Rush > Eligibility Criteria

Office of Student Financial Aid

Office of Student Financial Aid > Aid Eligibility > Eligibility Criteria

	Eligibility Criteria

In order to qualify for federal, state and most types of institutional assistance, an aid applicant must:

Be formally admitted to a degree or certificate program. Note that not all of Rush's certificate programs are eligible for financial assistance;
Have a high school diploma, have a recognized equivalent of a high school diploma (GED), or have completed homeschooling at the secondary level;
Have a complete financial aid application on file with the University;
Maintain satisfactory academic progress according to the Office of Student Financial Aid standards;
Enroll at a certain level for certain aid programs. For example, many aid programs require that a student maintain full- or half-time status in order to qualify for funding;
Not have a federal or state drug conviction;
Be a US citizen, national, permanent resident, other eligible non-citizen or a citizen of the Freely Associated States;
Not be in default on a federal education loan;
Not owe an overpayment on a federal education grant;
Not have a defaulted federal education loan or federal grant overpayment in an active bankruptcy claim (under certain circumstances);
Not have federal education loans that were discharged due to total and permanent disability (under certain circumstances);
Not have borrowed more than the aggregate limits established for the federal loan programs;
Have a Social Security Number;
Have registered with the Selective Service (males only), if required by law; and
Meet all aid-specific criteria (certain programs require satisfactory credit checks, require the student to be in a specific academic program, etc.)

International students are not eligible for federal aid and most types of Rush University institutional aid. Private educational loans for students with a US citizen or permanent resident cosigner may be available from US banks.

Full- and Half-Time Designations

For the 2012-13 academic year, the following definitions apply.

Medical Students - All enrolled students are considered full-time.
Graduate Students - Full-time = 9+ credits; Half-time = 4.5+ credits
Undergraduate Students - Full-time = 12+ credits; Half-time = 6+ credits

For Pell Grant purposes, Three-Quarter-time is considered 9+ credits and less than Half-time is considered 1-5 credits.