Enrollment Requirements
In order to qualify for financial aid, there are requirements on the number of credit hours you enroll in and there are requirements to verify that those hours count towards your program of study. Your enrollment determines the amount of financial aid that is disbursed to you.
Becoming familiar with Financial Aid's key enrollment requirements and terminology will help you anticipate what financial aid you will receive and make plans for each term accordingly.
Course in Program Of Study (CPOS)
CPOS is a requirement that states only courses that are part of your degree plan or certificate can count towards your total enrolled hours for receiving financial aid. Due to this requirement, if you take courses that are not a part of your official degree plan, it will result in receiving less or no federal financial aid for your courses.
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Automated Evaluation
An evaluation of CPOS enrollment is completed through an automated process before the start of a new semester and will run daily to account for any enrollment changes throughout the semester. Once the initial evaluation has been run, students can contact their financial aid office to verify that their courses are being counted towards financial aid. The initial and last automated dates for evaluation are posted below for each semester.
Timeframe Spring 2023 Summer 2023 Fall 2023 Initial CPOS Evaluation 10/25/2022 3/28/2023 7/14/2023 Last CPOS Evaluation 3/27/2023 7/13/2023 10/30/2023 Last Day for CPOS override by Advisor 5/13/2023 8/10/2023 12/16/2023 GPS
Students are encouraged to reference their degree planning tool, GPS, located on ACES as a guide for understanding what future courses count toward their degree plan. For specific questions about whether a course counts toward your degree or if a course override may be applicable, contact your academic advisor.
Contact Academic Advising SAC Advising SPC Advising PAC Advising NVC Advising NLC Advising -
Enrollment Status
Students' enrollment status for financial aid will be based only on CPOS hours. Your enrollment status will determine how much of your award will be paid to you (i.e. whether you are meeting minimum enrollment requirements or whether proration is required).
Cost of Attendance
Your cost of attendance (COA) is initially calculated based on the expectation of full-time enrollment. Your COA will re-calculate after a semester has started based only on your total CPOS hours. This could result in a reduced COA than was originally calculated if the amount of coursework that applies to your program of study is not full-time.
An overall reduction of Federal, State, or Institutional aid may be necessary after COA is recalculated if the total amount of financial aid awarded exceeds your COA.
Enrollment Status
There are four levels of enrollment used to classify our student population each semester in Fall, Spring, and Summer. The amount of credit hours associated with each enrollment status are listed below.
| Full-Time | 3/4 Time | Half-Time | Less-Than Half-Time |
| 12 Hours | 9-11 Hours | 6-8 Hours | 1-5 Hours |
Proration
Financial aid is typically awarded based upon the expectation of full-time enrollment. Certain financial aid awards will be prorated, or have a percent based recalculation, if you do not enroll full-time in CPOS hours. These recalculations will occur within each part-of-term that you attend in a semester.
| Full-Time | 3/4 Time | Half-Time | Less-Than Half-Time |
| 12 Hours | 9-11 Hours | 6-8 Hours | 1-5 Hours |
| 100% of Original Offer | 75% of Original Offer | 50% of Original Offer |
0- 25% of Original Offer |
Financial Aid Awards that are subject to proration at the Alamo Colleges District include:
- Federal Pell Grants
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG)
- Texas Public Education Grants (TPEG)
- Texas Educational Opportunity Grant (TEOG)
Financial Aid Awards that are not prorated and will pay out fully with at least half-time enrollment include:
- Federal Direct Loans (Subsidized, Unsubsidized, PLUS)
Parts-of-Term
The various course options offered at Alamo based on their duration and start date in a semester are known as 'Parts-of-term'. Ex. 16-week, Flex I, Start II, Flex II, Summer I, Summer II terms, etc.
Financial Aid is disbursed based on your enrollment status for each part-of-term throught the semester. Your enrollment for each part-of-term is known in Financial Aid as your 'Attending Hours'.
Census Date
Census is the date on which enrollment is officially confirmed for a part-of-term. All hours are considered "locked" on this date for financial aid disbursement purposes.
For a list of census dates for each part-of-term, review the Payment Calendar here:
Enrollment FAQs
You can find your assigned academic advisor on your ACES account or on the GPS portal.
No, an override approved by an academic advisor will count only towards that specific course and section. If you change your class or it is dropped, you will need to contact your academic advisor to have an override added again.
You should always reference your official degree plan and course catalog as to what courses count toward their degree. For specific questions about whether a course counts toward your degree, contact your academic advisor.
Currently, the best way to contact your Certified Advisor is by scheduling an appointment:
- Log in to ACES
- Select the 'Start Here' tab
- Select the 'Alamo Navigate' icon
- Click 'Login'
- Select the 'Appointments' tab
- Select 'Schedule an Appointment'
- Select the reason for your appointment and click 'Next'
- Select the location and click 'Next'
- Select the day and time that works for you and click 'Next'
- Enter 'Zoom Appointment' in the Notes box
- Review the selection and confirm your appointment
