OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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The 2024-2025 FAFSA is now available. Learn more at Future Student and Current Students.
Current Office Hours and Contact Information: Contact Us
Below is a basic overview of undergraduate financial aid limits. Students are encouraged to closely monitor their federal aid usage on the studentaid.gov website. These yearly and aggregate maximums cannot be appealed once they are reached. More information on federal grants and loans may be found on the FSA website.
Maximum of 6 years (18 terms/12 semesters based on full-time enrollment).
Based on the Congressional approval of year-round Pell, eligible students may now receive up to 150% of their Pell eligibility in a single year. This means, a student at OSU may be eligible to receive a full-time Pell Grant for all 4 terms of the academic year. Terms in which a student is attending less than half-time (fewer than 6 credit hours) may not be counted towards this additional eligibility. Please keep in mind that lifetime Pell eligibility has not changed.
More information on how Pell Lifetime Eligibility Usage (LEU) is calculated may be found on the FSA website.
Maximum of 4 years (generally 12 terms).
More information about OOG eligibility may be found on the OSAC website.
| Class Standing | Credits | Dependent Limit | Independent Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freshman | 0-44 | $5,500 | $9,500 |
| Sophomore | 45-89 | $6,500 | $10,500 |
| Junior/Senior | 90+ | $7,500 | $12,500 |
Combined maximum for all years of seeking an undergrad/post-bacc degree
Dependent student: $31,000
Independent student: $57,500
*There are additional limits on Ford Direct subsidized loans. More information on loan limits may be found on the FSA website
**Loan limits are different for dependent and independent students. Read how dependent/independent status is determined for federal financial aid on the FSA website
***Dependent student loan maximums may increase to match the independent amounts in cases where the parent is credit denied for the parent plus loan for that aid year. After a parent is credit denied for that year, the student may request an increase by submitting a student loan revision form
If a student is attending fewer than 3 terms in the final year of their undergraduate degree, their federal loans must be prorated to match their level of enrollment. Loan proration uses a federal formula to determine the maximum amount of loans a student may receive based on the number of credits they are taking each term. For example, Sharon is graduating after attending only one term in the academic year. She is taking 12 credits in the fall term. For that single full-time term, she may receive 1/3 of her yearly Ford Direct Student Loan maximum eligibility. That amount would be reduced further if she were attending less than full-time.
The credit hour maximum timeframe (MTF) is an additional limitation beyond the federal aid aggregate maximums. Your MTF is 150% of the published credit hours it takes to complete your first degree. For example, a Bachelor’s Degree that requires 180 credit hours has an MTF of 270 credits. Federal aid eligibility ends once the MTF is reached. There is an appeal process for students who are reaching MTF and meet certain criteria. More information about appealing for maximum timeframe may be found on the Satisfactory Academic Progress section of our website. Unfortunately, appealing for an MTF extension does not impact the federal aid aggregate limits. Once the aggregate limits are reached a maximum timeframe extension would have no impact on extending federal aid eligibility.
Although the Federal Parent PLUS Loan does not have yearly or aggregate maximums, they are only available to the credit-approved parents of students who are undergraduate and considered dependent for FAFSA purposes. If a student is turning 24 or will otherwise be considered independent for a given aid year, the Parent PLUS Loan option would not be available. Please review the FSA website for further information on dependency status.