General Eligibility for Financial Aid

To be considered eligible for federal financial aid at FHSU, you must at least meet the following criteria:

Ability to Benefit - Demonstrate an Ability to Benefit with a high school diploma or G.E.D.

Admitted as Degree-Seeking - Be admitted as degree-seeking at FHSU. If you already have a degree or are registered with non-degree-seeking status, you may have limited aid eligibility.

Citizenship - Be a citizen or eligible noncitizen of the United States. If you are an international student, contact the International Student Services Office for other types of aid opportunities.

Drug Convictions - You may not be eligible to receive federal aid if you have been convicted of selling or possessing illegal drugs, if the drug offense you were convicted of occurred while you were receiving federal student aid. Further information is available on our Drug Conviction Policy page.

Eligible Courses - Register in courses that qualify for financial aid. Audited courses, extended term online telecommunication courses, and correspondence courses do not qualify for financial aid.

Registration Holds - Clear any registration holds on your record with the Student Fiscal Services Office. (A registration hold may be placed on your account if you have a past due balance.)

Registration Level - Maintain credit load requirements for the aid sources you are offered. Different types of financial aid require registration in a specific number of hours for eligibility. Students must be registered in at least a half-time status to receive loans; however, the number of hours required for grants vary by the type of grant. For more specifics on the registration level requirements for different awards, feel free to contact our office. When awarded aid at FHSU, the awards and amounts are based upon your registration level. The registration levels below are based on all undergraduate hours or all graduate hours. If you plan to register in mixture of undergraduate and graduate hours, we recommend you contact our office about how this will affect your financial aid. Additionally, contact our office if you have questions about how your awards are affected if you will not be registration full-time. The FHSU registration levels are as follows:

	Full-Time	3/4 Time	Half-Time	Less than Half-Time
Undergraduate (Fall and Spring)	12 or more hours	11 - 9 hours	8 - 6 hours	5 hours or less
Undergraduate (Summer)	12 or more hours	11 - 9 hours	8 - 6 hours	5 hours or less
Graduate (Fall and Spring)	9 or more hours	N/A	5 hours	not eligible for aid
Graduate (Summer)	9 or more hours	N/A	5 hours	not eligible for aid

FAFSA - Complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for each year that you are seeking aid.

Owe Money - Do not owe money back on any student aid program to FHSU or any other school, not in default on any educational loan, or do not show any unwillingness to repay any educational loan.

Pell Grant - Not receive a federal Pell Grant from more than one school at the same time.

Program-Specific Requirements - Meet the eligibility requirements for each aid program from which you accept financial aid.

Satisfactory Academic Progress - Once admitted, maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress for continued eligibility.

Selective Service Registration - Comply with Selective Service registration requirements if you are a male, at least 18 years old, are not currently on active duty in the Armed Forces, and were born after 12-31-1959. If you do not register before age 26, you cannot receive federal aid.