Miranda Marquit
11/30/2018 ​

Even if you’re attending college part-time, you still have access to financial aid resources. If you enroll in at least six credits, federal student loans are an option as are some private student loans. And you can always apply for additional part-time student scholarships as well.

Getting a good education can be one way to improve your earning power and build wealth over time. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median weekly earnings for someone with a bachelor’s degree is $1,173 — compared to $712 for someone with a high school diploma.
However, even though there might be a payoff for completing a degree, it can be difficult to shoulder the cost of college today. Family income has stagnated while college costs have increased over the last two decades. As a result, it might make more sense to go to school part-time and work to pay for college. Other students might be going back to school later in life, amid family and personal obligations that make it hard to enroll full-time.
Financial aid can help you pay for college, but if you’re a part-time student, you might not qualify for the level of aid you expect, and some scholarships aren’t available to those who aren’t enrolled full-time. The good news is that there’s still help available for you.
Here’s what you need to know about getting financial aid as a part-time student:
What Determines Part-Time Status?Full-time enrollment is generally considered 12 credit-hours for undergrads. If you take less than 12 hours, you’re considered a part-time student. You need to take six credits in order to be considered at half-time enrollment. However, grad students and online students might have different criteria for part-time status.
Check with your school to see what qualifies. In order to qualify for federal student loans, you need to be enrolled at least half-time. However, you might still be eligible for some government grants, even if you’re taking as few as three credits. You can find out more about what’s required by visiting StudentAid.ed.gov. It’s also possible to learn about part-time scholarshipsfrom private sources at websites like Scholarships.com, FastWeb, and Scholly.
What Factors Are Considered When Applying for Financial Aid?First, in order to qualify for federal financial aid, you need to fill out the Free Application for Financial Student Aid (FAFSA). The information from your FAFSA is sent to your schools of choice and is used as the school determines your financial aid package. Additionally, there might be separate applications and forms required by the state, or by the school, to see if you qualify for additional scholarships.
Some of the factors taken into consideration when offering you a package include:

• Your family’s financial situation, and how much they can reasonably be expected to contribute to your education
• Enrollment status (part-time or full-time)
• Grades and other academic achievements
• Extracurricular activities, including sports or clubs
• Other qualifications that might make you eligible for special scholarships

In addition to applying for federal, state, and school financial aid, you can also apply for grants and scholarships from other sources. Some companies and nonprofit organizations offer help to students who need it — including those attending school part-time.
Is It Hard to Get Financial Aid for Part-Time Students?If you’ll be enrolled in school part-time, you might be wondering about your chances of getting financial aid. Fortunately, you will likely have options.
“It’s not hard for part-time students to get financial aid,” said Erin Smith, a former financial aid counselor. “However, the amount you receive is affected by your enrollment. As long as you’re enrolled in six credits, you can at least get federal student loans.”
Smith pointed out that with a federal Pell Grant, you can get help with as little as three credits. The amount you receive, though, is based on your enrollment. You might only receive $762 in Pell Grant money for three credits, but if you’re enrolled full-time, you can receive up to $6,095 for the 2018-19 award year.
Additionally, there might be a smaller pool of financial aid opportunities to choose from. Both Smith and Griffin said that it’s possible to apply for scholarships aimed at part-time students, but they are often small-dollar. You can also check with your school to learn about work-study programs, assistantships, and departmental scholarships.
Part-Time Eligibility for Private Student LoansAs a last resort, part-time college students could borrow using a private student loan. Private student loans are traditionally used by full-time students. However, it is possible to use these loans as a part-time student.
Private student loans are provided by banks and financial institutions like Sallie Mae and Discover Financial Services. Salle Mae offers private student loans for students who are considered half-time and even for students who are “less than half-time.” Discover has financing available for students who are enrolled half-time. At Sallie Mae and Discover, the minimum loan amount available to half-time students is $1,000. To qualify, a part-time student must meet the credit and income requirements set by the financial institution offering the loan.
The college financial aid office must certify the amount of the private student loan. In other words, students are able to borrow up to the school-certified cost of attendance. For part-time students, the school-certified cost of attendance is going to be substantially lower than the full-time cost of attendance.

Author: Miranda Marquit
Miranda Marquit has been writing about money for more than 10 years, and is a nationally-recognized financial expert and journalist. She has appeared on Forbes, NPR, CBNC, Yahoo! Finance, and in many other media outlets, online and offline. Her personal finance blog is Planting Money Seeds, and she is a contributor to the Money Tree Investing Podcast. Miranda lives in Idaho with her teenage son and enjoys the outdoors, travel, and reading.

Our research, news, ratings, and assessments are scrutinized using strict editorial integrity. Our editorial staff does not receive direction from advertisers on our website. Learn more here. 

The eight Ivy League institutions have jointly agreed on admission policies, which are enumerated in the Joint Statement for Candidates on Common Ivy Admission Procedure. 
Download a copy of the Joint Ivy Statement on Admission Policies
Joint Statement for Candidates on Common Ivy Admission ProcedureThe Ivy League is an association of eight institutions of higher education, established in 1954 primarily for the purpose of fostering amateurism in athletics. Although the Ivy League institutions are similar in many respects, each member institution makes its own independent admission decisions according to its own particular admissions policy.
In that the transition between secondary school and institutions of higher education is complex, the institutions have agreed to simplify the process through more uniform admissions procedures. Below is a summary of the procedures under which we are operating, which are shared to provide prospective students with a better understanding of the proces
1. Timing of Decisions Ivy League institutions mail admission decision letters twice annually, in mid December and late March. Those who wish a decision in December must apply by early to mid-November and complete their applications with supporting materials shortly thereafter. A student may not file more than one Early Decision or Early Action application within the Ivy League.

• Early Application - December Notification Under December Notification, an applicant may be notified that he or she has been granted or denied admission or that a final decision has been deferred until the late March notification date. Two plans are offered according to individual institutional policy. 
  • Early Decision  The College Board-approved Early Decision Plan, which is offered by Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, and the University of Pennsylvania, requires a prior commitment to matriculate. Financial aid awards for those qualifying for financial assistance will normally be announced in full detail at the same time as the admission decisions. An applicant receiving admission and an adequate financial award under the Early Decision Plan will be required to accept that offer of admission and withdraw all applications to other colleges or universities. All Ivy League institutions will honor any required commitment to matriculate that has been made to another college under this plan.
  • Early Action A Single Choice Early Action Plan is offered by Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. This plan does not require a commitment to matriculate, and students may apply to other colleges under those colleges’ regular admission programs (spring notification of final admission decision) but not to another private institution’s Early Action or Early Decision program.
• Regular Decision – Notification in the Spring
  • Common Notification Date On a common date, usually in late March, applicants to Ivy League institutions will be notified of admission decisions and financial aid awards. (Letters are mailed beginning in February for the Schools of Hotel Administration, and Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell, and beginning in February for the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania.)
  • Common Reply Date A candidate admitted under the regular decision process to any of the Ivy League institutions may take until the Common Reply Date of May 1 to announce his or her decision to accept or decline an offer of admission. By that date all admitted candidates must affirm in writing their single choice.
  • Waiting Lists The preceding paragraph does not preclude students from remaining on active waiting lists and withdrawing promptly from their original college choice upon receiving subsequent waiting list acceptance to another institution. However, the Ivy League institutions reserve their right to rescind acceptance decisions from candidates who make commitments to and who hold confirmed places at more than one institution concurrently. Students who choose to remain on an active waiting list after May 1 will normally receive a final response no later than July 1.

2. Early Evaluation  As determined by each institution, admissions offices may choose to advise certain applicants in writing of the probability of admission (e.g., likely, possible, unlikely), no earlier than October 1 of the prospect’s senior year in high school. Likely letters will have the effect of letters of admission, in that as long as the applicant sustains the academic and personal record reflected in the completed application, the institution will send a formal admission offer on the appropriate notification date. An applicant who receives one or more such written communications and who has made a decision to matriculate at one institution is encouraged (but not required) to notify all other institutions, and to withdraw all other applications, as promptly as possible. 

• Likely Letters to Student-Athletes From October 1 through March 15 of senior year, an admissions office may issue probabilistic communications, in writing, to recruited student-athlete applicants who have submitted all required application materials.
• Preliminary Feedback Ivy League Admissions Offices will provide feedback to coaches on an individual student’s application no earlier than July 1 following the junior year in high school.
• Communications with Coaches Coaches may communicate to the Admissions Office their support for candidates who are athletic recruits. Candidates are encouraged to ask coaches directly about the coach’s level of interest in them as potential athletic recruits, and should be prepared for coaches to inquire about the candidate’s level of interest as well. Ivy League coaches may indicate the extent to which a candidate’s interest will affect their willingness to support an application, so that candidates can make informed decisions about potential opportunities.

Please note that while a coach may ask whether or not his or her school is a candidate’s top choice, a coach may not require a candidate to refrain from visiting or applying to other schools, or to withdraw applications to other schools, as a condition for support during the admissions process.
Only the Admissions Office has the authority to make or communicate an admissions decision. Communications regarding admissions status provided by coaches, whether orally or in writing, do not constitute binding institutional commitments.
3. Financial Aid Policies

• Need-Based Financial Aid All the Ivy League institutions follow the common policy that any financial aid for student-athletes will be awarded and renewed on the sole basis of economic need with no differentiation in amount or in kind (e.g., packaging) based on athletic ability or participation, provided that each school shall apply its own standard of economic need. The official award of aid may only be made at or subsequent to the time of admission.
• Awarding of Financial Aid  Only the Office of Financial Aid has the authority to award financial aid on behalf of the institution, and applicants should rely only on formal communications from these offices. No suggestion that financial aid may be available that comes from anyone else associated with the institution is binding on the institution. No applicant should consider or accept an offer of financial help from an alumnus, and any such offer should be reported immediately to the Office of Financial Aid.

Participating Institutions

• Brown University
• Harvard University
• Columbia University
• University of Pennsylvania
• Cornell University
• Princeton University
• Dartmouth College
• Yale University

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