What are Title IV funds?
Title IV funds are federally funded aid programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education regulations require schools to use your Federal Student Aid to pay for current academic year institutional charges only. In order to have these funds applied to non-allowable charges you must authorize the school to do so in advance.
Title IV Authorization
Title IV funds include
- Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized Loans
- Direct Graduate PLUS Loans
- Direct PLUS Loans
- Federal Pell Grants
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOGs)
Federal Title IV funds do not include scholarships from the University or other private organizations.
Allowable charges
- Tuition
- Mandatory fees
- Room and Board, if contracted with the University
Non-Allowable charges
- Parking charges/fines
- Health Center fees
- Library fines
- Late fees
- Health insurance
- Bookstore charges
How are Title IV funds applied to my account?
The U.S. Department of Education requires that Title IV funds be applied to specific allowable charges. Allowable charges include: tuition, mandatory fees, and room and board billed by the University. If the total of Title IV funds exceeds the total of these qualifying charges, the University must refund that excess to you unless you authorize the University to do otherwise. Other current semester charges such as parking charges/fines, health center fees, library fines, late fees, health insurance, and bookstore purchases will remain unpaid even if you have a credit balance on your account after authorized charges have been paid.
Does the authorization form need to be signed each year?
No. The authorization remains in effect while you are a student at UAH. It may be rescinded or changed at any time by sending a written request to the Bursar’s Office.
What if I don't grant authorization?
If you do not grant authorization, your federal financial aid and loans cannot be used to pay for charges other than tuition, fees, University housing and meal plans, and any excess aid will be refunded to you. Therefore, you may receive a refund while simultaneously having a balance on your account that could not be paid with your Title IV aid.
Receiving a refund does not indicate that there are no pending charges on your account.