Taking Express Classes
For students who are enrolled in express classes, also called mini-sessions, your
financial aid money will not disburse until approximately ten days after the class has started. This is generally applicable
regardless of the type of aid you are receiving.
For example: If a student registers for twelve hours or four classes at the beginning of the
semester, but only three of those classes start at the beginning of the semester and
the final class begins two months later, the student would only receive his financial
aid grant for the three classes that started at the beginning of the semester when
the first refund date occurs. The money for the last class would disburse on the first
disbursement date after the census date of that mini-session provided the professor verifies the student's
attendance.
Using the same example, if the student was receiving student loan funds, the first disbursement would go
out on time because students only need to be enrolled half-time in order to receive
student loan funds. So, in this case, the late starting class would not affect the
student loan funds.
Let's look at one more example: If a student enrolls in only two classes, or six hours, and one of those classes
starts at the beginning of the semester, but the other one doesn't start until a month
and a half later and the student is receiving student loan funds, the first disbursement
would not go out until after that second class begins. This is because the student would not
be half time until that mini-session begins.
Generally speaking, student's can enroll in mini-sessions at any point in the semester. If the student still has aid eligibility remaining (meaning, they were not enrolled full-time at the beginning of the semester), they should be able to get their Pell grant for the express class. Realize, however, that most of the other grant programs have limited funds and money for those funds may not be available any longer if the student enrolls in an express class close to or after the start of the regular semester. For loans, students must be enrolled and attending at least half-time to receive their loan. These students would not get additional loan money for adding hours over and above the half-time.