Requirements for Federal and State Financial Aid
To qualify for federal and state financial aid (grants, loans and work-study funds),
students have to meet certain requirements.
General requirements include:
- Be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen
- Have a valid Social Security number*
- Have a high school diploma or a recognized equivalent such as a GED certificate or
completed high school in a home-school setting approved under state law
- Be registered with Selective Service if you’re a male (you must register between the ages of 18 and 25). (As of the 21-22
academic year, this requirement is only applicable for State Aid, including State
of Texas exemptions.)
- Be enrolledin adegree or certificate program that has been approved for financial
aid
- Meetsatisfactory academic progress (SAP)requirements
*If you are not a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen but you graduated from a Texas High School, you may qualify for a Texas Public Education Grant. You should submit a Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TASFA).
Note: The federal Pell grant program is limited to six years of full-time enrollment, or
its equivalent. You can check how much Pell Grant eligibility you have used by logging
into your federal student aid account here. In addition, students who have earned a Bachelor's degree are no longer eligible
for Pell Grant.
Enrollment Requirements
In order to be eligible for certain types of aid, you must meet enrollment requirements:
- With the exception of Pell Grant and FSEOG, students must be enrolled and attending
at least half-time to receive their financial aid. In some cases, even students who are designated
Pell Grant eligible would not be eligible if they were only enrolled in one class. It's best to check with the
Financial Aid Office if you're intending to enroll in only one class.
For financial aid students (NOT VA students), half-time is 6 credit hours. - Students' classes are considered eligible for financial aid if:
The student is enrolled and the professor has verified their attendance, and
The class is required for the student's degree or certificate program, and
For repeat classes, the student has only taken and passed the class 1 other time,
and
If developmental, the student has not exceeded 30 hours of developmental
classes