Less Than Full Time Loan Adjustments

• Full-Time Academic Year Definition: To be considered full-time for the academic year
  • Undergraduate students: Must take 24 credit hours over the course of the fall and spring terms.
  • Graduate/Professional/Doctoral students: Must take 18 credits over the course of the fall and spring terms.

• Half-time Enrollment: Students must be enrolled at least in a half-time load of financial aid-eligible classes to receive a Federal Direct Loan in any given semester. The minimum number of credits per semester to be considered half-time is:
  • Undergraduates:  6 credit hours
  • Graduate/Professional/Doctoral students: 5 credit hours 

• Loan Amount: A student can receive the full annual Federal Direct Loan amount as long as their financial aid eligibility allows them to do so.

• Award Calculation:
  Cost of Attendence(COA) - Gift Aid(Grants/Scholarships) -Federal Work Study = Remaining Eligiblity for Loans

• Full-Time Academic Year Definition (No change from the current rules): To be considered full-time for the academic year
  • Undergraduate students: Must take 24 credit hours over the course of the fall and spring terms.
  • Graduate/Professional/Doctoral students: Must take 18 credits over the course of the fall and spring terms.

• Half-time Enrollment (No change from the current rules):  Students must be enrolled for at least a half-time load of financial aid-eligible classes to receive a Federal Direct Loan in any given semester. The minimum number of credits per semester to be considered half-time is:
  • Undergraduates:  6 credit hours
  • Graduate/Professional/Doctoral students: 5 credit hours

• Less than Full-Time Enrollment:  Starting with the 2026–27 award year, which beings with the Summer 2026 term at Edmonds College, Direct Loan amounts for students who are not full-time for the full academic year will need to be adjusted. This is called a Schedule of Reduction, or SOR change. We are waiting for guidance from the Department of Education on the formula for making these adjustments in all scenarios.  What we have received to date indicates that less than full-time enrollment in one semester may affect loan eligibility in another, rather than just the semester in which it occurred, but the Department of Education's examples are not comprehensive enough to fully outline how this will work in every enrollment scenario. For example, we have no guidance as to how this will work for enrollment in the summer semester.
• Award Calculation:
  Cost of Attendance (COA) − Gift Aid (grants/scholarships) − Federal Work Study = Remaining eligibility for loans

• Less than full-time formula for loan eligiblity:
  number of credit hours enrolled for academic year ÷ number of credit hours considered full time for that academic year for the program of study × 100  = reduced annual loan limit percentage

This adjustment rule applies to all undergraduate, graduate, and professional student Direct Loan borrowers, utilizing Direct Subsidized Loans, Direct Unsubsidized Loans, and/or Graduate PLUS Loans. Even those considered legacy borrowers who have borrowed from any of these loan programs prior to July 1, 2026 are subject to this rule. 

Since this rule only impacts student borrowing, the Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan is not subject to these adjustments for less-than-full-time study.