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Plenty of students — working adults, parents, anyone balancing a lot — attend part-time. The good news: you don't lose all financial aid. The catch: several pieces change in ways worth understanding before you set your schedule.
You can still get the Pell Grant part-time
The Pell Grant is prorated by enrollment level — full-time gets the full award, three-quarter time gets about 75%, half-time about 50%, and less-than-half-time a smaller amount. So part-time doesn't mean zero Pell; it means a proportional share.
Federal loans usually need at least half-time
To borrow federal student loans, you generally must be enrolled at least half-time (often 6 credits). Drop below that and new loan eligibility stops — and your existing loans' grace period can start counting down.
Some grants and scholarships require full-time
Many institutional and outside scholarships, and some state grants, require full-time enrollment. Going part-time can reduce or pause them. Always check each award's enrollment requirement before you cut credits.
Part-time stretches the timeline — and the cost
Fewer credits per term means more terms to finish, which means more years of fees, more living costs, and a later start to earning. Part-time can be the right call for a working student, but it isn't automatically cheaper overall.
Pell is proportional, not all-or-nothing
Half-time enrollment generally means roughly half your Pell award — not zero. And part-time enrollment uses up your Pell lifetime limit more slowly, which can be an advantage if you need to spread college over more years.
When part-time makes sense
If full-time would force you to over-borrow, fail classes, or quit a job you need, a sustainable part-time pace that you actually pass beats a full-time load that derails. Steady progress you can afford wins.
Talk to financial aid before you change status
A quick call tells you exactly how dropping to part-time changes your Pell, loans, and scholarships at YOUR school. The impact varies, and the aid office can model your specific numbers.
Consider cheaper part-time credits
If you're going part-time anyway, taking transferable general-education credits at an Arizona community college can cost far less per credit than a university — keeping progress up while spending less.
The biggest surprise for part-time students is a scholarship that quietly required full-time enrollment. Before you drop below full-time, check every award you hold — a small tuition saving from fewer credits can be erased by a lost scholarship.
Plan it out: understand the Pell Grant, protect scholarship renewal terms, and check before dropping a class.