Financial Aid FAQs

Undergraduate

• Full-Time: 12+ credits
• Three-Quarters Time: 9-11 credits
• Half-Time: 6-8 credits
• Less than Half-Time: 1-5 credits

Graduate

• Full-Time: 9+ credits
• Half-Time: 4-8 credits

Medical

• Full-Time: 12+ credits

Dental

• Full-Time: 11+ credits

Law

• Full-Time: 9+ credits

Note: Audited courses cannot be included in meeting the minimum required credit hours toward eligibility.

Financial aid is money used to help students and their families pay for college. Financial aid can come from the federal government, the state where the student lives, the school the student attends, or a nonprofit or private organization. Financial aid is used to cover all educational expenses including tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, and transportation. Financial aid comes in the form of grants, institutional and external scholarships, work study and loans.

In order to apply for aid student’s and parents will need to navigate to studentloans.gov and fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Each student and parent will need to create their own unique FSA ID in order to log in and out of the application.

No, you can fill out the FAFSA before being fully admitted to Howard University, but your aid eligibility cannot be determined until you are an admitted student.

Yes, you must complete a new FAFSA every academic year. All applicants are encouraged to complete the FAFSA by Howard’s priority deadline for that academic year.

After submitting your FAFSA the Department of Education uses that information to determine your Student Aid Index (SAI). Your SAI is then used to determine how much a family can contribute towards the student’s education. Howard will use the SAI to determine eligibility for need-based funds as well as federal financial aid. Financial need is determined by your cost of attendance (total cost to attend Howard)-SAI=financial need.

Ex: Student has 650 SAI and the Cost of Attendance is $59,288; Financial Need=$58,638

Yes. There are additional sources of aid such as low interest unsubsidized Federal Stafford loans that are not determined by need. Also, it is wise to have a backup plan in case your family experiences unexpected financial hardships.

Yes. To be considered independent for financial aid purposes, you must meet one of the following criteria based on federal regulations:

• Are now 24 years old, or will turn 24 by December 31st of the FAFSA filing year
• Are working on a master’s or doctorate program
• Are married
• Have children who receive more than half of their support from you
• Have dependents (other than your children or spouse) who live with you and receive more than half of their support from you
• Are an orphan or a ward/dependent of the court (until age 18)
• Be active duty or a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces

The amount of loans a student can receive varies by their academic level and student status. See the below chart for annual and aggregate loan limits:

A Direct Stafford Subsidized Loan is available to undergraduate students who display financial need. A Subsidized Loan does not accrue interest while the student is enrolled in school at least half-time (6 credits), for the first 6 months after a student leaves school whether for graduation or breaks in enrollment, and during a period of deferment.

A Direct Stafford Unsubsidized Loan is available to undergraduate and graduate students and the student does not have to demonstrate financial need. Direct Unsubsidized loans begin to accrue interest immediately after the disbursement occurs.

Yes, Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Allied Health have special funds. You must include parental information on your FAFSA regardless of your dependency status to be considered for these grants, scholarships, and loans.

No, your aid is based on your enrollment at the end of the drop/add period. Aid is not adjusted after that date.

Households that exhibit a change in income/circumstances since the tax year requested by FAFSA may have the FAFSA application re-evaluated for need-based aid. The Special Circumstances appeal is a student's opportunity to provide supporting documentation for their circumstances to be reviewed for need-based aid consideration. To determine if this is the best option for you, please contact us for more information. 

Please note: Approved appeals will be evaluated for additional Pell grant eligibility. No other need-based, institutional aid will be offered upon approval. 

The process of verification allows the Department of Education to check the accuracy of the information entered in the FAFSA by requiring schools to collect specific documentation related to that information. If selected for this process, financial aid cannot be awarded until the process is complete. Students will be notified via email if they are selected for verification and they will be told what documents they will need to submit, along with instructions on how to submit them.

To try and reduce the probabilities of being flagged for verification all students and parents are encouraged to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) on the FAFSA and to not amend that data so that all tax information is directly transferred. However, there is still a possibility a student will be flagged even if the DRT is used.

There are instances where the Department of Education places the verification flag on a student’s application after it has already been received by the school, and in many cases the school has already disbursed the students’ aid. If a student is flagged for verification after the aid has already been disbursed, that student will have 45 days to complete the process or all aid must be canceled which can result in a balance being owed to the university.

The Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships can verify each of the following for parents and students:

• Adjusted Gross Income (parent and student)
• Taxes Paid
• Income Earned from Work
• Certain Untaxed Income
• Household Size and Number in College
• Child Support Paid
• Any other inconsistent or conflicting information

The Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships can request documentation to verify what is in the FAFSA. The specific documentation will vary based on a family or student’s individual case.

• The two years prior tax return transcript for both the parent and student, if the student is dependent. So, for the 2019-2020 academic year the FAFSA uses the 2017 tax return data.
• A Verification Worksheet to confirm household size and number in college
• W-2’s for the parent and student if the student is dependent
• Non-tax filer statement if taxes were not filed
• Statement of child support paid
• Verification of Net Worth

*Please note once verification begins, we may need to ask for additional documentation based on the tax transcript.

You can get your free transcripts immediately online. You can also get them by phone, by mail, or by fax within 5-10 business days from the time the request was received.

• To view and print your transcripts online, please visit https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript
• To order by phone, call 800-906-9946 and follow the prompts
• To request an individual tax return transcript by mail or fax, complete Form 4506T-EZ by using the link https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript and selecting “Get Transcript by Mail”

If a student does not submit the required documents by the deadline in place for that semester, that student is not eligible for any federal aid or any aid that requires a FAFSA on file to receive it.

All outside scholarships are processed and applied to BisonHub by the Bursar's Office. Most outside scholarships are received by check or electronic payment. You may contact the Bursar's Office to check if your award has been received or for more information.

All Howard University Freshman Scholarship (HUFS) recipients should refer to their HUFS agreement for renewal requirements. These requirements will vary based on award. 

Most state grants are reviewed post add/drop each semester. Please see Howard University's Academic Calendar for more information.

Yes. Graduating seniors enrolled in less than 15 credits can request their HUFS during their final semester. Your academic advisor or department chair will need to send written confirmation to sfs@Howard.edu confirming your final semester of enrollment and number of required credits to graduate. All requests are subject to approval. 

The Howard University Freshman Scholarship (HUFS) Program is designed to assist accepted First-Time-in-College students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement throughout their secondary school career and have chosen to attend Howard University. Scholarships are automatically offered to eligible students during their admission's process and a separate application is NOT required. 

Note: Freshman students and First-Time-In-College students are not eligible for Donor Scholarships and should NOT complete a Donor Scholarship application.

Please visit the following sites for more outside/private scholarship opportunities:

• United Negro College Fund (UNCF)

• Thurgood Marshall College Fund

• FastWeb

• Best Colleges

• UNIGO

Yes. Students are required to remain within the Cost of Attendance (COA) and financial need (COA minus SAI) each academic year. If a student receives an outside scholarship that places them over COA or financial need, an adjustment will be made to their award package to maintain their budgeted amount. Reductions in aid may include reductions institutional merit or need awards as needed.

Federal regulations require Howard University to establish, publish, and apply standards to monitor financial aid recipients’ progress toward completing their degree program. The federal regulations require that an institution use three measurements to determine SAP: qualitative, quantitative, and maximum timeframe. 

The student must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average, maintain a minimum cumulative completion rate, and complete a degree or certificate within a maximum timeframe to remain eligible for federal funding. The standards used to evaluate satisfactory academic progress are cumulative and, therefore, must include all periods of the student's enrollment (even periods during which the student did not receive federal financial aid funds).

For more information on our SAP policies, please visit here.

Students who wish to appeal their SAP determination for potential financial aid eligibility reinstatement, must complete and submit all items listed below and return these items as a completed packet to the office of financial aid via BisonHub.

SAP Appeal Form

Standard Howard University Issued form that must be included in all SAP appeal submissions

*The SAP Appeal Form is not available on the website & will be provided to students during the Virtual SAP Workshop.

Detailed Personal Statement

A typed personal statement outlining the circumstances that occurred that impacted your ability to maintain the required three SAP standards. This statement must outline each term that negatively impacted SAP.  

Supporting Documentation

The required documentation supports the information referenced in the student’s personal statement. Failure to submit the required documentation will result in an immediate denial.

Completion of SAP Workshop

A Virtual Workshop was created to provide a greater understanding of SAP and the impacts SAP on a student’s financial aid eligibility.

Click Here to View the Virtual SAP Workshop.