Repeating Coursework

Students should be aware that, for federal financial aid purposes, an institution can pay a student for only one retake of a previously passed course or its equivalent. This means that once a student has passed a particular course, Financial Aid can count that student as being enrolled in that course only one more time for federal aid purposes.

For example: Say a student passed BIO 101 General Biology I in Fall 2018 with a D. If that student takes BIO 101 General Biology I again in Fall 2019, the Financial Aid Office can count that course in the student’s Fall 2017 enrollment. So if the student is taking BIO 101 General Biology I for 3 credits and 9 other credits in Fall 2019, the student would be considered to be in 12 credits (full-time) for Fall 2019. However, if the student then took BIO 101 General Biology I again in Spring 2020, it cannot be counted (regardless of whether it was passed or failed in Fall 2018). So, if the student is taking BIO 101 General Biology I for the 3rd time in Spring 2020 and 9 other credits, the Financial Aid Office would have to consider the student to be enrolled in only 9 credits for Spring 2020.

Please note that this restriction does not apply to Pace University funded aid or to outside resources such as Alternative Loans.