Summer Term Financial Aid

You will request financial aid for the summer term before or at the time you accept your financial aid offer.

The Office of Financial Aid can assist students with certain eligible types of aid during the summer term. Below are important items you need to know about summer aid:

1. Apply for Aid

• Summer Term 2025 aid requires a 2025-26 FAFSA application because summer is the start of the new school year for financial aid purposes.
• Packaging of summer aid will not begin until early May.
• Once you have been awarded aid for the 2025-2026 year, financial aid for the summer session can be requested by submitting a request to update your expected enrollment on the Award Offer tab of your OSU Financial Aid Portal. Please indicate your planned enrollment status for the Summer Term and the rest of the school year. Enrollment revisions take on average 1-2 weeks to process once processing begins in May but can take longer during peak processing times.

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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 1st) 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. You must notify the financial aid office 2-3 weeks in advance if you will be enrolled less than full time (below).

• You must be enrolled at least half-time (6-8 credits as undergrad or 5-8 credits as grad) to be eligible for most financial aid including federal student loans.

4. Changes in Enrollment

• During the summer term, the Census Date coincides with the last date you can add a course in session one.
• Dropping courses after the summer Census Date may result in a reversal of your Pell Grant. You must participate in all your courses to earn federal financial aid for that term. If you drop a course before that course began or if we are unable to verify your participation in a course, we are required to reverse 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 your OSU student account.
• You are paid federal financial aid based on all the sessions (entire payment period) you are registered for at the time of aid disbursement. If you do not complete all those sessions, a return of federal funds may be required.
• Be sure to monitor your OSU student email throughout the summer. If you drop, withdraw from, or do not fully complete your current sessions, you may be considered withdrawn from the term, even if you are still enrolled in a future session. In this case, we may email you a request to complete a summer survey that confirms your intent to participate in future sessions.
• If you 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 disburse until the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1st.
• Students awarded work-study for the academic year may begin working during the summer session (after July 1st) if enrolled half-time or more.
• Remember, textbooks cannot be charged to your student account. Proper planning for textbook purchases before the disbursement of financial aid is strongly encouraged.