Last Date of Attendance or LDA
R2T4 “When a student receiving Title IV grants and loans withdraws from a program, the student’s institution must determine the amount of Title IV assistance the student earned to calculate the amount of unearned funds that must be returned to the Department of Education (USDOE) or the lender (known as the Return to Title IV, or “R2T4,” calculation). If a student withdraws without providing notice and the institution is required by its state authorizing agency or accreditor to take attendance, setting the Last Day of Attendance (“LDA”) is straightforward.
If the college does not require attendance be kept, it can either use the mid-point of the financial aid payment period as the effective withdrawal date or it may choose to document the student’s LDA in an “academically related activity.” source: LDA Issue Paper
▪ On-ground Programs: Face-to-face programs can document LDA in a variety of ways. Colleges usually use “presence” (although not necessarily participation) in class. Other examples are participation in a study group, contact with an academic advisor, or work on a computer-assisted tutorial.
▪ Online Programs: Typically, colleges use “entry” of a student into his or her electronic classroom as an indicator of the students “presence” in determining the LDA.
▪ Common Practice:
There is a considerable variety of ways institutions offering online programs document student attendance. Among the common approaches was documents noted, “logging in is considered comparable to attending the class” Other institutions determine a student to have withdrawn if he or she has not submitted assignments or completed a defined task within a specific timeframe.
The Problem: The US Dept. of Education (USDOE) has taken the position that documenting the student’s LDA in an “academically related activity” requires more than attendance in the student’s electronic classroom. Instead, USDOE has begun retroactively enforcing this heightened standard that requires documentation of “regular and substantive interaction between the students and faculty,” through discussion board posts, completed assignments, or electronic conversations with faculty. USDOE’s stance is that entering an electronic classroom is insufficient evidence of the “regular and substantive interaction between the students and faculty”.
Note: Be sure that your college has defined excessive absences in general and work from that when defining DE
If the college does not require attendance be kept, it can either use the mid-point of the financial aid payment period as the effective withdrawal date or it may choose to document the student’s LDA in an “academically related activity.” source: LDA Issue Paper
▪ On-ground Programs: Face-to-face programs can document LDA in a variety of ways. Colleges usually use “presence” (although not necessarily participation) in class. Other examples are participation in a study group, contact with an academic advisor, or work on a computer-assisted tutorial.
▪ Online Programs: Typically, colleges use “entry” of a student into his or her electronic classroom as an indicator of the students “presence” in determining the LDA.
▪ Common Practice:
There is a considerable variety of ways institutions offering online programs document student attendance. Among the common approaches was documents noted, “logging in is considered comparable to attending the class” Other institutions determine a student to have withdrawn if he or she has not submitted assignments or completed a defined task within a specific timeframe.
The Problem: The US Dept. of Education (USDOE) has taken the position that documenting the student’s LDA in an “academically related activity” requires more than attendance in the student’s electronic classroom. Instead, USDOE has begun retroactively enforcing this heightened standard that requires documentation of “regular and substantive interaction between the students and faculty,” through discussion board posts, completed assignments, or electronic conversations with faculty. USDOE’s stance is that entering an electronic classroom is insufficient evidence of the “regular and substantive interaction between the students and faculty”.
Note: Be sure that your college has defined excessive absences in general and work from that when defining DE