Diploma Program Aid

Clock to Credit Hour Conversion (Diploma Programs)

Federal regulations require colleges to convert hours for certain diploma programs based on a federally-regulated formula. Most often, the conversion process results in lower Pell grant payments each term. This means,  the process used to determine enrollment status (full-time, half-time, etc.) for federal financial aid sources is different for diploma programs.

Determining the enrollment status for diploma programs is different because the program has one or more courses that cannot be used toward a two-year associates degree program. Enrollment status determination for diploma programs involves taking the amount of each course’s clock/contact hours and divide it by 30.0. These converted credits are used to determine the enrollment status and your financial aid award status will be based on the converted hours, NOT the actual credit hours taken.

Example: If you are enrolled in a 3 credit hour course that has 75 clock hours, you would divide 30.0 into the 75 clock hours (75/30.0=2.5). Therefore, you would only be eligible for 2.5 financial aid credit hours.

*SPECIAL NOTE: DO NOT ROUND UP WHEN TOTALING HOURS.

Click on the program below to determine the converted hours for the Practical Nursing program.

• Practical Nursing – 513901

Even though you may be enrolled “full-time” academically, your financial aid will be calculated using converted hours. Please use the table in the program link above to determine your financial aid enrollment status. This table contains specific course names with their actual number of “payable financial aid credit hours” for the course. The “payable financial aid credit hours” determines the total amount of your Pell grant awarded. This is  based on the Department of Education’s Clock Hour to Credit Hour Regulations. The reduced hours may result in a reduced amount awarded for Federal Pell grants.

The Office of Financial Aid created this table for use when scheduling courses, and financial aid counselors are available to help you when determining Pell grant awards. Please review the scholarship section of our website to search for additional funding opportunities.

NOTE: It is the student’s responsibility to ensure their program of study and enrolled courses are correct. Financial aid will not pay for courses outside of the official program of study listed in the College Catalog. To change your program of study and/or select appropriate classes, please contact your advisor or go to your LoLA account.