Maintaining Your Financial Aid Eligibility

1. Maintain Enrollment

Be sure to register for at least 6 credits per semester as an undergraduate student and 5 credits per semester as a graduate student within your degree program. Courses that are listed in the official curriculum for your degree program are considered eligible for financial aid. You can review the applicable courses for your degree program in DegreeWorks. Undergraduate prerequisite courses for graduate programs are NOT considered part of degree programs for federal aid. You must also remain enrolled for the duration of the semester (or block) that you are awarded. If you withdraw (W) or stop attending class, your funds may be subject to a Return to Title IV review (R2T4). An R2T4 review may result in the cancellation of some or all of your already transferred financial aid funds and leave you with a balance now owed to the university.

2. Make Progress Toward Your Degree

Meet the academic requirements that include meeting or exceeding the minimum GPA, meet the completion rate, along with other academic benchmarks. Learn more about these requirements for undergraduate and graduate students. See Satisfactory Academic Progress for more information.

3. Monitor your Federal Aid Activity

Federal Direct Stafford Student loans and Federal Pell Grants are limited funds. Students are only allowed to be awarded Pell Grants for a total of six years at full-time status during the pursuit of their first Bachelor’s degree. Students may only borrow limited loan amounts per academic year based on their grade level and dependency status. Student loans also have aggregate borrowing limits based on dependency status and degree level. If you continually borrow more loan funds then you need each semester, you run the risk of using up your borrowing eligibility before you complete your degree. See Federal Aid Limits for more information.

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