Summer Registration Information

Click here to jump to Financial Aid information for summer

The summer term is a 12-week semester with several options for 3-week, 5-week, 6-week, and full-term courses.  Undergraduate students may take 18 hours over the course of the summer without special permission for an overload, while graduate students are still limited to 12 hours without special permission for an overload.  However, the suggested maximum number of hours per part of term are as follows for undergraduates:

  • Full Term: 18 credit hours
  • 3-Week Terms: 4 credit hours
  • 5-Week Terms: 8 credit hours
  • 6-Week Terms: 8 credit hours

Students should also be careful with overloading between parts of term.  For example, it would be difficult to take two 4-hour classes in the S5A term and a 3-hour class in the S3B term since they would all be held concurrently.  The system will allow you to register for more than the suggested maximum number of hours per part of term, but it may not always be in your best interest to do so.  You are considered full-time in the summer as an undergraduate student with 12 credit hours (same as during the fall and spring).  Graduate students are considered full-time at 9 hours unless you are a graduate assistant, in which case you are full-time at 6 hours.

Identifying which part of term a course is in can be a little tricky, so note the picture below that shows where to identify the part of term for a class and the dates in which it is held.  When using "Look Up Classes" in Pipeline the third column from the right will show the date range of the course.  You'll also find the term code in the far-right column under the course attributes.  This will correlate to the date column, but may be easier in identifying the part of term. PLEASE NOTE that the Schedule Planner does not recognize different parts of term and is not a useful tool for summer course registration!

 Summer Look Up Classes

 

Once you are registered for summer you can easily see your course dates and the part of term if you look at the "Schedule (Grid Format)" in Pipeline under the Registration and Student Records menu.  An example can be found below for a student taking one course in the S5A term (first half of the summer semester), another in the S5B term (2nd half of the summer semester), and one course in the S3A term (the first three weeks of the summer semester, and the traditional "Maymester" so many students are accustomed to taking). 

Summer Schedule

 

There are many online course options for summer, and each of those courses will also fit within one of these parts of term.  It is incredibly important to know which part of term your class is in to avoid missing a start date.  Once you have paid or confirmed for the summer term you must follow the dates and deadlines for withdrawing from classes as outlined in the Registration Guide. Students who late register for a course must prepay or have enough financial aid to cover their balance before the MT One Stop will add them to a class. 

Students who drop or withdraw could encounter major issues with financial aid depending on when you drop or withdraw.  Note that dropping a class in one part of term and adding a class in another will NOT evenly swap your fees if the class you drop has already started.  For example, if you drop a class in the S3A part of term on the first day of class and add a class in the S5A part of term, you only get 75% fee adjustment for the S3A class you drop and still have to pay 100% of the S5A class you add. Always email MTOneStop@mtsu.edu or come by the MT One Stop front counter prior to dropping or withdrawing from courses to find out the fee and financial aid impact.

 

Financial Aid for Summer

You can utilize financial aid for summer, but the availability of aid depends on a variety of factors.  It depends on what sort of aid you are eligible to use, what aid you have already used in the fall and spring terms, and how many credit hours you take as to how much aid may be available.  It is best to consult with the MT One Stop in person or by email (MTOneStop@mtsu.edu) when you register for summer classes to see what is available.  We will typically be able to give you an idea of what could be available in March prior to the start of priority registration.

Here are some common types of financial aid and information on their availability for summer for undergraduate students.  Keep in mind that summer financial aid relies on the FAFSA used for the prior fall and spring terms.  For example, the Summer 2024 term will use the 2023-2024 FAFSA information that was used for Fall 2023 and Spring 2024.  The total amount of financial aid that can be used will depend on the number of credit hours enrolled, the parts of term a student is enrolled in, and the resulting Cost of Attendance calculation made by the Financial Aid Office.

  • Federal Pell Grant: If eligible for the Pell Grant during the fall and spring terms, students could be eligible for it in the summer.  Typically students who were full-time in both the previous fall and spring terms must be registered in 6 credit hours for summer to receive a prorated amount of their Pell Grant, and students taking 12 credit hours could receive their full Pell Grant (assuming all courses are in a student's Coursework Towards Program of Study or CPoS Hours).
  • Federal Direct Student Loans: If an undergraduate student is enrolled in at least 6 credit hours that are CPoS eligible they may be eligible to receive federal direct student loans if they have eligibility left from the fall and spring terms.  There are annual federal loan limits for undergraduate students that may have been met already, contact the MT One Stop to check on your availability. Private/alternative loans can be used in the summer, as can  Federal Parent PLUS Loans.
  • Institutional Academic Scholarships: Awards such as the Trustee, Presidential, True Blue, and Transfer Promise Scholarship cannot be used in the summer semester. Other institutional scholarships may also only be used in the fall or spring terms only.
  • Tennessee Hope Lottery Scholarship: This award and the corresponding Aspire/GAMS supplements can be used for eligible students in the summer, provided a student is enrolled in at least 6 credit hours.  The amount is prorated depending on the number of hours taken, up to 12 hours for the full award.  See more about it on our website here:https://mtsu.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/tels.php.

Graduate students may use federal direct student loans if they are enrolled in at least 5 credit hours that are CPoS eligible and if they have eligibility left from the fall and spring terms.  There are annual federal loan limits for graduate students that may have been met already, contact the MT One Stop to check on your availability. Private/alternative loans can be used in the summer, as can Federal PLUS Loans for graduate students.

Students in the Regional Scholars Program or in the Academic Common Market program are allowed to take summer classes at their discounted tuition rates without the requirement for being enrolled full-time.  

If you are taking classes as a transient student at another institution, or taking classes both at MTSU and elsewhere, you will need to do a consortium agreement in order to receive your financial aid from MTSU. Contact the MT One Stop if you need to do the paperwork for a consortium agreement or have any questions.  If you are attending MTSU as a transient student from another institution for the summer you will work with your home institution on this agreement and paperwork. See more information here: https://www.mtsu.edu/financial-aid/consortium.php.

Some financial aid, such as the Hope Lottery Scholarship, cannot be awarded for summer until grades are checked for the previous spring semester.  Therefore, the funds for some financial aid are not available to use when paying or confirming for the summer by the first fee payment deadline.  Students must pay or confirm up front and be reimbursed by that aid at a later date if they want to keep their summer classes intact and not be purged by that first fee payment deadline.  Taking summer classes may also delay when aid is available for use at the fall fee payment deadline since final grades are not processed until the end of the summer term, especially for those using a consortium agreement since we must get your transcript from the other institution.

Please contact the MT One Stop with financial aid questions at MTOneStop@mtsu.edu or stop by our office during normal operating hours