Financial Aid Awards

 Federal student aid is typically awarded in mid-March for the following academic year for students who were admitted and completed all requirements in Banweb by March 1st.  Students will be notified via e-mail when awards are ready to view in Banweb.  The Financial Aid Office will continue to process awards for students once they are admitted and/or have completed all required documents.  It is recommended that students have all requirements completed by the beginning of August in order to avoid any delays in processing financial aid for the start of the fall semester.

Changes to Financial Aid Awards

Financial aid eligibility may change for a variety of reasons.  Completion of verification, receipt of an additional outside resource, change in enrollment, failure to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP), changes in state/federal funding levels, and other factors may result in a change in eligibility.  It is recommended that students submit any scholarship award notifications from outside sources as soon as possible, and that students notify the Financial Aid Office if they do not plan to attend full-time, or for the full academic year so that awards can be adjusted accordingly.

Notifications of financial aid eligibility changes are sent via e-mail and require logging in to Banweb to view.  A history of award information is not maintained, so we strongly recommend that students save a record of their award each time a notification is received.

Disbursement of Awards

As long as the student is pre-registered and has all financial aid requirements completed in Banweb, financial aid will be posted to the student's account the Monday before the start of the semester.  Financial Aid will continue to process disbursements once per week throughout the semester.

If a student has a credit balance on their account, it will be processed as a refund check (or direct deposit, if student has a direct deposit account set up in Touchnet). Refund checks are first available the Friday before the semester starts, at the cashier's window between 8am-4pm.  Once the semester starts, any credit balance that is posted to a student's account by Wednesday will typically be processed as a refund on Friday.  Please note that processing times may be affected due to holidays. Refunds will not be processed during winter break.

If a student receives a refund, but instead wishes to reduce or cancel a loan for the semester in lieu of receiving the refund, they should not cash the refund check. Students would need to contact Financial Aid to have an adjustment processed to their award.

Return of Federal Financial Aid Funds

If a student who received Title IV SFA (Student Financial Aid) funds (Pell Grant, Campus Based funds, Federal Direct Loan program funds) withdraws from NMIMT after beginning attendance for the semester, the amount of Title IV assistance earned by the student must be determined.  This is done through a calculation developed by the United States Department of Education.  If the amount disbursed to the student is greater than the amount the student earned, unearned funds must be returned to the SFA programs.  If the amount disbursed to the student is less than the amount the student earned, and for which the student is otherwise eligible, he or she is eligible to receive a post-withdrawal disbursement of the earned aid that was not received.

The amount of assistance the student has earned is based upon the percentage of the semester in which the student was enrolled.

   Enrolled days / total number of days in the semester = % of aid earned

Once the student has completed more than 60% of the semester, he/she is considered to have earned all of the funds awarded and is not subject to the calculation.

Federal Work-Study funds are excluded from the R2T4 calculation.

There are two types of withdrawals for Title IV financial aid purposes.

1. Official Withdrawals

   • If the student officially notifies NMIMT of his/her intentions to withdraw, this date is considered to be the last date of attendance and will be the official withdrawal date for calculating the amount of Title IV SFA funds earned.

2. Unofficial Withdrawals

   • If a student receives grades of all F, U, or UA for a semester, the student is considered to have unofficially withdrawn from New Mexico Tech.  The midpoint of the semester is used as the student's unofficial withdrawal date unless documentation is submitted to show a different last date of attendance at an academically related activity.  Examples of academically related activities are attendance in class, an exam, a tutorial, computer-assisted instruction, academic counseling, academic advisement, turning in a class assignment, or attending a study group that is assigned by the school.  To use a date later than the midpoint of the semester, the student will need to have an instructor submit notice of one of the above items to the Financial Aid Office by the deadline stated in the letter sent to the student regarding the unofficial withdrawal.

The Return of Title IV (R2T4) funds calculation has two parts.  One part determines the amount of funds the school must return to the Title IV programs.  The other part determines the amount of funds the student is required to return.

The Financial Aid Office completes the Return of Title IV Funds calculations within 30 days of the withdrawal notification, and notifies the student of the calculation results.  Funds are returned accordingly, within 45 days.  If the student owes a grant overpayment, the student has a certain number of days to take positive action to correct the overpayment.  If the student fails to take positive action by the deadline, the overpayment is referred to the Department of Education and reported on the National Student Loan Database System.  The student then loses Title IV eligibility.