Packaging with a Finalized R2T4

Owned by Jennifer Flora Black
Last updated: Mar 14, 2019 by Erin Fincham (Deactivated)
5 min read

Overview

This page provides detailed information regarding Regent Award's behavior for packaging enrollment periods containing a finalized R2T4.

Finalized Status

Only Finalized R2T4s will directly affect packaging. If an R2T4 is in Open status, or if a school notes the R2T4 is "Not Required," then the R2T4 doesn't change the student's awards. Open R2T4s may still block disbursements if configured to do so until the R2T4 is finalized. 

Initial Packaging After Finalized R2T4

When Regent Award first packages Title IV awards after a Finalized R2T4, Regent Award will automatically adjust the disbursement amounts to match the results of the R2T4 calculation. An overview of the types of R2T4s is at Return of Title IV (R2T4) Overview.

  • Refunds -  An R2T4 might result in a student having to return some loans. Regent would automatically reduce the loan amounts to match the student's earned loans from the R2T4 calculations.
  • PWD - A student might have earned aid that is still unpaid. Regent Award will adjust the unpaid disbursements to the calculated earned amounts for Post-Withdrawal Disbursement (PWD). 
  • No Action Required -  A student might have fully earned all their aid and been paid all their aid. Regent Award would not reduce their amounts because there is No Action Required.

Regardless of the R2T4 result, Regent Award marks all existing disbursements in the Payment Period (PP) as having amounts set from an R2T4. The system will not automatically increase those marked disbursements. Regent Award also stops creating any new disbursements or new awards in the same enrollment period.

  • For term-based programs, the system will stop auto-packaging new Title IV aid in the same term. The system only constrains disbursements in the same term.
  • For nonterm programs, the system will stop auto-packaging new Title IV aid in the same Academic Year (AY). The system restricts disbursements in all PPs in the same Academic Year.

R2T4 Effects on Loan Period and Academic Year Dates

When the system adjusts the amounts, the system will also adjust the loan period dates to only include terms or payment periods having at least $1 of loan funding. Academic Year dates might also change, depending on the type of program.

  • For term-based programs using a Scheduled Academic Year (SAY) calendar, any loan AY dates will always include the standard terms. If the R2T4 results in zero loan amounts for an optional "header" or "trailer" term (such as Summer), any loans' AY dates will not include the optional term.
  • For term and nonstandard term programs using a Borrower-Based Academic Year (BBAY) calendar (BBAY1, BBAY2, or nonstandard-term BBAY3), the loan period dates will include all terms in the AY that still have a positive loan disbursement. The loans will still keep the program's normal AY dates. For example, a two-term BBAY1 AY will always end with the second term's end date. 
  • For nonterm programs (BBAY3), the loan period will include only payment periods with loan dollars. The nonterm period of enrollment is based on the Academic Year, so Regent Award will zero out any future payment periods in the Academic Year. For example, if a nonterm student withdraws in PP1 of an AY, the system will truncate the loan period to PP1 only and will cancel and zero out the PP2 loan disbursements.  The Academic Year will continue to include both payment period. If the withdrawn nonterm student reenrolls within 180 days, the school would reverse the R2T4 and recalculate the aid. The student would continue in PP1 of the same Academic Year.  

The AY dates in the R2T4 wizard will initially match the dates from the Academic Plan. For term-based programs, the dates are established based on term end dates. For nonterm, users may choose to override the end dates for the nonterm PP end date, Loan Period (LP), or Academic Year (AY) for the purposes of exporting the updated dates to COD.  The overridden dates will not persist to the student's Academic Plan. 

Aid Unaffected by R2T4

Federal Work Study (FWS) amounts are never directly adjusted from an R2T4.

Regent Award will exclude some other Title IV awards depending on dates and other features. More details are at Including Funds in the R2T4 Calculation. Schools may configure Regent Award to automatically cancel excluded aid - see Auto Cancellation of Title IV Disbursements Excluded During the R2T4 Period

Non-Title-IV funds, such as institutional scholarships, are not directly affected by an R2T4. However, the system will not auto-package new non-Title-IV funds in the same payment period containing a finalized R2T4. The system also will not auto-increase amounts on non-Title-IV funds in PPs containing a Finalized R2T4. Users can still manually add and edit non-Title-IV awards using Add Award Wizard. 

Later Changes Resulting from a Finalized R2T4

In general, Regent Award does not alter disbursements after they have been initially adjusted by an R2T4. However, awards might change later for specific reasons.

  • Paid amounts - If a Title IV award resulted in a refund or PWD, the system will not immediately update the paid amount upon finalization of the R2T4. The paid amount will change the next time the award is exported in the Export for Student Transactions (EST) process (grants PWDs will process immediately while loan PWDs will process once accepted by the student). 

  • Loan Period Dates - If a loan's payment period (PP) still contains a positive amount or paid disbursement, Regent Award will keep that payment period in the loan period dates. If the PP's loan amount is zeroed out, and any paid amount is also zeroed out, then Regent Award will update the loan period and the Financial Award Period dates on the "Loans" tab. The updated dates will not include any payment periods with only zero amounts. The updated Financial Award Period dates are also reported to COD. If an R2T4 is in the first nonterm payment period and is canceled, the loan payment period does not have to be reduced to one loan period. It can remain at two payment periods with $0 awards.

User Changes to Title IV Awards in Finalized R2T4 PPs

If a user's role has permission, a user may add or edit Title IV aid using Add Award Wizard (AAW) and Modify Award Wizard (MAW). See Permissions List. 

Reversal of Finalized R2T4

If an R2T4 is reversed, the system removes all packaging restrictions. The system packages the period of enrollment the same as if the R2T4 had never happened. The system preserves the Reversed R2T4 record as read-only. 

Terms with Modules

If a term-based student has modules, Regent's packaging restrictions apply to the entire term. For more information, see R2T4 for Terms with Modules.