New federal regulations require the Office of Financial Aid to prorate Federal Direct Loan amounts for students who are enrolled less than full-time during an academic year. If you are not taking a full course load, your loan will be reduced based on your enrollment each term using the Department of Education’s Schedule of Reductions (SOR).
How Your Proration Percentage is Determined
Your loan proration percentage is calculated by dividing the number of credit hours in which you are enrolled by the number of credit hours required for full-time enrollment in your academic program for the aid year.
| Enrollment Status Types (per semester) | Undergraduate (Fall, Spring & Summer) | Graduate (Fall & Spring) | Graduate (Summer) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full time | 12+ | 9+ | 6+ |
| Three-quarter time | 9 - 11.5 | 6.5 - 8.5 | 4.5 - 5.5 |
| Half time | 6 - 8.5 | 4.5 - 6 | 3 - 4 |
| Less than half time | .5 - 5.5 | .5 - 4 | .5 - 2.5 |
* Half-Time Requirement: To receive any federal loan disbursement, you must maintain at least half-time enrollment at the time the loan pays out.
The Proration Process
If you are enrolled less than full time for a semester, our office will utilize the following SOR calculation to determine your loan eligibility:
- Determine Your Maximum Annual Loan Limit: We establish your baseline maximum annual loan eligibility based on your dependency status, grade level, and specific loan type (Subsidized and/or Unsubsidized).
- Apply the SOR Percentage: We then divide your total enrolled credits for the term by the number of credit hours considered full time for the academic year, multiply by 100, and round to the nearest whole percentage point. This rounded percentage is applied directly to your annual loan limit to establish your new, capped eligibility.
Note: If your enrollment for a future semester is unknown when your financial aid is initially packaged, we will use your Fall semester enrollment to estimate your annual loan eligibility. Your loan amount will be adjusted if your enrollment changes.
Example:
- Annual Loan Limit: $5,500
- Enrolled Hours for Fall Semester: 9
- Assumed Hours for Future Spring Semester: 9
- UG Annual Full-Time Requirement: 24
- Proration Percentage: 18 ÷ 24 = 75%
SOR Annual Loan Limit:
$5,500 × 75% = $4,125 - Distribute Your Awards Equally Across Semesters: To split the funding across your academic year, we take your newly calculated SOR annual loan limit from Step 2 and divide it equally by the number of terms you are attending (such as dividing by 2 for a standard Fall and Spring schedule).
Important
For more details on these legislative policy changes please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s site.