To see how many hours of financial aid eligibility you have left, you can log in to your eConnect account and select "My Financial Aid Status." This screen will show you the maximum number of hours for which financial aid can pay. If you have more than 12 hours left, you should be OK to receive the full amount of aid you are awarded. If you have less than 12 hours, some of your awards may have to be reduced. If you have zero or a negative number of hours, your aid will not pay. You will have to pay for your school costs out of your own pocket.

Federal regulations limit the amount of financial aid a student can receive to pay for the completion of a program of study. That limit is measured in the number of hours that have been attempted. The limit is 150% of the minimum hours required to complete a program. For example, an associate degree program normally requires 66 hours. The financial aid limit would be 66 times 150%, or 99 hours. Certificate programs are usually much shorter. A certificate program that requires 30 hours, for example, would be limited to 45 hours of financial aid funding (30 hours x 150% = 45 maximum hours).

DCCCD's financial aid accounting department monitors the enrollment attempts for each financial aid student for each semester and maintains a running total of the number of hours of financial aid eligibility that remain in the student's primary program of study. This is the program for which financial aid is being used to complete.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have changed programs or have transfer hours from another institution, an adjustment to your available hours of financial aid eligibility may be possible. If the information at "My Financial Aid Status" does not indicate that your program change has been evaluated (check box is marked "no"), you can contact your college financial aid office and request an evaluation of your program hours. Also check to see if the evaluation date indicated is from before you changed your program. If you have changed your program after the evaluation date, you can contact your college financial aid office for a new evaluation. If the evaluation shows that some of your attempted hours should not be counted in your program, your eligibility can be adjusted.