Summer Aid Application/Awarding:
Students must complete the Summer Financial Aid Application in MyRed (opening in Mid-March) in order to be awarded summer aid.
The Summer Financial Aid Application can be completed on MyRed under the Financial Aid tab. Students must enroll in their summer courses first. Summer registration will open March 1st. Once students are enrolled in their summer courses, the Summer Aid Application will become available.
Once a student has completed their Summer Aid Application, they will be awarded with a summer aid package within about 2-3 weeks. The Office of Scholarships and Financial aid (OSFA) will send an email to the student once their aid package becomes available. Students can then view and accept their aid on MyRed as normal.
If a student is not eligible for summer aid for whatever reason, OSFA will send the student an email to notify them.
Many summer aid packages will include a Summer PLUS Loan. Parents must complete a new PLUS loan application online at studentaid.gov in order to receive the PLUS loan for the summer term.
When students complete the Summer Financial Aid Application on MyRed, they are asked to report the courses they are taking. Students must report the number of credit hours they are taking during each session. If a student's registration does not match the information on the Summer Aid Application, OSFA cannot award them with summer aid. Even if a student has already submitted their Summer Aid App, they can still go back in and edit the hours to correct them. Once a student has completed a correct Summer Aid App (with matching hours), they should receive their summer financial aid package within about 2-3 weeks.
Pell Grant:
In most cases, students must enroll in at least 6 credit hours during the summer term in order to qualify for Summer Pell grant. If a student was not enrolled full time during the previous fall or spring term(s), it’s possible they may qualify for Pell at less than 6 hours.
Summer Tuition Grant:
Students who are a Nebraska resident and received Federal Pell Grant or other need-based financial aid during the fall/spring may receive a Summer Tuition Grant, a need-based grant to help cover costs over the summer.
Loans:
Summer is considered a "trailer" to the academic year (AY). When we award loans to students for the academic year (fall and spring) we do so assuming that they will NOT be enrolled for the summer. We will generally award students with their maximum loan eligibility for the AY. Unfortunately, this sometimes means that students utilize all of their loan money during the AY, which will leave them without any loans for the summer term. If a student was not enrolled full time for the AY, or if they did not take all of their offered loans during the AY, they may still have some eligibility remaining.
Students must be enrolled at least half time status (at least 6 hours for Undergraduate students, and at least 4 hours for Graduate students) in order to be eligible for loans during the summer term, including PLUS loan.
Because many students will utilize all of their eligibility during the academic year, many students will only be eligible for an additional Parent PLUS loan for the summer term. Parents must complete a new PLUS loan application online at studentaid.gov in order to receive the PLUS loan for the summer term.
Scholarships:
Many scholarships aren't available in the summer. Usually the full tuition (Regents, NE Achievement, Chancellor's) scholarships are the only ones that have summer benefits. If the scholarship renewal criteria doesn't mention anything about summer (or if it says 'attending summer sessions is not required'), that means the student can't use their scholarship in the summer. Students who are receiving the Buffett scholarship can receive benefits during the summer term. The scholarship amount will depend on how many credit hours the student takes during summer. If a student has a summer eligible scholarship, they will need to complete the Summer Aid Application in MyRed in order to receive the disbursement.
Aid Disbursement:
There are several different sessions during the summer term. Students can enroll in the Pre (3 week) session, the 8 week session, the 1st 5 week session, or the 2nd 5 week session. These dates are available on the UNL Academic Calendar here: https://registrar.unl.edu/academic-calendar/#tab3 For undergraduate students, summer courses are generally going to be worth 3 credit hours. Students must be enrolled at least half time status (6 credit hours) in order to be eligible for a student loan (or a Pell grant in most cases). Because of this, we are not able to release loans until a student reaches half time status.
Example: If an undergraduate student is enrolled in the 3 credit hours for the pre session and 3 credit hours for the 1st 5 week session, they technically will not reach half time status until the beginning of the 1st 5 week session. This means their aid won’t disburse until a few days after the 1st 5 week session starts.
Summer bills are due on June 12th. However, if a student is not set to receive their financial aid disbursement until after the summer billing due date, they can sometimes work with Husker Hub to have the bill deferred until the disbursement comes through.
Much like the three-week sessions, summer coursework offers a great opportunity for students to catch up or get ahead on their degree requirements, broaden their career skills or explore new topics. Here is a good resource with additional information on summer aid: https://financialaid.unl.edu/summer-financial-aid
