Full-time Status

For the purposes of financial aid and verification of enrollment, a student is considered enrolled in semester courses by the census date if they are in attendance by the end of the add/drop period: for College of Food Innovation & Technology (laboratory courses) by Thursday of week 1 and for all academic courses by Thursday of week 2. For online courses, a student is considered enrolled by the census date if they complete the first stated assignment or activity by the due date. 

If students do not meet these criteria, they will be withdrawn without academic penalty from the course (i.e., as never attended) and, when appropriate, issued a tuition adjustment in accordance with the Tuition and Fees Credit Policy.

Certification of full-, three-quarter-, half- or less-than-half-time enrollment status for loan deferment, medical insurance, etc. is based on hours of enrollment in a semester as of the census date. Listed below are the requirements that constitute full-time student status for official enrollment certification purposes and for financial assistance.

Status Undergraduate Graduate Post Graduate
Full time 12 or more 9 or more 12 or more
Three-quarter time 9–11.99 N/A N/A
Half time 6–8.99 4.5–8.99 6–11.99
Less-than-half time 0–5.99 0–4.49 0–5.99

Students should realize that in order to receive maximum financial aid they must maintain full-time status. Additionally, insurance companies and scholarship foundations frequently require students to maintain full-time status.

If a student who is receiving veteran’s benefits or participating in athletics receives a grade of W or NC in a course, that course will not count toward full-time status.

Note: Undergraduate students must maintain a minimum of 6.0 credits each semester for purposes of financial aid, with the only exception being the Federal Pell Grant.