Important Financial Aid Information for MSL Students

The loan eligibility and financial aid disbursement process for students in the MSL program can be complex. This page is meant to give MSL students, both residential and online, more information that must be considered when using student loan funding. All MSL students using loan funding must review the following information and should contact our office with any questions.

The below points are applicable to all MSL students. Please also review the additional information that is specific to your MSL program under the program menus below, as well as the glossary of terms:

Student loan eligibility is determined on a semester basis, but you enroll in the MSL program on a session basis (Fall 1, Spring 2, Power Week, etc). When determining loan eligibility, our office merges these individual sessions within a semester together and uses your combined semester enrollment to determine your loan eligibility and timing of your loan disbursements.
If you are using federal student loans, you must be enrolled at least half-time in a semester to maintain your federal student loan eligibility for that semester. Half-time enrollment is 4 credits per semester in Fall and Spring (based on 8 credits for full-time enrollment) and 2 credits in the Summer semester. Additionally, half-time enrollment is required in order to have any prior federal student loans put into an in-school deferment.
- Although your loan eligibility is determined based on your total semester enrollment, loan funding cannot disburse to your NU student account until just before the start of classes for your first session of enrollment in a semester.
If you are offered private student loans funding through an outside lender, you must be enrolled in at least one credit-bearing course during the semester in which you wish to use the funding. You must also apply for a loan directly with your chosen lender. Be sure to pay attention to your lenders' specific enrollment requirements: while there are lenders who approve loans for students who are enrolled less than half-time, most private lenders will require that you be enrolled at least half-time (4 credits per semester in Fall and Spring and 2 credits in the Summer semester).
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.
Federal and state regulations require recipients of financial aid to maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) in their program of study. It is the University's expectation that students will make progress towards completion of the program in which they are enrolled, including both residential and online MSL. These requirements apply to part-time as well as to full-time students for all periods of enrollment within an academic year, including those periods for which no financial aid was granted.
We cannot offer loan funding for additional enrollment once you have completed 28 credits.

Full-Time Residential Students

In addition to the above information, full-time residential MSL students must also be aware of the following:

Loan funding is paid out in full at the beginning of each semester for that semester's expenses.
Financial aid packages typically assume that you will enroll in all 4 sessions during each semester. Changes from this enrollment plan need to be communicated to our office as soon as possible via an email to our office from your NU email account.
If you do not enroll in courses during a given session, then your cost of attendance and financial aid package may need to be adjusted to remove living expenses for that session.

Part-Time Residential Students

In addition to the above information, part-time residential MSL students must also be aware of the following:

Loan funding is initially offered to part-time residential students to cover tuition and book expenses only. You may have additional loan eligibility remaining. If you need additional assistance to cover other expenses while enrolled in coursework, please contact our office.
Since student loan eligibility is determined on a semester basis but your tuition is charged as you enroll in coursework, we recommend if possible that you enroll in all of your coursework for the entire semester at the beginning of that semester, especially when you are using loan funding. Any changes to your total number of credits during the semester may impact your financial aid package and may require an adjustment to your existing loan(s) or additional loan application(s).
Your initial financial aid package will assume enrollment in 7 credits in the Fall semester and 7 credits in the Spring semester, with assumed enrollment in all sessions within a semester. You must contact our office if your actual enrollment will differ from these assumptions. Please see the definitions below for more information about semesters versus sessions.
The Chicago Office of Financial Aid will not account for attendance in Summer coursework on your initial financial aid package. We will send a separate financial aid application to all part-time residential students after Spring break to confirm planned enrollment in Summer coursework. If you confirm at that time that you will enroll in Summer coursework, we will revise your financial aid package to offer you additional funding for tuition and books.
If necessary, we will adjust your financial aid package to match your actual enrollment at the start of each semester and at the end of the add/drop period for each session, but we do expect you to communicate any changes to your enrollment as soon as possible via an email to our office from your NU email account.
Part-time students are charged tuition per credit (even beyond 28 credits), but the MSL program will request a tuition waiver to cancel out excess tuition that exceeds the cost of 28 cumulative credits; the MSL program will send a list of waivers each semester to the Chicago Financial Aid Office after the final Power Week add/drop deadline. The Chicago Financial Aid Office will post the credited amount to the student’s tuition account. Chicago Financial Aid will also work with Student Finance to verify the amount of the applicable waivers for students who are NU employees.

Online Students

In addition to the above information, online MSL students must also be aware of the following:

Loan funding is initially offered to online students to cover tuition and book expenses only. You may have additional loan eligibility remaining. If you need additional assistance to cover other expenses while enrolled in coursework, please contact our office.
Since student loan eligibility is determined on a semester basis but your tuition is charged as you enroll in coursework, we recommend if possible that you enroll in all of your coursework for the entire semester at the beginning of that semester, especially when you are using loan funding. Any changes to your total number of credits during the semester may impact your financial aid package and may require an adjustment to your existing loan(s) or additional loan application(s).
Your initial financial aid package will make the following enrollment assumptions, with assumed enrollment in all sessions within a semester. You must contact our office if your actual enrollment will differ from these assumptions. Please see the definitions below for more information about semesters versus sessions.
- For students starting in the Fall semester, your initial financial aid package will assume enrollment of 6 credits in the Fall semester and 6 credits in the Spring semester.
- For students starting in the Spring semester, your initial financial aid package will assume enrollment of 6 credits in the Spring semester.
The Chicago Office of Financial Aid will not account for attendance in Summer coursework on the initial financial aid package; Summer coursework includes the required on-campus Power Week session for online students in late May as well as the regular online Summer session, which typically runs from late June through mid-August. We will send a separate financial aid application to all online students in early March to confirm planned enrollment in Summer coursework. If you confirm at that time that you will enroll in Summer coursework, we will revise your financial aid package to offer you additional funding for tuition and books, as well as expenses related to travel and lodging for Power Week attendance (as applicable).
If necessary, we will adjust your financial aid package to match your actual enrollment at the start of each semester and at the end of the add/drop period for each session, but we do expect you to communicate any changes to your enrollment as soon as possible via an email to our office from your NU email account.
Online students are charged tuition per credit (even beyond 28 credits), but the MSL program will request a tuition waiver to cancel out excess tuition that exceeds the cost of 28 cumulative credits; the MSL program will send a list of waivers each semester to the Chicago Financial Aid Office after the final Power Week add/drop deadline. The Chicago Financial Aid Office will post the credited amount to the student’s tuition account. Chicago Financial Aid will also work with Student Finance to verify the amount of the applicable waivers for students who are NU employees.

Glossary

Semester

The overarching period of enrollment. The Fall semester typically runs from late August through December, the Spring semester typically runs from January through early May, and the Summer semester typically runs from mid-May through August. In financial aid, "semester" and "term" are interchangeable and refer to Fall, Spring, and Summer.

Term

The MSL program uses this to refer to the two half periods of enrollment contained within the overarching semester. However, in financial aid, "term" is a generic word used to describe standard periods of academic enrollment (e.g. quarters, semesters, trimesters, etc) and so at Pritzker is interchangeable with "semester". While the Chicago Office of Financial Aid will attempt to exclusively use "semester" in reference to the MSL program curriculum, we may use "term" from time to time when referring to the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters.

Session

This refers to the shorter, separate periods of enrollment that are contained within the larger, overarching semesters. As they relate to MSL financial aid, these "sessions" are broken down as follows:

Residential MSL program

The two seven-week periods of enrollment and the two one-week periods of enrollment contained within the Fall and Spring semesters
The single seven-week period of enrollment and the single one-week period of enrollment contained within the Summer semester

Online MSL program

The two eight-week periods of enrollment contained within the Fall and Spring semesters
The late May on-campus Power Week period of enrollment and the single eight-week period of enrollment contained within the Summer semester

Because each session in the MSL program has its own add/drop period but our office merges individual sessions within an overarching semester together to determine your loan eligibility for the semester, any changes you make to your enrollment in a session may impact your overall loan eligibility for that semester. This is especially the case if you drop all of your courses in a session for which you were previously enrolled. Read over the "enrollment change" and "withdrawal" definitions below and contact our office if you have any questions.

We may also refer to a session as a "module".

Enrollment Change

In regards to student loan eligibility, an enrollment change in the MSL program applies if you change your enrollment during a semester and all of the following apply:

the semester has begun and
you remain enrolled in at least one credit-bearing course for that semester and
you were attending coursework for that semester at the same time as when you changed your enrollment.

In these cases, we typically will need to adjust your loan funding for that semester to account for any tuition changes. Please feel free to contact our office if you have any questions about the impact of enrollment changes on your financial aid.

If you withdraw from a session while also not attending coursework, but do 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 withdrew from the session 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 semester and your eligibility for federal financial aid may be impacted.

Withdrawal

A semester withdrawal in the MSL program can impact your federal student loan eligibility if you drop all registered courses during a session and all of the following apply:

your courses for the semester have begun and
you are NOT attending coursework at the same time as when you dropped all registered courses for the upcoming session and
you do NOT plan to return for any later sessions in that semester.

In these cases, the University may be required to return a portion of your federal aid.

If you withdraw from a session but plan to return for 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 a session to alert us that you will enroll in a later session during the semester. In this case, we will consider this an enrollment change. If you do not email us within three days of withdrawing from a session or do not attend coursework during that future session, you will be considered to have withdrawn from the semester and your eligibility for federal financial aid may be impacted.

Now that you have reviewed the above MSL financial aid information, review how to respond to our financial aid offer using the Accept/Decline Financial Aid process in CAESAR. If you have any questions about the financial aid process, please contact our office.