Academic Year (Fall/Spring)
- 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 six (6) credit hours for undergraduates and law students and five (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.
- Repeated classes are monitored for financial aid eligibility (except scholarships). If you repeat a class for which you originally received a passing grade, you will be allowed to receive financial aid for that class for the first repeat only. Subsequent repeats will not be considered for financial aid enrollment or awarding purposes. (Exceptions include enrollment in dissertation hours, master's thesis hours, and some performance-based classes).
- A financial aid recipient who withdraws from all credit coursework in a term must 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 financial aid received.
- If you receive a GPA of 0.000 for any semester that you are a federal aid recipient, your class attendance and/or participation must be reviewed. If it is determined you did not attend and/or participate in any of the courses in which you were enrolled and did not officially withdraw, you may have to repay all or a portion of your federal student aid as an unofficial withdrawal.
- Disbursement of federal financial aid for classes that begin later than the scheduled semester start date or for module-based classes will occur at the time that at least half-time enrollment is reached.
Summer Enrollment
- The entire disbursement of your Federal Direct Direct Subsidized and/or Unsubsidized Loan, Federal Direct PLUS Loan and/or Federal Direct Grad PLUS Loan, or any scholarships that require at least half-time enrollment will be made after the census date (the last day of each session to add a class) of the session in which your cumulative summer enrollment status is equal to or exceeds the half-time enrollment level (six credit hours for undergraduates and law students, and five credit hours for graduate students). Any combination of sessions can be used to reach half-time enrollment.
- Aid may be reduced or canceled if you change your enrollment and enroll for fewer credit hours in a session than you indicated on the Summer Aid Application. It is extremely important to update your Summer Aid Application if your enrollment plans change. Since your financial aid awards, some scholarships, and/or disbursements are based on anticipated enrollment, changes in enrollment may require you to repay financial aid already received.
- If you are eligible for a Federal Pell Grant for the summer term, your initial Pell Grant eligibility will be determined based on your enrollment at the time your summer financial aid eligibility is calculated.
- In order to maintain eligibility for the Federal Pell Grant, you must be enrolled in classes on the last day to add a class for the second 5-week session. If you drop or withdraw from a class prior to that date, your Federal Pell Grant may be reduced or canceled even if you were offered a Federal Pell Grant prior to that date.
- You must be enrolled in credit-bearing coursework to receive a summer financial aid, scholarship, or fellowship disbursement. Enrollment in zero credit coursework does not constitute enrollment for financial aid purposes.
- If you are involved in summer experiential learning and receive a scholarship or fellowship for the experience, you must be an enrolled student to receive a disbursement, defined as credit-bearing summer enrollment. There are no exceptions.