How Enrollment Affects Your Aid
Changing your course schedule can affect the amount of financial aid you receive and when it is applied to your student account. Changes to your enrollment may result in a review and adjustment of your grants, scholarships, or loans—even after funds have been applied to your account.
Financial aid is based on your enrollment status and the requirements of each award. Most initial financial aid offers assume full-time enrollment: 12 or more credits for undergraduate students or 9 or more credits for graduate students. Any amount below this is considered part time, and may result in a reduction of a student’s financial aid.
Before dropping a course, withdrawing, or switching a course to audit, contact the Office of Student Financial Wellness and Assistance to understand how the change may affect your financial aid.
Students should be aware that wait-listed courses, audited courses, or courses added after schedule adjustment ends do not count toward enrollment for financial aid purposes.
Courses added after the end of the schedule adjustment period are not considered in a student’s total enrollment for purposes of federal financial aid eligibility, even with an approved late-add petition on file. Students are responsible for covering any additional costs incurred as the result of a late-add course approval.
What Does Part Time Enrollment Mean?
For undergraduate students, enrollment status is based on the following credit ranges:
| Enrollment status | Credits per semester |
|---|---|
| Full-time | 12 or more |
| Three-quarter-time | 9–11 |
| Half-time | 6–8 |
| Less than half-time | Fewer than 6 |
For graduate students, enrollment status is based on the following credit ranges:
| Enrollment status | Credits per semester |
|---|---|
| Full-time | 9 or more |
| Three-quarter-time | 7–8 |
| Half-time | 6 |
| Less than half-time | Fewer than 6 |
Enrolling part-time does not automatically make you ineligible for financial aid. However, it can affect the types and amounts of aid you receive:
- Federal loans: Federal regulations require an enrollment of at least 6 credits in a semester to receive Federal Direct Subsidized, Unsubsidized, or Parent PLUS Loans. Enrolling below full-time may also reduce your Subsidized or Unsubsidized Loan amount under current federal loan proration requirements.
- Federal Pell Grant: Eligible undergraduate students may receive a Pell Grant while enrolled part-time. Award amounts are proportional to enrollment, with final eligibility based on enrollment as of the semester’s add/drop date.
- Other grants and scholarships: Enrollment requirements vary by award. Reducing your credits may reduce or cancel awards that require full-time enrollment.
Example: If you drop from 12 credits to 6 credits, you move from full-time to half-time enrollment. You may still meet the minimum enrollment requirement for federal loans, but your loan and Pell Grant amounts may decrease, and other awards may be affected.
Graduate students should contact our office to discuss the enrollment requirements and borrowing rules that apply to their program.
Dropping or Withdrawing From Courses
Enrollment changes that may affect financial aid include:
- Adding or dropping courses.
- Switching a graded or pass/fail course to audit.
- Withdrawing from one or more courses.
- Withdrawing from all courses.
Changes during the schedule adjustment period may require financial aid to be recalculated. Withdrawals after that period may affect loan eligibility, scholarship renewal, or your ability to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements.
Withdrawing from all courses before completing 60% of the semester generally requires a federal aid recalculation and may result in funds being returned. If aid already applied to your account is reduced or canceled, you may owe a balance to UMBC.
Before You Change Your Schedule
- Contact our office to review how the change may affect your awards and student account balance.
- Talk with your academic advisor about your degree requirements and progress toward graduation.
- Submit an Enrollment Update Form through our Forms page if you plan to enroll less than full-time.
- Monitor your myUMBC account for financial aid adjustments and requests from our office.
Have Questions?
We’re here to help you understand your options before you make a change. Contact the Office of Student Financial Wellness and Assistance.