Unusual Enrollment History

The U.S. Department of Education established regulations to prevent fraud and abuse in the Federal Student Aid program by identifying students with unusual enrollment histories. Some students who have an unusual enrollment history have legitimate reasons for their enrollment at multiple institutions. However, such an enrollment history requires our office to review your file in order to determine future federal financial aid eligibility. If selected by the Department of Education, this must be resolved before you will receive financial aid. 

Definition of Unusual Enrollment History

The specific pattern the Department of Education uses to select students includes those students who have received a Federal Pell Grant and/or Federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized loan at multiple institutions during the past four academic years. Once the Department of Education indicates that a student has an unusual enrollment history, the Financial Aid office must then take action and review the academic history prior to determining federal financial aid eligibility for that student. 

What Will Be Required of You

If selected, our office will notify you of what is required. We will check your financial aid history at all previous institutions that you attended during the last four financial aid years. You are required to have received academic credit at any institution you received the federal Pell grant or Federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized loan while attending in those relevant academic years. We will notify you which institutions you need to request official transcripts from for our office to review. These official transcripts should be sent to the admissions office. No aid will be determined until all required documentation has been received. Once all transcripts have been received, our office will verify the academic credit was received at each institution during the relevant year. If so, we will notify you that you have satisfied this requirement. If you failed to receive academic credit at any institution where you received a federal Pell grant or Federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized loan during the relevant award years, your federal financial aid will be denied and you will be notified.

Appeal Process

If you were denied because it was determined that you did not earn academic credit, you may appeal by submitting an acceptable explanation describing why you were unable to successfully complete the credits, as well as corresponding documentation. This appeal will be reviewed by our office and we will notify you of the decision.  These decisions are final and are not appealable to the Department of Education.