Aid eligibility is not necessarily fixed. The following situations are some of the examples that may alter your financial aid.
Additional Financial Assistance
The receipt of any scholarships, fellowships, tuition waivers, or any other additional financial resources not listed on your financial aid package at the time of awarding may cause the reductions to, or replacement of, any loans, work-study, grants, or scholarships originally awarded.
Course Enrollment/Participation
- To receive federal aid, a student must be officially admitted into a degree program. All students are awarded based on full time enrollment status. Students must be enrolled at least half time by the last official date to add regular classes (census date) to receive any state grants or Federal Title IV loans, work-study or grants (except Federal Pell Grants). Half-time status is defined as 6 credit hours for undergraduates and law students and 5 credit hours for graduate students. Your aid may be revised if your enrollment status at census date is not full time. In most instances, undergraduates must be enrolled in a minimum of 12 credits at census date to receive scholarships. Although financial assistance is normally awarded for an entire academic year, enrollment status is verified each semester.
- The Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid monitors repeated classes for financial aid eligibility purposes (excluding scholarships). If you choose to repeat a class in which you originally received a passing grade, you will be allowed to receive financial aid for that class the first time you repeat the class. Subsequent enrollment in that same class will NOT be considered for financial aid enrollment or awarding purposes. (Exceptions to this policy include enrollment in dissertation hours, master's thesis hours and some performance-based classes).
- A financial aid recipient who withdraws from all classes will have to repay a portion of the total aid received until 60% of the semester has elapsed. After the 60% period, the recipient is allowed to retain all aid received
- If you receive a GPA of 0.000 for any semester that you are a federal aid recipient, your class attendance/participation will be reviewed. If it is determined you did not attend/participate in all the classes in which you were enrolled, yet did not withdraw, you may have to repay all or a portion of your federal aid.
- Federal Pell Grant recipients must begin attendance/participation in a course from which they withdraw or fail. Instructors will be contacted to verify attendance/participation and if it is determined that you did not, the enrollment in that class cannot be used to determine enrollment level for Federal Pell Grant Awarding purposes.
Residency Changes (for tuition purposes)
Because the University of Nebraska–Lincoln is a state university, Nebraska residents and nonresidents have different tuition rates—residents of the state of Nebraska will be billed in-state tuition and non-residents will be billed out-of-state tuition. If your residency status changes, your financial aid will be revised accordingly.
Do you qualify as a resident for tuition purposes? View the residency policy.
Special Circumstances
When special circumstances occur that affect your or your family's ability to pay educational expenses, you are encouraged to notify the OSFA. A Special Circumstances Application is available to apply for an adjustment based on certain situations. These situations include student or parent loss of employment, loss of employment due to disability or natural disaster, or loss of untaxed income or benefit. Situations that do not fall into these categories should be described in a letter and sent, along with supporting documentation, to the OSFA for review.
Another special circumstance that may occur is related to a family's unusually high medical or dental expenses not covered by insurance. If conditions such as these apply to you or your family, contact the OSFA and request a Medical/Dental Expense Form that will enable you to apply for an adjustment to your FAFSA information.