To access the Summer Aid Application, scroll to the bottom of this page AND check the boxes.

With the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), several financial aid rules will change starting in the 2026–27 academic year or on July 1, 2026. You can review the updates here: Financial Aid: One Big Beautiful Bill Act – JMU.

All universities are currently waiting for additional guidance from the U.S. Department of Education. Once we receive more information, we will update our webpages.

Possible impacts include:

  • Pell Grants: May change if a student’s scholarships and grants already cover their full Cost of Attendance.
  • Summer Loans: Loan amounts may need to be adjusted under new rules.
  • Parent PLUS Loans: New annual and lifetime limits may apply if the student is not a Legacy Borrower.
  • Graduate PLUS Loans: May no longer be available for students who are not Legacy Borrowers.

 

Types of Available Summer Aid
Video Play Button Video: Summer Financial Aid

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Summer is the first term of the Financial Aid award year at JMU. The order is summer, fall and spring. That means if you plan to apply for summer school financial aid, you must file next year's Fafsa. The Fafsa Priority Filing date can be found on our website at www.jmu.edu/financialaid. In addition to filing the Fafsa, you must also be meeting satisfactory academic progress at the conclusion of the spring term.

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If you are not, then your summer financial aid will be canceled. Even if you received a financial aid offer prior to that point. The JMU Summer School Financial Aid application will be available on our website beginning with the first day of registration. In addition to the Fafsa that you should have already filed by this point, this application needs to be submitted to apply for summer school financial aid.

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Make sure you're satisfied with your summer school courses before submitting the JMU Summer School financial aid application. Once you submit your application, the hold will be placed on your account, preventing you from making any changes to your summer schedule without contacting the financial aid office to discuss removing the hold. The additional step of having to contact the financial aid office for the hold removal may delay

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when you can make changes to your schedule, this hold will not affect your fall registration.

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As a result of the federal aid rules dealing with summer school, making changes to your class schedule will likely impact your aid package. This is why the hold just place preventing you from making changes without consulting the financial aid office first.

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Summer school financial aid disbursements will not occur until after your classes begin. In some cases, you may not receive your summer school aid until the semester has concluded, as financial aid disbursements work very differently in summer than fall and spring.

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This is primarily due to the modular term set up in the summer and transition between fiscal years for the university. You should be prepared to cover expenses such as housing, food and books, and plan on your summer aid as being more of a reimbursement than upfront money. If you're counting on financial aid to pay your summer charges, then the University Business office will be able to see the anticipated financial aid disbursements.

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If your anticipated aid is not enough to cover the charges, then you will need to contact the University Business Office to pay the difference. Receiving summer financial aid will impact your aid for the rest of the academic year. If you are only receiving subsidized or unsubsidized direct loans, and going to summer school does not give you more federal aid as it takes part of the aid you would have received in the following fall and spring semesters, and gives it to you in the summer.

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This means you will receive less money in the following academic year if you take part of your federal aid in summer school. The only exception to this is with the federal Pell Grant. If you are a federal Pell Grant recipient, then it is possible to receive a grant in the summer without it reducing your fall and spring amounts.

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As Pell Grants are available year round for students who have not reached their lifetime limit. State aid is not available in summer school. If you have further questions, visit the Summer school section of our website. The JMU Summer School Financial Aid application will be available at this site once summer school registration begins.

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Qualifications for Aid

All students should be accepted in an approved program of study & the total eligible credits taken during the entire summer semester are used to determine enrollment and aid eligiblity.

Undergraduates:

  • For Federal Loans- 6 or more Financial Aid Eligible Hours
  • For Federal Pell Grants- 1 or more Financial Aid Eligible Hours

 Graduate Students:

  • 5 or more credit hours

2026-27 evaluations are determined after Spring 2026 grades are posted.

Students who do not meet SAP may appeal based on extenuating circumstances. The Summer deadline to appeal is:

  • Summer: Monday, July 6th

Learn more about SAP

**Private Loan requirements differ. A student should contact their lender for specific SAP requirements.**
 
Summer Aid Hold

Any student who completes a JMU Summer Aid Application will have a Registration Hold placed on their account to stop schedule adjustments that could change or cancel aid. Communication with our office is essential to determine the potential changes to aid before making changes to a schedule.

Please note: If a student adds a course and is subsequently added to a waitlist, the hold will prevent the student from being removed from the waitlist. A Course Change Request form will need to be submitted daily during the Add/Drop period for the course to try to be removed from the waitlist. There is no guarantee the student will be taken off the waitlist.

THIS HOLD DOES NOT AFFECT FALL REGISTRATION and will remain on a student account until the end of ALL Summer classes in August

Schedule Adjustments

Adjustments that could change a student’s summer aid include:

  • Reduction in credit hours
  • Reduction in number of weeks enrolled in classes
  • Dropping a class
  • Withdrawing from a class
  • Failing a class

Students wishing to adjust their schedule after the Summer Registration Hold is placed on their account will need to submit a Summer Course Change Request Form.

Awarding

Students who have completed all their requirements will receive an email notification when awarded. This message will advise them to log in to MyMadison to view and accept any aid they wish to receive.

Summer Awarding will begin by the end of May.

 Summer Awarding Image

Students can contact our office if they would like their summer loans re-offered.
Disbursements & Refunds

Since funds are not available until class(es) start, students generally receive summer aid as reimbursement.

It is possible for some student's disbursements and refunds to be delayed until after JMU's Fiscal Year Shutdown, which occurs from around the middle of June until shortly after July 1. No disbursements occur during this shutdown period.

 Come prepared to cover initial expenses and costs not covered by financial aid. 

Federal Pell Grants will not be available until after July 1

**Pell eligibility will be based on enrollment on July 1**

The University Business Office should wait for aid to be disbursed that covers a student’s full bill. A student will need to pay for any remaining bill not covered by their financial aid.

Summer Loan Dates & Deadlines

Following Federal regulations, all loans must be processed by the end of the loan period. The deadlines to accept loans for ANY 2026 Summer session are:
Undergraduate students:
Graduate students:

You must agree to the following before you proceed to the Summer Aid Application:

The Summer Aid Application will close at 5 PM on August 12th, 2026.

I understand the process of awarding financial aid for the Summer term is estimate to begin by the end of May.

I confirm I have read the above information.   

I understand a Summer Registration Hold will be placed on my account prohibiting me from making changes to my summer schedule.

I understand the summer registration hold will NOT affect my Fall 2026 registration.

 I understand classes must be financial aid eligible to receive aid (see more information about financial aid eligible hours).  

Summer FAQ's

If you have further questions, you can email our summer aid team at summer_aid@jmu.edu.

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Financial Aid & Scholarships
Student Success Center
MSC 3519
738 South Mason Street
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807
Email Us
540/568-7820
Fax: 540/568-7994
Hours of Operation:
Mon - Fri 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Summer Hours of Operation:
Mon - Thur 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Fri 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.