The Rules Behind the Numbers
Each page here works from the regulation itself — quoted, cited and dated — rather than from someone else's summary of it. Where a rule specifies a rounding method or a threshold, that detail is stated, because it is usually where published answers go wrong.
Loans
- Prorated loan limits for part-time students — 34 CFR 685.203(m)(1), effective July 1, 2026
Enrollment status
- What counts as full time — 34 CFR 668.2, and the five other tests that ignore it
Why these rules disagree with each other
The programs below were written at different times, by different agencies, for different purposes. None of them was designed to line up with the others, and they do not.
| Rule | Denominator | Rounding | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time status | Per term | None — it is a threshold | 34 CFR 668.2 |
| Pell enrollment intensity | Per term | To a whole percent | 20 U.S.C. 1070a(b)(2) |
| Loan proration | Per academic year | To a whole percentage point | 34 CFR 685.203(m)(1) |
| GI Bill housing | Per term | Threshold — strictly above 50% | 38 CFR 21.9640 |
| F-1 course load | Per term, plus an online cap | None | 8 CFR 214.2(f)(6) |
| SAP | Cumulative | None | 34 CFR 668.34 |
Read down the denominator column and the source of most confusion becomes obvious: loan proration is the only one measured across the whole year. That single difference is why a student can be 75% for Pell and 88% for loans in the same academic year, and why advice that treats "part time" as one status gives the wrong answer for at least one of your programs.
How each page is built
Every figure traces to the regulation that produces it. Where wording carries the meaning — "as determined by the institution", "rounded to the nearest whole percentage point" — the sentence itself is quoted rather than summarised. Worked examples are computed at build time from the same rule data, so a table cannot drift away from the rule it illustrates. Pages carry the date their sources were last checked.