Special Students

Federal regulations prevent UW-Whitewater from providing financial aid to Special Students except under certain circumstances.  If you meet one or more of the circumstances provided, you must provide the Financial Aid Office with the appropriate documentation.  If you do not meet the eligibility criteria for the specific circumstance, you are not eligible for Federal Student Aid, but you may be eligible for an alternative loan.  In addition to meeting the Special Student eligibility criteria, all Special Students must be enrolled at least half time, which is defined as 6 credits.  If a student becomes ineligible for failure to make Satisfactory Academic Progress, they must appeal to regain their financial aid.

Letters, documentation, and related questions can be directed to ShariLynn DuClos, Assistant Director of Financial Aid.

You are a special student if. . . 

• You are taking a course(s) that does not count toward a degree; i.e., 1st Teacher Licensure or Certification.
• You are pursuing a second undergraduate degree.
• You are misclassified as a special student.
• You are taking required courses to enter into a graduate program.
• You are enrolled in a graduate program, but are taking all undergraduate courses.

Teacher Certification

Students enrolled in a teacher licensure/certification program must contact their Licensure Coordinator and request that they submit your licensure plan to the College of Education indicating the plan is for financial aid purposes. Once the Financial Aid Office receives the official statement from the Director of Certification along with a copy of your licensure plan, financial aid eligibility can be determined.  An advisor cannot provide this information. The information may be submitted via e-mail to ShariLynn DuClos. Funding is based on the undergraduate guidelines for enrollment and loan limits. Each term the Financial Aid Office will verify that the enrolled courses are listed in the licensure plan. Only course work listed in the licensure plan can be funded. Licensure Coordinator information can be found at the CoEPS liscensure page.

Required Information for Statement from College of Education:

• Student Name
• ID #
• Licensure Program
• Verification this is 1st licensure
• Licensure Plan
• Signature from College of Education

Second Degree

You must submit evidence that you are following a plan, which leads to a new degree that is different from your first degree, i.e. 1st degree BA, new degree BS, BSE, BBA.  That evidence must be a statement(s) from your advisor.  The statement should be on department letter head with your ID number and approval of the advisor of the college involved.  The information in the letter must match the student's information in the computer system.  The advisor may e-mail the required information to ShariLynn DuClos.  Without such evidence, we must presume the additional course work to be simply an augmentation of the existing degree (additional major/minor).  The maximum number of credits funded for a second degree is 90.

Required information for STATEMENT from advisor:

• Student Name
• ID #
• First Degree (e.g. BA, BS, BBA, BSE)
• Current Degree
• Number of credits or list of courses required to complete degree
• Advisor Name
• Advisor Title
• Advisor Contact Information

Required Courses for Admission to a Graduate Program

If you are taking required courses to enter into a graduate program, you must provide an admissions denial letter from the UW-Whitewater Graduate Studies Office stating what undergraduate courses must be completed before you can be admitted into the graduate program.

Misclassified

You must request the Admissions Office or the Graduate Studies Office to correct their record so that you are no longer incorrectly classified as a Special Student.  Please notify the Financial Aid Office once this information has been corrected.

Graduate taking all Undergraduate Classes

If you are a graduate student enrolled in a graduate program, but are taking all undergraduate courses, for financial aid purposes, you are classified as a Special Student. Federal regulations state you are not eligible for financial aid.  If you meet the Teacher Certification criteria, or if the undergraduate classes are considered a prerequisite/deficiency for your graduate degree, you may be eligible for funding.  Please contact the Financial Aid Office.