Students Graduating in a Fall Term and Loan Proration

Loan proration ensures a student receives the correct portion of their annual allotment for Direct Loans, since they will not be enrolled for a full academic year. Students are notified via two separate emails of the proration and/or change in award. Continuous notification is also indicated in Banner self-service. Students who change their schedule after loan proration is performed must contact the Office of Student Financial Aid for a re-evaluation of their eligibility.

Under 34 CFR 685.203(a),(b),(c), federal regulations require schools to prorate the Federal Direct Stafford Loan amount for graduating undergraduate students when their final period of enrollment is less than a full academic year. Graduating seniors who are only attending one semester of the academic year may have their Federal Direct Stafford Loans prorated based on the number of credit hours remaining in their program of study.

New for the 2026-2027 academic year and following:

Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (also known as the Working Families Tax Cuts Act), loan prorations will also occur for graduating graduate students. A student cannot receive more than half the annual loan limit in a semester-based program (or more than a third of the annual loan limit in a quarter-based program) when using the single-term formula in proposed 34 CFR 685.203(m)(1)(i) for periods of enrollment less than a full academic year in length. In accordance with this new regulation, students are no longer eligible to receive more than 50% of their scheduled award year with this single exception to the rule.

Proration Formula

Each student will be manually reviewed and awarded their maximum amount possible. This loan will pay in two disbursements, one at the beginning of the semester, and the second at the halfway mark through the semester. Should the graduation date be moved, the student's Spring amount will be adjusted accordingly to be in guidance with the Schedule of Reductions (SOR) calculations set by the Department of Education. Any amount(s) already paid in the previous Fall semester will be taken into consideration with the Spring calculation. Graduate students’ eligibility will still be calculated per the new SOR guidance based on enrollment as is detailed in the December Graduates - Prorated Loan Limits Graduate Students table below.

NOTE: Institutions are not permitted to exceed federal aggregate loan limits published by the Department of Education. Therefore, the actual loan amount may also be impacted by the student’s total aggregate loan limit(s), the cost of attendance, and other eligibility factors.

Loan Proration Tables for Undergraduate and Graduate Students

The below December Graduates - Prorated Loan Limits Undergraduate Students chart below applies to undergraduate students who are Fall-only students graduating in December. Prorating limits the amount of subsidized/unsubsidized loans (and any other eligible federal loans) that a graduating senior may borrow for their final semester based on the following formula:

Actual number of undergraduate credit hours/number of credit hours in an academic year (24) x annual federal direct Stafford loan limit ($7,500 for dependent or $12,500 for independent)

The below December Graduates - Prorated Loan Limits Graduate Students chart below applies to graduate students who are Fall-only students graduating in December. Prorating limits the amount of unsubsidized loans (and any other eligible federal loans) that a graduating senior may borrow for their final semester based on the following formula: