Refund Policy
Refunds are processed Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays by the Office of Student Business Services with a few exceptions.
Students may elect to receive refunds via direct deposit. Log onto the WebRaider portal, select MyTech - El Paso, scroll down to “Manage My Finances,” expand “Student Business Services,” and select “My Direct Deposit.”
It is the student's responsibility to maintain a current mailing address in the student information system.
Refund Policies for Tuition and Fees
Texas Education Code Section 54.006 provides the amount of tuition and fees to be refunded to students who drop courses or withdraw from the institution. Class day count is based on the institution’s official academic calendar (not the specific course dates).
Students who drop a course, but remain enrolled in the institution will be refunded at the following rate:
Term |
Class Day |
Percent of Refund of Charges |
---|---|---|
Term or session of five weeks or less |
1st class day through 2nd class day |
100% |
|
After the 2nd class day |
None |
Term or session of more than five weeks but less than 10 weeks |
1st class day through 4th class day |
100% |
|
After the 4th class day |
None |
Fall, Spring or Summer - term of 10 weeks or longer |
1st class day through 12th class day |
100% |
|
After the 12th class day |
None |
Students who withdraw from the institution (zero semester credit hours) are required to pay tuition and fees according to the following schedule, which is based on official withdrawal date as follows:
Term |
Class Day |
Percent of Refund of Charges |
---|---|---|
Term or session of five weeks or less |
Before the 1st class day |
100% |
|
1st class day |
80% |
|
2nd class day |
50% |
|
3rd class day or later |
None |
Term or session of more than five weeks but less than 10 weeks |
Before the 1st class day |
100% |
|
1st, 2nd, or 3rd class day |
80% |
|
4th, 5th, or 6th class day |
50% |
|
7th class day or later |
None |
Fall, Spring or Summer - term of 10 weeks or longer |
Before the 1st class day |
100% |
|
1st five class days |
80% |
|
2nd five class days |
70% |
|
3rd five class days |
50% |
|
4th five class days |
25% |
|
21st class day and after |
None |
Any refund due to a student will be distributed after calculation of the amount of tuition and fees due at the time of withdrawal. If the student has paid less than the amount due at the time of withdrawal, the student will be required to pay the percentage due.
Withdrawing or dropping all courses during a term for which a student receive(d) financial aid:
It is important for students who receive financial aid and withdraw or drop all courses during a term to be aware of the refund policies and to understand the impact this will have on the aid released and their continued financial aid eligibility. Current refund policies for students who withdraw or drop all courses during a term are determined by the Higher Education Title IV refund regulations.
If you withdraw from the university and have received financial aid, any refundable amount of your institutional charges (tuition and fees) may be returned to the appropriate financial aid sources. You may be expected to repay the “unearned” portion of your financial aid if you withdraw from school or receive any combination of non-passing grades (F, N, W, or X) in all courses in a particular term.
Federal refund and repayment calculations must be performed for students who receive Title IV (Pell, FSEOG, Perkins, and/or Stafford Loans) funds and officially withdraw from all courses, drop out of all courses, are expelled, take an unapproved leave of absence, or fail to return from an approved leave of absence prior to the 60 percent mark of the term. All unearned aid must be returned to the federal aid programs as determined by federal refund and repayment calculations.
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The requirements for Title IV program funds are separate from the university’s refund policy. As such, the student is responsible for unpaid institutional charges remaining after the refund calculation. The student is responsible for charges/balances created by the return of Title IV program funds that the school was required to return.
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If you have questions about your Title IV program funds, you can call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FEDAID (1-800-433-3243). Text telephone (TTY) users may call 1-800-730-8913. Information on student aid is also available at https://studentaid.gov/. In order to keep all financial aid issued for each term, students must be enrolled for at least 60 percent of the term. After this point in the term, students have earned 100 percent of the Title IV funds released for the term. It is in the student’s best interest to maintain attendance and complete at least one class for each term that he/she receives federal aid to avoid repayment of funds.
Your withdrawal date is the date that you inform a university official that you will be withdrawing from the university. This date is stored with the Office of the University Registrar and used to recalculate financial aid eligibility.
Financial aid is returned in the following order:
- Military Tuition Assistance
- Unsubsidized Direct Stafford loans (other than PLUS loans)
- Subsidized Direct Stafford loans
- Federal Perkins loans
- Direct PLUS loans
- Federal Pell Grants
- Federal SEOG
- Federal TEACH Grants
- Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant
Aid disbursed to you is considered in the calculation of your aid eligibility upon withdrawal. Aid for the term from which you withdrew, for which you were eligible and that was not disbursed to you, is also used in the calculation under certain conditions.
Once it is determined that a student owes money back to any of the federal aid programs, he/she will be ineligible to receive further federal aid at Texas Tech Health El Paso or any other institution until this debt is cleared.
Below are two examples of the calculations used to determine the amount of unearned aid a student would be expected to repay based on the reported last day of attendance of the term from which a student withdraw.
Example 1
Rita Nurse stopped attending classes on February 26 and contacted the Dean’s office to withdraw from the university. The term began on January 13 and is 110 days long. Rita has attended 33 days and has earned 30 percent of her financial aid (33 days divided by 110 days equals 30 percent).
Rita received in aid: | Federal Stafford Loan | $1167 |
Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan | $1500 | |
Pell Grant | $1000 | |
Total aid Spring term | $3667 |
-
The amount of federal aid earned is 30% x $3667 = $1100.10
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Total federal aid unearned is $3667 - $1100.10 = $2566.90.
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The second calculation determines percentage of amount unearned based on school charges for tuition and housing. Rita was charged $3650 in tuition and did not live on campus. Percentage of unearned aid for this second calculation is 100% -30% = 70%. Therefore, based on the tuition charges for the term, $1843 x 70% = $2550.
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The amount of federal aid Rita must return is the lesser of step 2 or 3 ($2,550 in our example).
-
Federal guidelines determine the order of aid types to be reduced: Stafford Loan, Parent PLUS Loans, and then Pell Grant until $2,550 has been repaid. Therefore Rita’s aid will be reduced to:
Federal Stafford Loan | $1167 | - $1167 | = $0 |
Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan | $1500 | - $1383 | = $117 |
Pell Grant | $1000 | - $0 | = $1000 |
Total returned | $2550 |
The total returned amount reflects the amount to be billed to Rita’s student billing account from her financial aid. Any refunds from tuition that are determined and applied to her account may affect the amount that Rita owes for spring term.
Example 2
Diana Med, a 1st Year medical student stopped attending classes on March 3 and contacted the Dean’s office to withdraw from the university. The term began on January 6th and is 142 days long. Rita has attended 59 days and has earned 41.54 percent of her financial aid (59 days divided by 142 days equals 41.54 percent).
Rita received in aid: | Federal Stafford Loan | $20,000 |
TPEG Grant | $1000 | |
Total aid Spring term | $21,000 |
-
The amount of federal aid earned is 41.54% x $21,000 = $8,308
-
Total federal aid unearned is $20,000- $8,308 = $11,692
-
The second calculation determines percentage of amount unearned based on school charges for tuition and housing. Diana was charged $9800 in tuition and did not live on campus. Percentage of unearned aid for this second calculation is 100% - 41.54% = 58.46%. Therefore, based on the tuition charges for the term, $9800x 58.46% = $5,729.08
-
The amount of federal aid Diana must return is the lesser of step 2 or 3 ($5729.08 in our example).
-
Federal guidelines determine the order of aid types to be reduced, therefore Diana’s aid will be reduced to:
Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan | $20,000 | - $5729.08 | = $14,270,92 |
Total returned | $5729.08 |
The total returned amount reflects the amount to be billed to Diana’s student billing account from her financial aid. Any refunds from tuition that are determined and applied to her account may affect the amount that Diana owes for spring term.