A program of study is made of the courses used to complete an approved degree or a financial aid eligible certificate. Your specific courses are noted in your degree evaluation.  A course must count in the evaluation of your degree using the degree evaluation tool to be counted as part of your program of study. 

1. Navigate to the Howdy Portal and select “My Dashboard” at the top of the page
2. Select the dropdown menu for “My Record”
3. Select “Degree Evaluation”
4. Select Generate New Degree Evaluation

Federal Aid (Examples: Pell Grant, Teach Grant, Direct Loans, Perkins Loan, Work Study and FSEOG) may only be paid for courses that count towards the program of study.  State and Institutional Aid (Examples: Texas Grant, TPEG and Alternative Loans) are not subject to the same rules.  However, if you have courses not counting toward your program of study, your cost of attendance will be reduced. This can result in a lower amount of state and institutional aid you could receive. 

The Cost of Attendance is an estimate of the cost for you to go to school for a specific amount of time (semester or year). It is based on your enrollment status. Enrollment status for financial aid is based on eligible courses only. If you are an undergraduate student in 12 hours that count towards your program of study, you will be considered a full-time student for cost of attendance purposes. 

The degree evaluation tool is used to determine if a course is part of your program of study.  We run the program to identify students who are impacted and notify them before the start of the semester. We then run the process before disbursement of financial aid (10 days prior to class). We continue to run the process through the census date (the official 12th class day in the long terms and 4th class day in summer terms). After this point no further adjustments will be made. It is imperative that all changes to the degree evaluation affecting courses that count be made before the census date. You can review which courses are counting by logging into Howdy, selecting the Student Profile icon, and navigating to the Schedule tab under the Curriculum and Courses channel. 

You will be notified by email. In addition, you can view your courses using the degree evaluation tool. You can review which courses are counting by logging into Howdy, selecting the Student Profile icon, and navigating to the Schedule tab under the Curriculum and Courses channel. If you have questions about courses included in your program of study, you should contact your Academic Advisor. 

If a course is used as an adjustment, it must be submitted in the University Adjustment System (UAS) by your Academic Advisor prior to the census date (official 12^th class day or 4^th class day for summer). 

Minors must be officially declared and reflected in the degree evaluation prior to the census date (12^th day of class, 4^th class date for summer).  Courses counting toward undeclared minors will not be included in the program of study. 

Double majors must be officially declared and reflected in the degree evaluation prior to the census date (12^th day of class, 4^th class day for summer). Courses counting toward undeclared majors will not be included in the program of study. 

If a program of study has listed specific courses that can count as electives, then only those will be eligible unless an adjustment is made by your academic advisor.  If there is no specified list, then any course will count as long as open elective hours exist for the student in their program of study. 

These courses can only be covered if they are included in your program of study as documented within the degree evaluation tool.  This is based on their current program of study at the time of payment up to the census date (12th class day, 4th class day for summer).  If they are “extra” courses to get you into a major and not part of your current program of study, then they are not eligible. 

If you are in a university recognized coop, it will count for financial aid purposes. 

Only your major for the current semester will be used when evaluating your courses. Courses counting only toward future majors will not count toward your program of study. 

Certain certificate programs and Teacher Certifications (with other limiting factors) will be eligible for Federal Aid. Certificate programs are approved for federal aid by the Department of Education and noted below. Teacher Certification is a special program that is offered through the School of Education & Human Development and has additional factors that affect students' aid eligibility.

Courses taken for certificates (not listed below) must also count towards your major or minor in the degree evaluation to be counted for Federal Financial Aid eligibility.

Texas A&M Bush School
Advanced International Affairs
Homeland Security
Nonprofit Management
Public Management

Texas A&M College of Arts & Sciences
Geographic Information Science
Geoscience Data Management
Geospatial Intelligence

Texas A&M Energy Institute
Energy
 
Texas A&M Health Science Center
Advanced General Dentistry
Dental Public Health
Endodontics/Endodontology
Forensic Health Care
Oral Biology and Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology
Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology
Orthodontics/Orthodontology
Pediatric Dentistry, Pedodontics
Periodontics/Periodontology
Prosthodontics/ Prosthodontology

Texas A&M Mays Business School
Entrepreneurship

Texas A&M School of Education & Human Development
Adult Education
Interdisciplinary Studies (Aggie ACHIEVE)*

Texas A&M School of Law
Business Law and Compliance
Cybersecurity Law and Policy
Energy Law-Environmental and Energy Law and Policy
Energy Law-Oil and Gas Law and Policy
Health Law, Policy and Management
Human Resources and Employment Law, Policy and Management
International Tax Law and Policy
Real Estate and Construction Law, Policy and Management
Risk Management and Compliance
Wealth Management 
 
Texas Consumer Resource for Education and Workforce Statistics (Texas Crews)
Career Path Research

*Eligible for limited federal financial aid programs. Contact Aggie One Stop for more information. 

Only courses that are part of the program of study as documented in the degree evaluation are eligible for federal aid. 

All courses taken at Blinn Bryan will count in your program of study. Courses taken at Texas A&M University must count toward your listed intended major to be included in the program of study. 

Courses must count toward your intended major to be included in the program of study. 

All education abroad courses will count for federal financial aid. 

Only courses that are part of the program of study as documented in the degree evaluation are eligible for federal aid. 

Scholarships do not require your courses to count. However, students with scholarships that are need-based (ex. Regents' Scholarship) could be adjusted due to the adjustment of the cost of attendance. Other institutional or private (outside scholarships) scholarships will not be adjusted. 

There are two separate processes that will affect these courses. The first is the program of study evaluation and the second is the repeated coursework evaluation. The repeated course will count for the program of study evaluation if it is in the program of study as documented by the degree evaluation, regardless of the presence of a previously taken same course. The course would still then need to pass repeated coursework evaluation to be eligible for federal aid. Visit the Maintaining Eligibility webpage for more information. 

Satisfactory Academic Progress is based on total hours taken and not federal aid eligible hours taken. All hours will continue to count towards this as noted at Maintaining Eligibility. 

If you are a student athlete, you are required to enroll full-time, unless you are certified to be in final hours before graduation or granted a Progress Toward Degree Waiver. If you have federal aid in your aid package and do not have full-time hours (12 for undergraduates or 9 for graduate students) that count in your program of study, we will reduce your cost of attendance. Aid may be impacted, depending on your aid package and source of funds. 

Prior to the degree plan being filed, all graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses will count. After a degree plan is filed, only courses counting towards the degree evaluation will count. 

Only courses that are part of the program of study as documented in the degree evaluation are eligible for federal aid. 

Yes, but for federal financial aid we will only base your aid on classes that count. 

It depends on the type of financial aid you are being offered. Federal aid can only be applied to courses in your degree plan. State aid and most scholarships do not have this restriction, so those can be applied to any class, like a KINE 199, regardless of whether it is in your degree plan. Contact Aggie One Stop if you have questions about your aid.