How to Complete the R2T4 Return of Title IV Funds Worksheet

To complete the R2T4 Return of Title IV Funds worksheet, download the version that matches the student’s withdrawal date from the FSA Partners site, fix the withdrawal date, and work the numbered steps: days the student completed divided by days in the payment period gives the percentage of aid earned, and everything else on the form flows from that ratio.¹ The Department of Education publishes two versions, one for credit-hour programs and one for clock-hour programs, both as PDFs in the appendix to Volume 5 of the FSA Handbook. The worksheet is not a fillable online form; it walks you through the regulatory steps of 34 CFR 668.22, and many schools replicate the same logic inside their student information systems rather than filling out the PDF by hand.²

Download the Correct Version

The worksheets live at fsapartners.ed.gov in the Volume 5 appendix. They are updated when regulatory changes take effect, so confirm the version matches the student’s withdrawal date before you start. For withdrawals on or after July 1, 2025, use the credit-hour or clock-hour worksheet posted on the 2025–2026 appendix page.¹ A new set takes effect July 1, 2026 (covered at the end of this article).

Fix the Withdrawal Date First

The withdrawal date drives every number on the worksheet. How you determine it depends on whether the student officially withdrew and whether your institution is required to take attendance.

Official Withdrawals

When a student uses the school’s formal withdrawal process, the withdrawal date is the date the student began that process or provided notice, whichever is earlier. If the student gave notice but continued attending for a few more days, you may use the documented last date of attendance instead.

Unofficial Withdrawals

For a student who stops showing up without telling anyone, the answer depends on attendance rules. If your school is required to take attendance, use the last date of academic attendance from your records. If not, the default withdrawal date is the midpoint of the payment period or period of enrollment. You can override the midpoint if you document the student’s last date of attendance at an academically related activity such as an exam, tutorial, lab, or computer-assisted instruction session, and you document both that the activity was academically related and that the student attended it.³

Gather Your Numbers Before You Start

Three categories of data feed the worksheet.

Title IV Aid Disbursed or That Could Have Been Disbursed

List every type of Title IV aid disbursed to the student, plus any that could have been disbursed as of the withdrawal date. That includes Federal Pell Grants, FSEOG, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants, TEACH Grants, Direct Subsidized Loans, Direct Unsubsidized Loans, and Direct PLUS Loans (parent and graduate). Include all of it even if the student is getting a full institutional tuition refund.⁴

Days in the Payment Period

Count total calendar days in the payment period or period of enrollment, then subtract any scheduled breaks of at least five consecutive days. Those days drop out of both the numerator and the denominator.³ Days on an approved leave of absence are also excluded.

Institutional Charges

Identify which charges on the student’s account are institutional. Under the regulation, that means tuition, fees, room and board contracted through the institution, and other educationally related expenses the institution assessed. Off-campus rent and outside-vendor bookstore purchases are not institutional charges and generally do not factor into the school’s share of the return.²

Work the Calculation

Percentage of Aid Earned

Divide the calendar days the student completed by the total days in the period after removing excluded breaks. Carry the result to at least three decimal places; many schools calculate to four and round to three using standard rounding rules. Results between .6001 and .6004 round up, so the student clears the 60-percent threshold rather than falling just below it.

Sixty percent is the dividing line. If the student completed 60 percent or less of the period, the percentage of aid earned equals the percentage of the period completed. Past the 60-percent point, the student has earned 100 percent of Title IV aid and no return is required.⁴ Exactly 60.0 percent still requires a calculation; only results above 60 percent trigger the full-earned rule.

Earned Versus Unearned

Multiply the total Title IV aid disbursed (and that could have been disbursed) by the percentage earned. That dollar figure is what the student earned. The difference between the earned amount and the total aid actually disbursed is the unearned aid that has to go back. If the student received less than they earned, the worksheet identifies a post-withdrawal disbursement instead.

School Share and Student Share

The worksheet splits the unearned aid between the school and the student. The school returns the lesser of the total unearned aid or the unearned institutional charges. Calculate unearned institutional charges by multiplying total institutional charges for the period by the percentage of the period not completed (100 percent minus the earned percentage). Subtract the school’s share from the total unearned aid, and what remains is the student’s responsibility.

Deadlines and How Funds Go Back

The school must complete the R2T4 calculation no later than 30 days after the date it determined the student withdrew. The school must return its share of unearned funds as soon as possible, and no later than 45 days after that determination date.³ Missing the 45-day window can put the school’s eligibility to participate in federal aid programs at risk.

Adjustments to disbursement records go through the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system, and the money itself moves back through the G5 payment system.⁵

Whether returned by the school or the student, unearned funds go back in this order:³

Unsubsidized Direct Stafford Loans
Subsidized Direct Stafford Loans
Direct PLUS Loans (parent or graduate)
Federal Pell Grants
Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants
FSEOG
TEACH Grants

Loans always come before grants.

When the Student Earned More Than Was Disbursed

If the worksheet shows the student earned more aid than actually reached them, the difference is a post-withdrawal disbursement.

Grant funds that would be applied to outstanding institutional charges can be credited to the account without specific permission from the student. Grant funds not applied to institutional charges must be disbursed as soon as possible and no later than 45 days after the determination date.

Loan funds are different. The school must send a written notice to the student (or the parent, for a parent PLUS loan) within 30 days of the determination date. The notice must identify the type and amount of loan funds available, explain that the student or parent can accept or decline some or all of the disbursement, and state that any loan funds accepted must be repaid. If the student does not respond within 14 days of the date the school sent the notice, or a later deadline the school sets, no loan disbursement is made unless the school chooses to honor a late response.³ Regardless of type, a post-withdrawal disbursement must be made within 180 days of the determination date.

Grant Protections on the Student’s Share

When the student’s share of unearned aid includes grant funds, two protections cut what the student actually owes. The student is not required to return the portion of a grant overpayment equal to 50 percent or less of the total grant aid disbursed (or that could have been disbursed) for the period, so grant repayment obligations are effectively cut in half. After that reduction, if the remaining overpayment for any individual grant program is $50 or less, the student owes nothing on that grant.²

These protections apply only to the student’s share. The school’s obligation is not reduced by the 50-percent allowance or the $50 threshold.

When the Worksheet Doesn’t Apply

Not every stop-out triggers an R2T4 calculation.

Modules. A student who stops attending one module in a modular program is not automatically a withdrawal. The FSA Handbook uses a flowchart: the student is not considered withdrawn if they are still attending another course in the payment period, completed all graduation requirements, successfully completed modules covering 49 percent or more of the days in the period (excluding breaks of five or more consecutive days and gaps between modules) or coursework at or above the school’s half-time definition, or gave written confirmation they will attend a later module beginning within 45 calendar days of the end of the module they stopped attending.⁶ Only if the student clears none of those tests does R2T4 apply.

Approved leaves of absence. A student on a leave that meets every federal condition (written request with reason, reasonable expectation of return, no additional charges or Title IV aid during the leave, all leaves combined no more than 180 days in a 12-month period, return at the same point in the program in most term-based programs, and loan disclosure) is not treated as withdrawn.⁴ If the student does not return, the withdrawal date becomes the date the leave began, and the R2T4 calculation runs at that point.

What Changes July 1, 2026

New R2T4 rules published in January 2025 take effect July 1, 2026, and several change how the worksheet is completed.⁷

A new exemption from performing an R2T4 calculation applies when a student is treated as never having begun attendance, the school returns all Title IV aid disbursed for the period, refunds all institutional charges, and writes off any remaining balance the student owes because of that return. Some schools have been allowed to implement this provision early since February 2025.
Schools required to take attendance must document the date they determined a student withdrew no later than 14 days after the last date of attendance.
A module counts toward the payment period in the R2T4 denominator only if the student actually began attendance in it.
Clock-hour programs will use a single standardized payment-period method for calculating the percentage of the period completed.

Review the FSA Partners electronic announcement on these changes and update software and internal procedures before the effective date.⁸

1
Federal Student Aid. Return of Title IV Aid Worksheets
2
eCFR. 34 CFR 668.22 – Treatment of Title IV Funds When a Student Withdraws
3
eCFR. 34 CFR 668.22 – Treatment of Title IV Funds When a Student Withdraws
4
Federal Student Aid. General Requirements for Withdrawals and the Return of Title IV Funds
5
Federal Student Aid. Returning Title IV Funds
6
Federal Student Aid. Return of Title IV (R2T4) Funds Case Studies – Part 2
7
Federal Register. Distance Education and Return of Title IV, HEA Funds
8
Federal Student Aid. Implementation of Return of Title IV Funds (R2T4) Regulations Effective July 1, 2026