Graduate Financial Aid

Working toward, and ultimately completing, your graduate degree is an investment in yourself.  Deciding where and what to study can be exhilarating and exciting.  It can also be confusing and stressful, especially when you consider the costs associated with earning an advanced degree.  We believe your time and energy should be spent focusing on your studies instead of your finances.

Announcements, Dates & Deadlines

2024-2025 Academic Year (Fall Term 2024 – Summer Term 2025): 

• Scholarships for graduate-level programs are determined by academic departments, typically through the admissions process, and then submitted to Financial Aid Services to be included in your total financial aid offer.  Financial Aid Services does not have scholarship or grant funding available.  Questions regarding scholarships for graduate students should be directed to the academic department.   If your scholarship does not appear as part of your total financial aid offer, please contact your academic department for information.   

• The 2024-2025 FAFSA is available for use.  Go to StudentAid.gov to complete and submit the 2024-2025 application for federal and state financial aid programs. Beginning with the 2024-2025 year, the Department of Education integrated a Direct Data Exchange (DDX) process with the IRS that replaced the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT).  If a tax return was completed for the 2022 year, the DDX process will automatically pull that tax information directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) into the FAFSA, which reduces errors, shortens processing and wait times, and minimizes the chances of being selected for verification.  Should your tax filing circumstances not be compatible with the DDX process, you will have the option to enter your tax information manually.

• Financial Aid offers for the 2024-2025 academic year are scheduled to begin as follows:   
  • New incoming graduate students will be reviewed beginning in late April and continuing on a rolling basis.
  • Returning/Continuing graduate students will be reviewed beginning in mid- to late June after grades from the prior Spring term have been evaluated and posted.  

• Financial aid offer notifications will be sent to your SMU email address. 

• Students who utilize credit-based loan funding such as the Federal Grad PLUS, Texas College Access Loan (CAL), or a private consumer-based education loan must submit a new loan application specifically for the 2024-2025 academic year.   

Enrollment Requirements: 

Federal aid for any given term requires part-time enrollment (typically 4.5 or more credit hours).  For enrollment of less than 4.5 hours, students may use one of the private lenders listed in the Types of Financial Aid link at the top of the page. 

Students who are withdrawing from the University or dropping a class should contact the SMU Mane Desk at (214) 768-5555 or Financial Aid Services at gradfinaid@smu.edu for additional information on how the change in enrollment will impact the financial aid that has been offered.  

Financial Aid Advising for Graduate & Doctoral Students