On This Page: How Aid is Awarded, Factors Impacting Aid
View the financial aid disbursment and refunds page for information on when you can expect to recieve your aid.
How Aid is Awarded
Generally, financial aid award packages are calculated starting November/December and continue throughout the award year.
- Financial aid awards packaged during this time are split equally between the fall and spring terms.
- Packaging awards for the spring semester generally begins in November for students who are not attending the fall term.
- Packaging awards for summer usually begins in March.
Priority Deadline: Jan. 15*
All financial aid files must be submitted and processed by this date for you to receive maximum consideration in the distribution of funding resources according to funding criteria.
If you complete a file after the priority deadline, your aid will be packaged with the Federal Pell Grant (if eligible), Federal Work Study (dependent on availability of funds and if you indicate interest), and loans. Due to limited funding, the college cannot attempt to meet 100% of the your financial need with grant money.
*Note that due to the large applicant pool and limited funding allocations, not all students meeting the priority deadline are awarded funds from all programs.
- Your total financial aid and other Estimated Financial Assistance (EFA) cannot exceed your Cost of Attendance (COA).
- All need-based funds packaged cannot go over your need as defined by the formula: COA – Student Aid Index (SAI) = Need. SAIs are determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
- The Federal Pell Grant is the first award you will recieve if eligible. Per federal regulations, you cannot receive a Pell Grant from two schools at the same time.
- The Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) is awarded according to federal guidelines. Federal Pell Grant recipients with the lowest SIA ($0) have first priority for FSEOG funding.
- Collin College's philosophy is to award one supplemental grant per eligible student in order to award as many eligible students as possible.
- You can receive aid for a class you have already passed one time only.
- You can only receive aid for developmental classes up to 30 semester hours. Any developmental coursework taken beyond 30 hours will have to be paid out of pocket.
- You must be enrolled in classes on your official degree plan and have your attendance verified by the instructor in order to receive financial aid funds for those classes.
- Award packages are created based on expected full-time enrollment. Adjustments will be made at the end of the add/drop period (census date) for changes in enrollment status. These adjustments may result in reduced or cancelled awards.
Generally, financial aid award packages are calculated starting November/December and continue throughout the award year.
- Financial aid awards packaged during this time are split equally between the fall and spring terms.
- Packaging awards for the spring semester generally begins in November for students who are not attending the fall term.
- Packaging awards for summer usually begins in March.
Continue to Next Step
Priority Deadline: Jan. 15*
All financial aid files must be submitted and processed by this date for you to receive maximum consideration in the distribution of funding resources according to funding criteria.
If you complete a file after the priority deadline, your aid will be packaged with the Federal Pell Grant (if eligible), Federal Work Study (dependent on availability of funds and if you indicate interest), and loans. Due to limited funding, the college cannot attempt to meet 100% of the your financial need with grant money.
*Note that due to the large applicant pool and limited funding allocations, not all students meeting the priority deadline are awarded funds from all programs.
Continue to Next Step
- Your total financial aid and other Estimated Financial Assistance (EFA) cannot exceed your Cost of Attendance (COA).
- All need-based funds packaged cannot go over your need as defined by the formula: COA – Student Aid Index (SAI) = Need. SAIs are determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
- The Federal Pell Grant is the first award you will recieve if eligible. Per federal regulations, you cannot receive a Pell Grant from two schools at the same time.
- The Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) is awarded according to federal guidelines. Federal Pell Grant recipients with the lowest SIA ($0) have first priority for FSEOG funding.
- Collin College's philosophy is to award one supplemental grant per eligible student in order to award as many eligible students as possible.
- You can receive aid for a class you have already passed one time only.
- You can only receive aid for developmental classes up to 30 semester hours. Any developmental coursework taken beyond 30 hours will have to be paid out of pocket.
- You must be enrolled in classes on your official degree plan and have your attendance verified by the instructor in order to receive financial aid funds for those classes.
- Award packages are created based on expected full-time enrollment. Adjustments will be made at the end of the add/drop period (census date) for changes in enrollment status. These adjustments may result in reduced or cancelled awards.
Factors Impacting Aid
A "snapshot" of all students' enrollment is taken on the census date and used to determine financial aid eligibility. Visit the calendars and dates page to check when the census date is for your upcoming term.
Generally, the classes you are enrolled in and attending (i.e., your instructor has verified your attendance) and that are on your official degree plan as of the census date will determine the amount of financial aid grant money you will receive.
If your initial financial aid award is made:
- Before census, it is based on the assumption that you will be enrolled full time (12 credit hours or more).
- After census, it is based on your actual enrollment status.
If you are enrolled and attending less than full time as of the census date of the long (16-week) semester, your aid will likely be less than what was reported to you in your initial award letter or email. This is because aid is initially awarded based on the expectation of full-time enrollment. Your aid is then adjusted on census date to match your actual enrollment.
Express Classes
The Financial Aid office will verify that the class is on your official degree plan once your instructor verifies your attendance. Additional aid will be released up to the full-time award (a student cannot get more than a full-time award in any given semester).
| Level of Enrollment | Number of Credits |
|---|---|
| Full-time | 12 or more credits |
| 3/4-time | 9-11 credits |
| 1/2-time | 6-8 credits |
| Less than 1/2-time | 1-5 credits |
Impact on Pell Grant Awards
The Pell Grant is paid for the specific number of hours in which you are enrolled
(up to 12 hours). So, if you are enrolled in 10 credit hours (on your degree plan),
your Pell Grant will pay out for 10/12's of the full-time award.
Pell eligibility begins on the first day of classes and is calculated day to day. A student who drops all classes during the add/drop period before the census date will be considered a Return of Title IV (R2T4).
What does this mean for you?
If you increase or decrease your enrollment level through the enrollment snapshot period/census date, your financial aid will be adjusted, as appropriate, to ensure that it is the appropriate amount given for your enrollment level.
| Enrollment Change | Impact on Your Aid |
|---|---|
| Decreasing your enrollment after the first class day but on or before the census date | Your aid will be decreased to match your enrollment. However, you may still owe some tuition and fee charges to the college because of the refund policy. Students will be responsible for any balance owed to the cashier's office. View the college's refund policy. |
| Increasing your enrollment level after the census date of the long (16-week) semester |
Your aid may be increased depending on a number of factors. For loans, adding more hours would not get you more loan money. For a Pell Grant, if you were not enrolled and attending full time at the start of the long semester and you add a class after the census date, your Pell Grant should increase.
For supplemental grants such as FSEOG and TPEG, if you were not initially awarded these when you originally registered, it is unlikely these will increase if you later add a class. This is because these grants are provided to the school in a limited amount and are awarded to all eligible students as applications are loaded into our system. |
| Decreasing your enrollment level after the census date. |
Your grant aid will not be reduced.* However, if you have loans and drop below six credit hours, any future disbursements will be canceled per federal regulations.
*Note that for Satisfactory Academic Progress purposes, you will be held accountable for completing a full-time course load (meaning, this will affect your rate of completion). |