Courses in Program of Study for Financial Aid
Your enrollment does affect your eligibility for federal financial aid!
Federal Regulations require you to be degree seeking to receive financial aid, but the courses you take must also be required for your program. Essentially, only the coursework that counts toward your degree program will be used in determining your enrollment status for aid purposes.
Why does it matter if the courses are required for my degree?
The purpose of this federal policy is to ensure that students remain on track towards graduation and only receive the aid for which they are eligible.
What types of Aid are affected by this?
Federal Aid (Some examples: Pell Grant, Teach Grant, Direct Loans, Work Study and FSEOG) may only be paid for eligible courses that count toward your program of study.
How is enrollment status determined?
At Shippensburg University, the following measure is used for enrollment status:
- Undergraduates: 12 or more hours is full-time, 9-11 hours is three-quarter-time, 6-8 hours is half-time, and 5 or less hours is less-than-half-time.
- Undergraduates taking a graduate level course to meet undergraduate requirements, work with your advisor to submit an exception form to the Registrar’s Office to allow the course to count for undergraduate credit. We recommend submitting the exception form early.
- Undergraduates taking a graduate level course for graduate credit, that course will not count toward your enrollment status and may have an impact on your financial aid.
- Graduates: 6 or more hours is full-time, 3 hours is half-time (effective summer of 2022).
What and when will the process be run to identify courses not in the program of study?
In order to provide students with information that is as up to date as possible, the process will be run once daily from the start of scheduling through the end of the add/drop period. It is important that all changes affecting courses that count toward the program of study be made before the end of the add/drop period. You may log into MyShip and click on the Course Program Of Study Link to review any courses that may be marked as "No" under the "Count in Program" column.
How will I know if the courses count?
To see if your courses are eligible, log in to MyShip, click on the Course Program of Study Link and select the current term.
If you see "Yes" this course will be considered for your Federal Financial Aid enrollment status. If you see "No" this course will not be considered as part of your enrollment status. For example if you are registered for 12 credits and 9 have "Yes" and 3 have "No", your enrollment status is 3/4 time as an undergraduate. If you are taking at least 12 credits as an undergraduate that are marked "Yes" your Federal Financial Aid enrollment status will remain full-time even if additional courses are marked "No".
Full-time graduate enrollment is 6 credits and half-time enrollment is 3 credits (effective summer of 2022). You must be in at least 3 credits marked "Yes" to receive Federal financial aid (effective summer of 2022).
What steps should I take if my courses marked "No" impact my enrollment status?
Check with your advisor to ensure all exceptions have been forwarded and processed by the Registrar's Office. Otherwise, these courses are taken at your discretion. We highly encourage you to contact your advisor with any questions.
What do I need to do to ensure my correct aid amount disburses?
Since we disburse your federal financial aid 10 days before the start of the semester, we recommend you enroll in courses that are required for your degree program of study and declare your major or minor early.
What about students who are going to change majors?
Only the current semester major will be used when evaluating the courses. Courses counting only toward future majors will not count toward the program of study.
What if I make a change to my schedule after my aid has been disbursed and I receive my refund?
The Financial Aid Office may need to re-evaluate your financial aid award depending on when the schedule change occurs. We would encourage you to contact our office prior to making any schedule changes after a semester begins. Schedule changes could affect the amount awarded or disbursed, causing you to owe a balance.
Eligibility Examples:
- If you are an Undergraduate student eligible for the Pell Grant and are enrolled in 12 credit hours, but only 9 are required for your program, you will receive federal aid for only those 9 eligible hours.
- If you are an Undergraduate student enrolled in 6 credit hours, but only 3 are required for your program, you will not be eligible for the student loan. Undergraduate Students must be enrolled in a minimum of 6 eligible hours for Federal Direct loans.
- If you are a Graduate student enrolled in 3 credit hours and those credit hours are not required for your program, you will not be eligible for the student loan. Graduate students must be enrolled at least half-time (3 credit hours effective summer 2022) to be eligible for the Federal Direct Loan.
Am I still able to take courses not required for my degree?
Yes, you can take a course that is not required. Just know that the course will not count toward your financial aid enrollment status.
How will this affect Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)?
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) is based on total hours taken and not federal aid eligible hours taken. All hours will continue to count towards this as noted at Financial Aid Eligibility.
I have questions specific to my financial aid, who should I contact?
You should direct questions specific for financial aid to the Financial Aid Office. We are located in Old Main, Room 101. You may stop by during our office hours (8:00 to 4:30 Monday through Friday). You may also contact us by phone at 717-477-1131 or by email at finaid@ship.edu.
You may also visit our website at www.ship.edu/Financial_Aid for additional information regarding Course Program of Study and Financial Aid.
Prepare and register early to ensure your courses will be eligible for financial aid!