Minimum Credits

We base all initial aid offers on the assumption that you will enroll full-time. If you will enroll part-time, you must notify us by visiting Forms & Online Services and submitting our Course Load Change Form.

For summer and winter minimester enrollment requirements, see summer/winter aid.

Attempted Term Units

Most aid enrollment requirements are based on your total Attempted Units for each term. Attempted Units exclude courses that you drop before the end of the Schedule Adjustment period, and usually include courses that you withdraw from after the Scheduled Adjustment period ends. Also see, Beginning Attendance below.

Your total Attempted Term Units will affect your aid in three ways:

1. If you attend less than full-time, your Cost of Attendance Budget and your financial need will decrease. This can cause Award Changes & Reductions.
2. Aid programs also require a minimum number of enrolled units per term to receive those funds for that term, and those unit requirements are different for each aid program.
3. If this is not your first year in college and you receive MHEC's Guaranteed Access, Educational Assistance, or Campus-Based Educational Assistance​ grants, to receive renewal GA or EA Grants next academic year you must successfully complete at least 30 units this academic year (Fall-Spring-Summer). Review MHEC's GA & EA grant completion requirements.

Minimum Enrollment Requirements by Aid Program

Aid Programs	Minimum Enrollment
TU Admission Scholarships	Full-time (at least 12 units for each fall and spring semester)
MHEC Guaranteed Access & Educational Assistance Grants	To receive MHEC GA or EA Grants you must enroll for at least 12 fall units or at least 12 combined winter minimester and spring units. To receive a renewal GA or EA grant next year, you must meet MHEC's annual Credit Completion Requirements.
All aid budgets and TU Institutional Grants and Federal SEOG Grants	Cost of Attendance budgets for all students and these grant amounts are prorated based on Full-time, ¾ time, ½ time, or less than half-time enrollment.
Federal Pell Grants	You must enroll for at least 12 units per term to receive full-time Pell Grant awards. If you enroll part-time (< 12 units) your Pell Grant award must be prorated based on the Pell Grant Proration Rules below.
Federal loans and Federal Work-Study	You must enroll at least half-time to receive any federal loans or Work-Study funds. Starting with the Fall 2026 term if you enroll part-time, your maximum federal student loan amounts must be prorated based on the new Federal Loan Proration Rules below.

• For other Maryland Higher Education Commission awards not listed above, visit MHEC. 
• For all MHEC aid, also see the Study Abroad Aid restrictions.
• Other scholarships may have enrollment requirements established by the donor or the scholarship coordinator.
• Audited classes do not count toward required credits.

Less than Half-time Status

While some aid programs permit less than half-time enrollment, the Cost of Attendance budgets for less than half-time enrollment can't include living expenses. Because your cost of attendance budget will decrease, we may have to reduce your aid.

In addition, if you drop below half-time status, your Federal Subsidized and Unsubsidized Student Loans will enter repayment status after a six-month grace period.

Federal Pell Grant Proration Rules

If you take less than 12 units per term, we must prorate your term Pell Grant amount based on your total term units divided by 12.

PELL Example

If your full-time Pell Grant amount is $3,698 per term, the prorated amount for 7 units = $3,698 x 7/12 = $2,144. 

Pell proration percentages

1 unit - 8%, 2 units - 17%, 3 units - 25%, 4 units - 33%, 5 units - 42%, 6 units - 50%, 7 units - 58%, 8 units - 67%, 9 units - 75%, 10 units - 83%, 11 units - 92%.

PELL Winter Minimester Units

For these Pell Grant calculations, if you take a winter minimester course, we will treat your combined winter and spring units as a single combined term. If you have at least 12 winter-spring units, you can receive a full-time spring Pell Grant. If you have less than 12 combined winter and spring units, your Pell Grant will be prorated.

Federal Student Loan Proration Rules

Starting with the Fall 2026 term if you enroll part-time, we must prorate (reduce) the maximum loan amounts for the three federal student loan programs (Subsidized, Unsubsidized, and Grad PLUS). These proration rules do not apply to Federal Parent Loans or any loans for Fall 2025 - Summer 2026 terms.

To borrow the maximum loan amounts, you must meet the full-time requirements for fall loans and your combined fall + spring loans. If you enroll part-time, we must prorate your maximum loan amounts based on these formulas.

Federal Loan Proration Formulas

Undergraduate Degree Limits

• Maximum fall loans = standard loan amount limit x (Fall Units/12 Units).
• Maximum fall + spring loans = standard loan amount limit x [(Fall + Spring Units)/24 Units].

Master's Degree & Graduate Certificate Limits

• Maximum fall loans = standard loan amount limit x (Fall Units/9 Units).
• Maximum fall + spring loans = standard loan amount limit x [(Fall + Spring Units)/18 Units].

Doctoral Student Limits

• Maximum fall loans = standard loan amount limit x (Fall Units/6 Units).
• Maximum fall + spring loans = standard loan amount limit x [(Fall + Spring Units)/12 Units].

Undergraduate Student Enrollment Levels

Financial aid Cost of Attendance budgets, TU Institutional Grants, Federal SEOG Grants, and MHEC aid are based on these full-time, 3/4 time, half-time, and less than half-time enrollment levels.

Enrollment Status	Required Units per Term
Full-time	12 or more credits
Three-quarter time	9 to 11 credits
Half-time	6 to 8 credits
Less than half-time	1 to 5 credits

Graduate Student Enrollment Levels

Financial aid Cost of Attendance budgets and MHEC aid are based on these full-time, 3/4 time, half-time, and less than half-time enrollment levels.

Enrollment Status	Master’s Degrees & Certificates	Doctoral Degrees
Full-time	9 or more credits	6 or more credits
Half-time	6 to 8 credits	3 to 5 credits
< Half-time	< 6 credits	< 3 credits

• All Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) aid programs require at least 6 units.
• Audited classes and graduate assistantship placeholder courses (CGSR G90 and G91) do not count toward required aid units.
• In certain situations, TU policy allows graduate students to receive enrollment level adjustments for internship, thesis, dissertation, or capstone project courses. Students can only receive these adjustments for up to two terms. For more information, see the graduate placeholder course policy.

Beginning Attendance

Federal aid programs also require that you attend each course at least once.  If you never attend any of your term courses, then we must cancel all your federal aid.  If you receive a Federal Pell Grant, and never attend some of your courses, then we must recalculate your term Pell Grant payment based only on the course you began attending.  (Example: If you enrolled full-time, but only began attendance in 6 units, then we would reduce your Pell Grant payment to the half-time payment amount.

Enrollment Census Deadlines

We must always evaluate your enrollment level based on your total units as of the term’s financial aid census date, which is always the last day of registrar’s change of schedule period.

For Pell, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG), and institutional grants, if you add a class after the end of this change of schedule period, we must exclude those late units from your grant calculations.

We will also automatically reduce loans based on your census date enrollment level. However, only for loans, if you add a class late, we can readjust your loans based on the additional late units, but only if you contact the Financial Aid Office to request a loan adjustment based on the late class units.

Aid Restrictions for Repeats of Completed Courses

To receive your aid disbursements each term, your total attempted course units for that term must meet the minimum enrollment requirements above. (For example, student loans require at least 6 units per term.)

For federal grants, loans, and work-study funds, when we calculate your total attempted courses units for each term, we must exclude units from courses you are repeating if you previously passed that same course with a grade of "D" or better and have already repeated that course again since then.

If you already completed a course with a grade of "D" or better, and already repeated that course at least once, then you can never receive additional federal aid based on the units from that course.

Example: A student took ENGL 100 twice and earned a D both times. During his 3rd attempt, he retook ENGL 100 and another 3-unit course. During this 3rd attempt, his eligibility for federal aid was based only on the other 3-unit course, and he was not eligible for any federal aid that required more than 3 units.  If the student had taken ENGL 100 and 6 units of other courses, then he would still have been eligible to receive aid based on 6 units of eligible courses.

Maximum Developmental Course Units

If you reach 30 attempted units from developmental courses, you will become ineligible to receive any additional aid based on units from additional developmental courses but can continue to receive aid for other eligible courses.