Financial Aid's 72 hour cap

If you have taken, are currently taking, or will eventually take your "basics" or academic core at TSTC, then you'll want to keep this in mind.  

As most know, the Federal Pell Grant will only cover courses that are in your program of study.  So if you want to take Cooking 101 and it's not in your degree program, Financial Aid will NOT consider it for funding.  

So...once upon a time...TSTC created the "EA" (external articulation) program to create an official program of study for students who needed to take their basics.  Aren't we considerate? 

The EA program includes ANY academic core course, including KINE.  

What you might not know, is that Financial Aid puts a 72 credit hour cap on you basics.  This means, that after you hit your 72nd credit hour, ANY course after that is NOT going to be funded by financial aid.  

Don't freak out just yet.  72 hours equates to about 24 courses (assuming they are 3 credits each).  That should be more than enough for your basics, so long as you aren't taking courses just for the heck of it.  

Posted via email from Joshua Hernandez's posterous