On Thursday, September 21, 2000, Texas Guaranteed (TG) hosted the Return of Title IV Funds (RT4) Teleconference. Participating in the event were approximately 135 people from 70 different schools across the nation. The first half of the teleconference featured a presentation on the new RT4 policy, conducted by Ricardo Davila, TG Assistant Vice President of Program Review. Ricardo's presentation provided listeners with an overview of the new RT4 policy, which was developed as a result of the 1998 Reauthorization to the Higher Education Act. The new federal regulations for RT4 are found in 34 CFR 668.22, and they had to be implemented by schools no later than October 7, 2000.

The second half of the teleconference was a question and answer session. Several listeners had questions regarding how to apply the new RT4 policy at their schools. Ricardo provided the callers with practical guidance, acknowledging that the new regulations would be challenging to implement.

As a result of the question and answer session during the RT4 Teleconference, TG has posted on its web site "RT4 Questions and Answers: Practical Issues," to provide realistic applications of the new policy. Whereas previous TG Return of Title IV (RT4) articles and Q&As dealt with policy issues, these Q&As address questions that arise when actually applying the new RT4 policy. The "Practical Issues" Q&As are located on TG Online under "Schools & Lenders." The questions and answers are arranged according to the following topics: Department of Education Resources, School Issues, Student Issues, Last Date of Attendance, Post-Withdrawal Disbursements, and Refund Policy.

Some examples of the questions and answers provided on this web site are as follows:

Does a school have to notify a student if it is using grant money to make a post-withdrawal disbursement?

When a student has a portion of loan money to return, due to a Return of Title IV funds calculation, how is that tracked? Is the school responsible for tracking it?
According to 34 CFR 668.22(h)(3)(i), the student (or parent, in the case of a PLUS loan) must return or repay loan funds to any Title IV loan program in accordance with the terms of the loan; that is, according to the terms of the promissory note. Step 8 of the Return of Title IV Funds Worksheets states "Loan amounts are returned in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. No further action is required other than notification to the holder of the loan of the student's withdrawal date."

Because of the overwhelming response to the first teleconference, TG is hosting a second Return of Title IV Funds Teleconference on Tuesday, October 31, 2000. For more information on TG's RT4 teleconferences, contact Delton Cravey at (800) 252-9743, ext. 4787.

Questions
For more information or questions about the Return of Title IV Funds policy, call TG Customer Services at (800) 252-9743, ext. 4444 or send an e-mail message to customer.services@tgslc.org.