Changing Enrollment Status

From an academic standpoint, you may change your enrollment status from full-time to part-time, or vice versa, without notifying the University.

However, your enrollment status may have implications for financial aid, particularly as it pertains to federal student loans. You must be enrolled in 4.5 credits or more to be eligible for federal financial aid. If you are enrolled in 9 or more credits, you are considered full-time and should be eligible for the maximum amount of federal aid available to you.

If you receive federal financial aid and change your enrollment status, you should contact the NYU Financial Aid office at financialaid@nyu.edu or the StudentLink Center. If you receive a Wagner scholarship, you should contact wagner.financialaid@nyu.edu if you change your enrollment status.

If you want to confirm your progress toward graduation, you should check with your Student Services Program Advisor.

EQUIVALENCIES

Fall and Spring Terms

If you are taking fewer than 4.5 credits, you may be granted half-time equivalency in the following circumstances:

You are enrolled in Capstone (1.5 credits), plus 1.5 credits of coursework = 3.0 credits total;
You are unable to reach 4.5 credits without exceeding the number of credits required to graduate*; or
You are completing an incomplete in addition to taking a class for credit (as long as the incomplete class plus the credit class add up to 4.5 or more total credits).

*This generally applies to your final semester, but in some cases may apply to an earlier semester. For example, if you are taking 3 credits in Spring because you only have Capstone to take in the following Fall and Spring terms, half-time equivalency might be granted for all three semesters.

If you are taking fewer than 9 credits, you may be granted full-time equivalency in the following circumstances:

You are completing an incomplete in addition to taking classes for credit (as long as the incomplete class + the credit classes add up to 9 or more total credits); or
You are enrolled in Capstone (1.5 credits), plus 6 credits of coursework = 7.5 credits.

Full-time equivalency in fall and spring is generally only necessary for students studying on a visa, veterans, or students with non-Wagner fellowships/scholarships. Students taking 4.5 or more credits are automatically eligible for federal aid.

January Term

If you are taking coursework in the January term and the spring term, and your combined credit total is 4.5 or more credits, you will be eligible for federal financial aid.

If you are taking January coursework, but are not enrolling in the spring term, you should contact Wagner Student Services to discuss your plans and eligibility for equivalency.

Summer Term

If you are taking 3.0 credits of coursework in the summer term, you are eligible for half-time equivalency.

If you are taking 4.5 or more credits of coursework in the summer term, you are already eligible for financial aid, but you may submit a full-time equivalency request, if necessary.

REQUEST EQUIVALENCY

If you would like to request full-time or half-time equivalency, please fill out the following form:

Request for Equivalency

You should request equivalency only after you have registered for all of your courses for the semester, including Capstone registration (if applicable).

ENROLLMENT MISMATCH HOLD

You must update your "anticipated credits" in Albert to ensure you do not have an "enrollment mismatch" hold in Albert. Once updated, NYU Financial Aid can disburse the appropriate financial aid award. For instructions, watch the Video Tutorial: Enrollment Mismatch Hold on the NYU Financial Aid Office's "Common Disbursement Issues" website.

DOCTORAL STUDENTS

Doctoral Students who are maintaining matriculation or are registered in Research in Progress are eligible to receive full-time equivalency and should email wagner.academicservices@nyu.edu.

VETERANS

Veteran students who qualify for equivalency must complete the equivalency form above in order to receive benefits appropriately. For more information about using your GI benefits, visit the NYU website.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Students studying on a visa that requires full-time enrollment should consult this NYU OGS page for further details regarding their final semester.