Financial Aid Census Date and Schedule Changes

Financial Aid Census Date and Adding/Dropping Courses

Your financial aid award is based on your anticipated full-time enrollment at HFC (e.g. 12 credit hours or more per semester). If your class schedule or actual attendance drops below full-time, your financial aid awards will be adjusted downward, and if you have already received financial aid, you will have to repay a proportional amount of the funds distributed to you.

HFC adjusts awards each semester, as required by federal law, based on your enrollment as of a specific date each semester, called the “Census Date.” If you receive a Pell Grant, your Pell Grant payments will be based on the number of credit hours for which you are enrolled as of the Census Date for that semester.

  • The Census Date for Fall 2022 is Friday, September 9, 2022.
  • The Census Date for Winter 2023 is Tuesday, January 24, 2023.
  • The Census Date for Summer 2023 is Wednesday, July 5, 2023.

NOTE: If you initially enroll for the semester after the Census Date for that semester, your official Census Date will be the date when you enroll.

Reasons to plan your classes carefully and pay attention to the Census Date

  • Maximum Financial Award: To ensure that you receive the maximum Pell Grant for which you are eligible, and to avoid having to repay funds that were already posted to your account, we STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU to finalize your course schedule no later than each semester's Census Date.
  • Dropping Classes Before the Census Date: A Pell Grant payment made at the beginning of the semester is based on your enrollment as of the day the grant is disbursed. If you drop any classes between the time of the initial payment and the Census Date for that semester, your Pell Grant may be partially or totally reversed.
  • Adding Classes After the Census Date: If you add a class after the Census Date for the semester, your Pell Grant will not be increased. Classes added after the Census Date will not be eligible to be counted for Pell Grant eligibility purposes, although they may still be counted for Federal Direct Loan eligibility purposes.

Enrollment Adjustments

Students are sometimes dropped from a course at the start of the semester for not successfully passing a pre-requisite course or a class may be canceled. If this occurs, the student may need to register for a different class required for their program. It is the student’s responsibility to maintain the appropriate number of credit hours to remain eligible for the financial aid for which they have been awarded.