Summer Financial Aid

Enrollment

Undergraduate students must be enrolled 12 hours for full-time and 6 hours for half-time (necessary for loan and work study eligibility). Graduate students need 9 hours for full-time, 5 for half-time and must be admitted to the Graduate Program. Students must be enrolled in at least half time to receive loans or additional Pell Grant during the summer.

Students are required to be degree-seeking at SWOSU to receive financial aid. This is a federal requirement. So students who take classes at SWOSU during the summer who are pursuing a degree from another institution should have a consortium agreement started with their other school to allow them to process your summer aid while including your SWOSU hours enrolled. Not all colleges process these types of agreements though, so it is good to check with them early on.

Students must complete a "Summer Aid Request" form and submit it to the Office of Student Financial Services.

Pell Grants

Pell is only available for summer if you did not receive your full year's eligibility during fall and spring. Usually only students who attended less than full-time during the academic year have Pell Grant funds remaining for summer.

Since the semester is shortened, the maximum amount of aid available is usually reduced as well. Maximum Pell Grants, for those who have funds remaining, are typically half the value of the maximums for the other two semesters for example.

SEOG Grants

In some years we have been able to pay students who qualified for a maximum Pell Grant during the academic year an SEOG Grant during the summer term. Availability of this funding is determined annually near the end of the spring semester. If you qualify and money is available, it will be shown on your summer award letter.

PLUS Loans

Dependent students who received their maximum loan eligibility during the academic year often only have a Parent PLUS Loan or an Alternative Student Loan as their remaining option for summer term. These are only awarded if no other federal loan option exists.

Withdrawal/Summer Census Date

Many classes are offered with varying start dates during the summer term. Your aid is calculated based upon enrollment as of the census date, which is the 5th day of the regular summer term. However, if you withdraw from classes which have not yet met after the census date, this reduces the number of hours allowed for aid. Often this creates a need for a payback of student aid. Speak about this issue with a Student Financial Services Counselor prior to changing your course schedule after the census date.