The Office of Financial Aid can offer eligible students certain types of aid during the summer term. Below are important items you need to know about summer aid:
1. Apply for Aid
- Summer Term 2024 aid requires a 2024-25 FAFSA application because summer is the start of the new school year for financial aid purposes.
- Packaging of summer aid will begin after students enroll in summer term courses and have submitted an online form requesting an update to their enrollment. After receiving a 2024-25 aid offer, students will need to submit the form which is located on the Award Offer tab of the OSU Financial Aid Self-Service Portal. Indicate your planned enrollment for summer term and the rest of the school year. The processing time of adding summer term aid takes an average of 2 weeks.
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2. Aid May Be Limited
Summer financial aid is limited due to funding constraints and loan program limits.
- Students expecting to attend for four terms can anticipate their federal student loan funds to be redistributed over the four terms of enrollment. Annual loan limits remain the same regardless of the number of terms you attend.
- Students awarded work-study for the academic year may begin working during the summer term (after July 1) if enrolled half-time or more.
- Students eligible for the Federal Pell Grant may receive these funds for all four terms including summer.
- Tuition and fees for summer term may be found on the OSU Finance and Administration Budget and Resource Planning webpage.
3. Enrollment Requirements for Aid
Enrollment levels are NOT different in summer.
| Enrollment Level | Undergraduate or Post-Bacc | Graduate or Professional |
|---|---|---|
| Full-Time | 12 or more credits | 9 or more credits |
| Three-Quarter Time | 9-11 credits | N/A |
| Half-Time | 6-8 credits | 5-8 credits |
| Less Than Half-Time | 1-5 credits | 1-4 credits |
4. Changes in Enrollment
- During the summer term, the Census Date coincides with the last date students can add a course in session one.
- Dropping courses after the summer Census Date may result in a reversal of the Pell Grant. Students must participate in all their courses to earn federal financial aid for that term. If students drop a course before that course began or if we are unable to verify your participation in a course, we are required to reverse and return any Pell Grant payments made for that course to the U.S. Department of Education. This reversal of aid may create a new bill on students’ OSU account.
- Students are paid federal financial aid based on all the sessions (entire payment period) they are registered for at the time of aid disbursement. If they do not complete all those sessions, a return of federal funds may be required.
- Students must monitor their OSU student email throughout the summer. If they drop, withdraw from, or do not fully complete the current sessions, students may be considered withdrawn from the term, even if they are still enrolled in a future session. In this case, we may email a student a request to complete a summer survey that confirms their intent to participate in future sessions.
- If students do not complete this summer survey, a return of federal aid may be required.
5. Summer Aid Disbursements
- Summer term disbursements of some types of financial aid will begin shortly before the start of Session 1.
- SEOG and many scholarships awarded for summer cannot be disbursed until the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1st.
- Remember, textbooks cannot be charged to OSU student accounts. Proper planning for textbook purchases before the disbursement of financial aid is strongly encouraged.