Enrollment Changes

An enrollment change applies if you change your enrollment in a term but remain enrolled in at least one credit/unit-bearing course for that term.

For programs that are charged tuition per credit/unit, the Chicago Office of Financial Aid uses the enrollment projections you include in your University Aid Application to determine the type and amount of financial aid to offer for that term. If your actual or projected enrollment will differ from what you indicated in your University Aid Application, you must immediately email our office from your Northwestern email account with your name, student ID number, and your updated enrollment projections.

For programs that are charged a flat tuition rate in each term, your enrollment changes may not impact your eligibility for financial aid in that term.

Any enrollment changes made after the designated add/drop period for the term may impact your eligibility for federal financial aid in future terms due to the requirements outlined in the Satisfactory Academic Progress policy for your program. We encourage you to review this policy and contact our office with any questions about how an enrollment change may impact your eligibility for federal financial aid in future terms. If you plan to drop all courses during a term after registering for classes in that term and the courses have already commenced, then please see our Withdrawal page.

Choose your program below for more information about how enrollment changes may impact your financial aid for that term:

Feinberg School of Medicine (MD Program)

Phase 1a and 1b students generally do not have changes in enrollment unless students are taking a leave of absence so 1^st and 2^nd year students should contact our office for more information on how your aid is impacted if your enrollment changes.

Students in Phase 2 and 3 may rearrange clinical schedules without impacting your financial aid eligibility as long as you remain enrolled in coursework during the academic year. If you will not meet those enrollment thresholds, please contact our office for more information about whether your financial aid will be impacted.

Pritzker School of Law

For JD, JD-MBA, and all LLM programs except part-time Tax-LLM, enrollment changes generally do not impact your financial aid eligibility as long as you remain enrolled in at least 9 credits during the Fall or Spring semesters, or in at least 2.5 credits during the Summer semester. If you will not meet those enrollment thresholds, please contact our office for more information about whether your financial aid will be impacted.

For part-time Tax-LLM students, you must email our office from your NU email account if you change your enrollment from what was previously indicated to our office (whether via the University Aid Application or via a follow-up email).

For full-time residential MSL students, you must email our office from your NU email account if you change your enrollment from what you had previously indicated to our office (whether via the University Aid Application or via a follow-up email).

Living expenses are included in the MSL cost of attendance only during sessions in which you are enrolled in courses. If you do not enroll in courses during a given session, then your cost of attendance and financial aid package will be adjusted to remove living expenses for that session.

If you withdraw from any session in a semester (for example, Fall 1, Spring 2, Power Week, etc) but plan to enroll in coursework in a later session during that same semester, you must send an email to our office from your NU email account within THREE days of when you withdraw from those courses to alert us that you will enroll in a later session during the same semester. If you do not send this email, then you will be considered to have withdrawn from the entire semester and your eligibility for federal financial aid may be impacted.

For part-time residential and online MSL students, you must email our office from your NU email account if you change your enrollment from what you previously indicated to our office (whether via the University Aid Application or via a follow-up email).

Kellogg Evening & Weekend MBA

Please contact our office for further instructions if you change your enrollment from what you originally indicated to our office.

Physical Therapy Program

Please contact our office for further instructions if you are withdrawing from an academic term due to an approved leave of absence or otherwise separating from the university.

Prosthetics/Orthotics Program

Please contact our office for further instructions if you are withdrawing from an academic term due to an approved leave of absence or otherwise separating from the university.

Physician Assistant Program

Please contact our office for further instructions if you are withdrawing from an academic term due to an approved leave of absence or otherwise separating from the university.

SPS – Graduate

Please contact our office for further instructions if you change your enrollment from what you originally indicated to our office.

SPS – Undergraduate

If a student drops from 4 or more courses but maintains full-time enrollment status (3 courses or more), no changes are required to their aid.

If a student drops from full-time status (3+ courses) to half-time status (2 courses), AND

It is BEFORE the Add/drop date AND they are Pell/SEOG and/or MAP eligible, their grants are reduced to the half-time maximum amount. No changes are required to their federal loan assistance.
It is AFTER the add/drop date, no changes are required to their federal aid eligibility in this case. MAP recipients may have their MAP grant adjusted based on the relevant calculation as required by the Illinois Student Assistance Committee (ISAC). Contact the Chicago Office of Financial Aid with any questions.
- Dropping after the add/drop date may impact a student's eligibility for aid in future quarters based on the Satisfactory Academic Progress policy.

If a student drops from half-time status (2 courses) to less than half-time status (1 course), AND

It is BEFORE the Add/drop date AND they are Pell/SEOG and/or MAP eligible, their grants are reduced to the less-than-half-time maximum amount. If they also received federal loan assistance:
- We first verify that the student actually began the second course and was eligible for the federal loan assistance at the time of disbursement.
- If the student WAS eligible for the federal loan assistance at the time of disbursement (i.e. they officially started the second course), then no changes are required to their loans.
- If the student WAS NOT eligible for the loan at the time of disbursement (i.e. they did not officially start the second course), all federal loans for the academic term will be canceled and returned to the federal loan servicer. In this case, the student can explore credit-based, private student loan options through an outside lender.
It is AFTER the add/drop date, whether they are eligible for grant assistance or not:
- No changes are required to their federal aid eligibility in this case. MAP recipients may have their MAP grant adjusted based on the relevant calculation as required by the Illinois Student Assistance Committee (ISAC). Contact the Chicago Office of Financial Aid with any questions.
  - Dropping after the add/drop date may impact a student's eligibility for aid in future quarters based on the Satisfactory Academic Progress policy.