Student Eligibility

This volume of the Federal Student Aid Handbook discusses the eligibility requirements for student and parent borrowers and your responsibilities to ensure that recipients qualify for their aid awards.

There are many factors you must consider when reviewing an application for aid from the FSA programs, such as whether the student is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, whether the applicant is making satisfactory academic progress, and whether he or she has a defaulted FSA loan. To answer these questions, you will receive information about the student from different sources, including the Department of Education’s Central Processing System (CPS) for financial aid applications and the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). Throughout the year, the Department of Education (The Department) provides updates for schools in the form of Dear Colleague Letters (DCLs). These and other releases, such as Federal Register notices and electronic announcements, contain system updates and technical guidance, and are available on the FSA Partner Connect website (fsapartners.ed.gov). The FSA Handbook does not cover the operation of software. For schools using software provided by the Department, there are technical references on FSA Partner Connect that explain how the software operates. Schools using third-party software should consult the vendor’s reference materials for technical guidance.

The Department of Education recognizes that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created many unique challenges for postsecondary institutions. The Department has provided a variety of special guidance and regulatory flexibilities due to the President’s declaration of the COVID-19 national emergency on March 13, 2020. In addition, Congress has passed legislation offering relief from certain statutory requirements related to the Title IV, HEA programs. For COVID-19 related guidance, including waivers and exemptions of normally applicable Title IV rules, please see the following webpages:

One significant COVID-19 provision relevant to Volume 1 and student eligibility is a special allowance for satisfactory academic progress (SAP). Section 3509 of the CARES Act allows schools to exclude from the quantitative component (pace measurement) of SAP any attempted credits that a student was unable to complete as a result of the COVID-19 national emergency. It is not necessary for a student to have filed a SAP appeal for a school to exercise this flexibility. However, to exclude attempted credits from SAP, you must have reasonably determined that the student’s failure to complete those credits was the result of a COVID-19 related circumstance. Allowable circumstances include, but are not limited to, illness of the student or family member, need to become a caregiver or first responder, economic hardship, added work hours, loss of childcare, inability to continue with classes via distance education, and inability to access wi-fi due to closed facilities. If, due to COVID-19, your school temporarily ceases operations during a period of enrollment, attempted credits for all affected students (specific to that enrollment period) may be excluded from the qualitative component of SAP evaluations. For more detail on the COVID-19 related SAP provisions, please see the Electronic Announcement of May 15, 2020.

Here are some of the significant changes to Volume 1 for 2020-2021: Chapter 1:

Chapter 2:

Chapters 3-5:

Chapter 6: