1. Office of Student Financial Aid
  2. Resources & Policies
  3. Enrollment & Keeping Aid

Enrollment & Keeping Aid

All Financial Aid Offers Are Subject to Change

All financial aid offers are subject to change. The most common reasons for adjusting aid include insufficient enrollment, over-awards due to receipt of aid from other sources such as tuition waivers or fellowships, and reclassification to in-state tuition rates. Financial aid offers may also be reduced or canceled for several reasons. The financial aid offers may be reduced or canceled due to the discovery of changes or when inaccuracies are found in any of the information on which your financial aid offers were based, failure to complete follow-up steps, maintain degree-seeking status, make Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP), or comply with other federal or University aid regulations. Some scholarships may also be canceled for failure to maintain grade point average requirements.

Keeping Your Financial Aid

Your financial aid offer assumes you will attend the University of Maryland (UMD) full-time. Undergrads registered for 12 or more semester credits after the first 10 days of classes (the Schedule Adjustment Period) are considered full-time. Audited and wait-listed courses are not included in the calculation of credits for full-time status. If you are considering dropping credits or withdrawing from all credits from the semester, you should be aware that this may affect your financial aid. 

Refer to the tables below for the specific enrollment requirements of the most common financial aid programs.

Pell Grants*, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) and TEACH Grants will be prorated for part-time enrollment:

*Full-time Pell Grant of $767 (based on the FY24 regulations) or less per semester may be canceled for part-time enrollment.

  • 100% Offer: 12-21 credits
  • 75% Offer: 9-11 credits
  • 50% Offer: 6-8 credits
  • 25% Offer: 1-5 credits

The following financial aid programs will be canceled if you are not enrolled for the minimum number of credits required:

  • Federal PLUS Loans: 6 credits
  • Federal Direct Loans: 6 credits or 24 Grad Units or 18 Grad Units for 12 Weeks Program*
  • UMD Grant: 12 credits
  • Terrapin Commitment: 12 credits
  • Federal Work Study: 6 credits
  • Educational Assistant Grant: 12 credits
  • Guaranteed Access Grant: 12 credits
  • Part-time State Grant: 6 credits
  • Senatorial or Delegates Scholarships**: 12 credits or 48  Grad Units*

**Students may receive Senatorial and Delegate Scholarships for part-time enrollment (6-11 credits) with special permission from the Maryland Higher Education Commission.

*Definition of Graduate Units For graduate students, enrollment may be calculated based on Units rather than credits. This system for defining enrollment takes into account workload differences between courses.

  • 000-399       2 units per credit hour
  • 400-499       4 units per credit hour
  • 500-599       5 units per credit hour
  • 799               12 units per credit hour
  • 600-897      6 units per credit hour
  • HESP289   18 units per credit hour
  • 898              18 units per credit hour
  • 899              18 units per credit hour  

If you withdraw from all credits for a semester and have received financial aid, any refundable amount of your institutional charges (tuition and fees and/or university housing costs) may be returned to the appropriate financial aid sources. It may also impact your Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). 
 

Refund for Withdrawal

  1. Students who have made no payment on their account at the time of withdrawal will be billed according to the Student Financial Services and Cashiering’s (SFS&C) billing schedule.
  2. Students receiving federal (Title IV) funds may have their refunds reduced in accordance with the Return to Title IV (federal) funds review process.
  3. In computing refunds to students who have scholarships and loans, the computation will be made in such a way as to return the maximum amount to the scholarship and loan accounts without loss to the University.
  4. Only amounts in excess of the non-refundable enrollment deposit will be refunded.
  5. Refund rates are based upon withdrawals confirmed by the Office of the Registrar.
     

Lender Requirements

Under provisions of the Truth in Lending Act, lenders who provide private education loans must:

  1. Provide three separate loan disclosures to borrowers: one at the point of application, one when the loan is approved and one before the loan is disbursed.
  2. Have a waiting period of 10 business days between the time the borrower receives the final loan disclosure and the time the loan is disbursed.
  3. Receive a signed self-certification form from the student before disbursing the loan.

Your lender should provide information about these requirements, but if you have questions, contact our office.
 

Withdrawal and the Return to Title IV (Federal) funds

The Office of Student Financial Aid (OSFA) disburses financial aid at the beginning of each term and you earn the funds as you complete the term. If you withdraw from the university and have received financial aid, OSFA completes the Return to Title IV (federal) funds review process to determine if any federal financial aid funds may need to be returned to its appropriate financial aid source. OSFA completes the Return to Title IV (federal) funds review using the official date of withdrawal reported by the Office of the Registrar. The financial aid disbursed to you is considered in calculating your financial aid eligibility upon your withdrawal. If you did not earn any portion of your financial aid, the financial aid is returned to the federal government in the following order:

  1. Federal Direct Unsubsidized Direct Loans 
  2. Federal Direct Subsidized Loans
  3. Federal Direct PLUS loans
  4. Federal Pell Grant
  5. Federal SEOG 
  6. Federal TEACH Grants
  7. Federal Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant

If this is the case, we will send you a letter to your permanent address (on file) to notify you and provide more instructions. The amount of financial aid you have earned is determined on a prorata basis. For example, if you completed 30% of the term of enrollment, you earned 30% of the financial aid you received. Once you have completed at least 60% of the period of enrollment, you have earned the financial aid you received for that term. Your withdrawal date is when you inform a university official that you will be withdrawing from the university. The withdrawal date is stored with the Office of the Registrar and used to recalculate financial aid eligibility. 

Based on the Return to Title IV Review, the school must return the unearned federal financial aid amount. Therefore, you may incur a charge for any amount of the Title IV program funds that the school is required to return. 

Treatment of Title IV Aid When a Student Withdraws

The Department of Education outlines how schools review your Title IV (federal) aid when you withdraw from school. The Title IV programs that are covered by this regulation are the Federal Pell Grant, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant, TEACHGrant, Direct Loans, Direct PLUS Loans, and the Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (SEOG). 

While OSFA posts financial aid at the beginning of each term, you earn the funds as you complete the term. If you withdraw during the term of enrollment, the amount of federal funds you earned up to that point of withdrawal is determined by a specific formula. OSFA completes the review as soon as possible but no later than 45 days after determining you have withdrawn. You may be eligible to receive those additional funds if you received less financial aid than the amount you earned. If you withdraw but the Title IV funds you have earned have not been disbursed, the grants will be disbursed within 45 days. Loans must be offered within 30 days, allowing you at least 14 days to respond to accept or decline the funds. All post-withdrawal disbursements are applied to the student account first, and any resulting balance is handled. If the Return to Title IV review results in a credit balance, the credit will be applied as soon as possible and no later than 14 days after the calculation from the Return to Title IV review. If you received more assistance than earned, you may need to return aid to the school. The school will complete the Return to Title IV Review and notify you by letter. 

The requirements for the Title IV program for when you withdraw are separate from any refund policy the university may have. Therefore, even if you withdraw, you may still owe funds to the school to cover unpaid institutional charges. The school may also charge you for any Title IV program funds that the school was required to return.

For additional information: