield discover that there’s going to be an over award before Stafford/PLUS funds are disbursed, the financial aid office will eliminate the over award through the packaging process, by canceling the loan or by making a downward adjustment to a Direct Loan, or by reducing/canceling aid over which you have direct institutional control. If the over award situation occurs after Stafford funds have been disbursed to the borrower, there is no Stafford Loan over award that needs to be addressed; the financial aid office will adjust the student’s aid package to prevent an over award of aid.
Under no circumstances will the following reasons be used to exercise dependency override:
- Parent(s) refusal to contribute to student
- Parent(s) unwilling to provide information
- Parent(s) did not claim the student as an income tax dependent
- Student demonstrates total self-sufficiency
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
To maintain eligibility for financial aid a student must meet standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress. Merryfield Academy publishes in its catalog, its policy on measuring Satisfactory Academic Progress. Our policy outlines the Quantitative Progress which is the clock hours achieved divided by the clock hours attempted and Qualitative Progress a measure using the student’s cumulative grade point average (GPA). The minimum acceptable GPA is 2.0 which is applied to all programs and for all students
A student is allowed to complete his or her program in 150% of the allotted initial timeframe. For example, a program of 40 weeks in length, allows for 60 weeks in attempted weeks for completion. SAP standards must be the same for students not receiving financial aid. SAP must be verified for every new payment period prior to disbursing aid. If a student is not meeting the minimum requirement for satisfactory progress, the student will be placed on probation.
Cost of Attendance (Budget)
Many students seek to obtain “need based” grants and loans, which are based on a family’s demonstration of financial need for assistance to help with tuition payments. Cost of attendance (COA) is a factor used in making this determination and sets a limit on the total aid a student may receive in Stafford and PLUS loans and also is one of the basic components of the Pell Grant calculation. Cost of attendance outlines an estimate of the total educational expenses a student will incur for a period of enrollment.
A student’s financial need is equal to a student’s COA, minus the EFC, minus Pell funds awarded and minus financial aid from other sources and the total is equivalent to unmet need. Total financial aid may not exceed student’s cost of attendance. A subsidized and or unsubsidized loan for a given payment period cannot exceed the unmet need for that payment period. Note that in the case of unsubsidized loan, the EFC may be substituted for additional loan funds.
Components of COA include the sum of the following:
- Tuition and fees normally assessed for a student carrying the same academic workload, including costs of rental or purchase equipment, materials, or supplies required of all students in the same course of study.
- An allowance of books, supplies, transportation and miscellaneous personal expenses.
- An allowance for room and board
- For students with dependents, an allowance for costs expected to be incurred for dependent care (during periods that include, but not limited to, class time, study time, fieldwork, internship, and commuting time for the student), the amount of which should be based on the number and age of such dependents and should not exceed reasonable cost in the community for the kind of care provided.
- For disabled student, an allowance for expenses (including special services, personal assistance, transportation, equipment, and supplies) reasonably incurred, related to the student’s disability and not provided for by other agencies.
- For students placed in a work experience through a cooperative education program, an allowance for reasonable cost associated with such employment.
- And for students receiving SFA loans, the fees required to receive them. School may also include the fees required for nonfederal student loans, and in all cases the school can either use the exact loan fees charged to the student or an average of fees charged to borrowers of the same type of loan at that school.
Exceptions to the Normal Cost of Attendance (COA) Allowances are as follows:
- For students who are enrolled less than half time, only the costs for tuition and fees and allowances for books and supplies, transportation and dependent care expenses may be included as part of the COA.
- The financial aid administrator has the authority to use professional judgment to adjust the COA for the SFA program recipient on a case-by-case basis to allow for special circumstances.
Example: (10 Months Budget) Full time enrollment for an independent student
| $10,800.00 | Tuition |
| $5000 | Room and Board |
| $3000 | Transportation |
| $3000 | Misc./Personal |
| $0.00 | Other Cost |
| $0.00 | Child Care Cost |
| $0.00 | Handicap Cost |
| $1,200 | Supplies/Kit |
| $68.00 | Loan Fees |
| $23012.00 | Total |
Example of (10 Month Budget) for Full time enrollment for a dependent student living with parent
Pell grant is usually the first source of student aid. The Department issues Pell Grant payment and disbursement schedules that base its award solely on the student’s COA, EFC and enrollment status. When awarding other sources of need based aid, Pell Grant must be accounted for, in some cases scholarship and other aid may cause a student’s financial aid package to exceed his/her need. When this happens campus based aids and loans must be reduced to prevent an over award.
Types of Federal Aid
- Pell Grant
- Direct Loan
Packaging/Awarding
This is determining the best combination of Federal Student Aid that meets a student’s financial need after FSA eligibility has been determined. The characteristics of the school’s academic programs and the makeup of its student body may influence its packaging procedures.
The general rule of packing is that a student’s total financial aid and other estimated financial assistance (EFA) must not exceed the student’s financial need (Need = cost of attendance – EFC). Pell Grant is regarded as the first source of aid.
The law requires an aid administrator to find out if a student qualifies for certain other FSA programs that would reduce the need for borrowing. For the purpose of provide each student with the most benefit, while eliminating the possibility of over awarding, Merryfield Academy of Pet grooming uses the following guide when applying aid source to unmet need in the packaging process of financial aid.
Order of Packaging Aid
- Scholarship (outside source)
- Pell Grant
4) Subsidized Loan
- PLUS Loan
- Unsubsidized Loan
- Private Loan
Equipment Purchases
Students have the options to buy their equipment from the school, or from outside vendors. There are internet sites like www.petedge.com or www.groomersmall.com. There is a local distributor in Hallandale, FL, GMS Pet Supply. The book can be purchased from the aforementioned sources as well as from www.amazon.com. If students purchase equipment from the school, we have a payment plan available to students. It’s called “Monthly Pay to Own”. Your equipment must be left at the school at the end of your class, which will be inspected. If the student elects to pay the balance early, they may take it home. If they stop their education and no longer want to attend classes, they may pay the balance and keep the equipment. If they do not pay the balance on the equipment, it will be forfeited back to the school.
The equipment is not returnable to the school for the following reasons:
There is no way to evaluate if the electric clippers are damaged by looking at them. If they were dropped, there may be concealed damages. The detachable blades do wear and become dull when used. They can also sustain damage, therefore making them unsuitable for return. There are other consumables in the equipment that you receive like blood stop, kool lube and ear powder. These items would not be full and could not be resold to another student. The shears could also have sustained concealed damage or wear making them unsuitable for resale to another student.
Return of Title IV Funds
By law, when a financial aid recipient who withdraws before the end of the payment period of enrollment and ceases to continue enrollment in the program, a calculation may be required to determine if student retain in full or return all or a portion of Title IV funds received.
The Return of Title IV funds (Return) regulations do not dictate our Merryfield Academy’s return policy. Merryfield will determine the earned and unearned portions of Title IV aid as of the date a student ceased attendance. The calculation of Title IV funds earned by a student has no bearing on a student’s incurred tuition charges. For student withdrawal up through the 60% point in each payment period of enrollment, a proration is done to determine the amount of funds a student has earned up to the point of withdrawal.
However, withdrawal after the 60% point in the payment period of enrollment, a student has earned 100% of financial aid funds received during the period. A determination must still be made as to whether a student is eligible for a Post-withdrawal disbursement. Return to Title IV aid calculations will be done through our third party software, where the financial aid administrator will go through the drop or withdrawal process and print out the end results of the R2T4 calculation, which will be placed in the student’s file.
Post Withdrawal Disbursement ( PWD Disbursement )
PWD –Post withdrawal disbursement is when the title IV aid disbursed is less than the Title IV aid earned at the withdrawal date, and then the student may be eligible for a post withdrawal disbursement (PWD).
Merryfield will provide written notification to a student or parent within 30 days of the date of determination of withdrawal. The Financial aid administrator or the business office will email or mail to the student a letter necessitating the type(s) of loan and the amount of PWD that is being requested.
Options to Accept or Decline Post Withdrawal Disbursement ( PWD)
A student or parent has the option to decline or give Merryfield the option to request a PWD on their behalf to pay for educational charges or institutional charges. The student or parent will also receive written guidance and information on re-paying any loans disbursed on their behalf to pay for their educational expenses. The student or parent must respond in writing within 30 days to Merryfield giving us autonomy to request the PWD amount or ignore the letter and do nothing. Student or parent may still have additional obligations such as institutional charges that may still need to be resolved. Each student situation is different.
Post Withdrawal Disbursement (PWD) of Grant Funds
Post Withdrawal Disbursement for Grant funds requires no student confirmation. . Grant funds may be applied directly to charges without student’s authorization. Merryfield will disbursed a PWD directly to a student as soon as possible, but no later than 45 calendar days after the date of determination; or disbursed as credit to the student’s account within 180 days after the date or determination, with the exception that this is all based on the student’s current Authorization form that is on file, unless for urgent situations as per student request.
The following rules apply to Return Calculation:
Merryfield always return any unearned Title IV funds within 45 days of the date the school determined a student withdrew, and offer any Post-withdrawal disbursement of loan funds within 30 days of that date.
Disburse any Title IV grant funds a student is due as part of the Post-withdrawal disbursement within 45 days of the date the school determined a student withdrew, and disburse any loan funds a student accepts within 180 days of that date.
Order of Funds Being Returned:
Federal regulations specify the following guidelines for returning Title IV funds. Funds must be credited to outstanding balances in the following order.
- Unsubsidized Direct Loan
- Subsidized Direct Loan
- Direct Loan Plus
- Federal Pell Grant
