Enrollment/Degree/GPA -- Certification
Students are frequently required to have their attendance certified
as full-time or half-time by the Office of Financial Aid and Registrar
for governmental or private agencies. Certifications are often required
for student loan deferment, especially of transfer students who have
received loans at previous institutions. Insurance companies, the Veterans
Administration or other agencies may require proof of enrollment or
grade point information for other types of eligibility. Many require
verification of "full-time" or "half-time" status.
Each course for which you register is tied to a specific term, which
begins with the first day of classes in the term and ends with the last
day of final exams. Generally, students who have completed a bachelor's
degree, but have not been admitted to a University of Minnesota Graduate
School program or departmental masters program, are considered undergraduates.
For students in undergraduate programs, the College of Pharmacy and
the UMD School of Medicine, full-time status is defined as 12 or more
credits per semester; half-time status is 6-11 credits per semester
or summer term.
5xxx through 9xxx level courses do not constitute, by themselves, graduate
level work for certification or registration verification purposes.
Students must also be registered in a University of Minnesota Graduate
School program or a departmental masters program to be certified as
doing graduate-level work. Refer to the Graduate School Catalog for
more information.
For students in the Graduate School, or master's programs in the College
of Education and Human Service Professions, the College of Liberal Arts,
and the College of Science and Engineering, full-time status is defined
as 6 or more credits per term; half-time status is 3-5 credits per term.
Courses taken as an audit can not be counted for certification purposes.
The University participates in the National Student Loan Clearinghouse.
The University submits a tape of students' registration statuses to
the Clearinghouse three times each semester (starting the end of the
2nd week). The Clearinghouse, in turn, supplies verification of registration
to lending agencies. All deferment loan forms are forwarded by the Office
of the Registrar to the Clearinghouse; this information is not supplied
directly to lending agencies.
If you have enrolled late or had an exception processed to your registration,
this information may not be reported until the submission of the next
tape. The Clearinghouse asks that if you receive a collections letter
from a lending agency, you:
Call the lending agency to see if a deferment form was received between
the time the Clearinghouse supplies this information and the lending
agency sent the collection letter.
If, after calling the lending agency, it still appears that your
deferment has not been processed, you may call the Clearinghouse,
(703) 742-7791, and ask for a student service representative. The
representative will verify the date on which the deferment form was
received by the Clearinghouse, the date the deferment was certified
and mailed, the registration status that was certified, and where
the forms were sent.
If an emergency exists (for example, you are being threatened with
default) the Clearinghouse will intervene on your behalf by faxing
another deferment to the lending agency and will work with them to
ensure the form is processed on a high priority.
Some lenders are not members of the Clearinghouse. If you receive a
loan deferment form from your lender, bring your request in person to
the Student Assistance Center, 23 Solon Campus Center. You can download
the form to request a certification letter. Requests for certification
letters are not accepted by phone.
Minnesota law allows a student who takes at least 60% of a full-time
credit load to qualify as a full time student for purposes of continued
insurance coverage on a family policy if the reduced credit load is
due to illness, injury, or mental or physical disability and with appropriate
documentation from a physician. Insurance companies are responsible
for informing you of this option if it applies to you. You can receive
certification of your credit load and the number of credits required
for a 60% credit load at the Student Assistance Center, 23 Solon Campus
Center. Your physician should then forward your certification with the
appropriate medical documentation to your insurance company.
More information about deferments and other exceptions to the definitions
of full-time and half-time status is available at the Student Assistance
Center, 23 Solon Campus Center, by calling 218-726-8000 (1-800-232-1339),
or via E-mail to umdhelp@d.umn.edu.
