What makes you a full-time student? Key questions about college enrollment

By Kate Gillan | Citizens Staff

As you begin to prepare for your life as a college student, it could be helpful to know what qualities make someone a full- or part-time student. You may even have googled, "Is 12 credits a semester enough?" or "How many credits is a full-time course load?" We've all been there! Details such as what's considered full time, or the number of credit hours you need to keep financial aid are pertinent to your future.

Schools usually have minimum credit amounts to be considered full or part time. In addition, many student athletes need to maintain a certain grade-point average, in addition to credit amount to keep their scholarship intact. A student's enrollment status could impact their financial aid package, academic workload, or cost of attendance. Below are some key differences between enrolling as a part-time or full-time student to help you get started on planning for college.

How many credits do I need to qualify as a full-time student?

You may be wondering, "How many credits is full time?" While checking with your academic advisor or department homepage is always advisable, the answer is usually 12. Full-time enrollment may specify which credit-bearing courses can qualify either toward a major, general education, or elective.

On the other hand, a part-time student is someone taking at least six credits. To put it simply, if you take 15 credits a semester for four years, you'll earn a bachelor's degree. If you take 15 credits per semester for two years, you'll earn an associate degree. And while 12 credits is still considered full time, taking and passing only 12 credits a semester will require at least five years to satisfy graduation requirements. With most schools, you must complete 120 college credits to take home a bachelor's degree, which breaks down to 30 credits per academic year.

If this is your journey, it could be a good idea to try and take some high school AP classes to transfer into academic credits for college.

If you want to graduate in four years, knowing all the facts is the first step. But you may be surprised to learn that less than half of all college students — just 41% — graduate within four years, and only 62% graduate in less than six, according to the Pew Research Center.

How does my status affect my tuition?

Your enrollment status can affect your tuition. If you are taking 15 credits, your tuition will cost more than if you're taking six. However, there's often a cap to how much tuition colleges will charge a full-time student. Depending on your part-time job status, or schedule, you may be able to pay the same tuition for taking 12 credits as you would while taking 18.

While some students choose a full course load to reduce tuition costs and to finish college sooner, numbers on a spreadsheet don't equate to the difficulty of taking that many courses at one time. Use caution when considering this heavy a course load and speak to your advisor or trusted mentor. Keep in mind taking on more classes leads to higher commuting costs if you live off-campus, as well as textbook and material costs. If you're thinking of taking additional courses, consider enrolling in an online class. That might help balance your schedule — after all, you can only be in one place at a time!

How does my credit amount affect my student loans?

Going from full-time to a part-time student (or vice versa) can affect your student loans. You're probably already familiar with the FAFSA form you filled out back in high school to find out how much the government would contribute toward your student loans. You've probably also researched different types of financial aid. Note that the FAFSA will have to be filled out annually. Meaning, if you change your enrollment status, the government can alter the size of the loan you will receive.

With federal student loans as an undergraduate student borrower, you don't have to start making payments while you're in school (unless you want to). You'll have a six-month grace period when you graduate. For instance, federal financial aid programs, like Pell Grants, are awarded based on a student's financial needs and they can change depending on the student's status. Meaning full-time students usually receive more money. A student taking nine credits would be eligible for 75% of the maximum award as it's three-quarters of a typical 12 credit load. Also, Pell Grant recipients can't exceed 12 academic terms, and must complete college in six years.

How will enrollment status affect a student athlete?

Student athletes are beholden to NCAA regulations, which has rules surrounding coursework requirements. Division I athletes must enroll in at least six credits to be eligible for the following academic term. Division II athletes must take nine credits and for Division III, 12 credits. The thought behind those rules is that Division I athletes have a more rigorous agenda, therefore they are allowed to take less credits at a time to balance out their schedule.

Does my full-time status affect my scholarship or taxes?

Scholarships can help pay for tuition and related educational expenses. Colleges may use a variety of criteria when awarding scholarships, including academic merit, financial need, and enrollment status. Some scholarships have eligibility requirements that require recipients to be full-time students. Still, opportunities exist for part-time students to be awarded scholarships.

In addition, your enrollment status could influence your guardian's taxes. There are two major programs that give tax credits for education expenses: the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) and the Lifetime Learning Credit (LLC). The AOTC asks for at least part-time enrollment for at least one academic period beginning in the tax year.

Quality of life

For many, the choice to be a part-time vs. full-time student often comes down to how you want your schedule to work with your lifestyle. Different courses eat up different amounts of your time, just as some majors are more demanding than others. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, recently 41.5% of full-time students had some type of employment, while nearly 82% of part-time students were employed. As mentioned above, online classes are one way to help balance workload or you could take evening courses if you're working during the day.

Regardless of enrollment status, Citizens is ready to support you with student loan options

Now that you have a wider grasp of what constitutes a full-time student, and how that can affect your student loans, scholarships, taxes, and workload, you can begin creating a balanced schedule that fits with your life goals. Regardless of your enrollment status, there are many student loan options to choose from that can pave the road to your successful college career.