Your AFE status

Your Aide financière aux études (AFE) status (i.e., full-time vs part-time studies) plays a key role in your assessment. AFE’s Loans and Bursaries Program for full-time studies and Loans Program for part-time studies are considered separate entities and a change in status can directly impact the amount of aid you can get, as well as your loan repayment.

Scholarships and Student Aid is the recognized authority at McGill to correspond with AFE. We confirm your registration status to AFE on a monthly basis. Should your student status/credit load change during the academic year, a financial reassessment notification will appear in your AFE file under the tab “full-time assessment” and your AFE payments will be adjusted accordingly.

Full-time students

AFE's Loans and Bursaries Program for full-time studies applies to undergraduate students who are registered for at least 12 credits per semester during their undergraduate degree or those who are deemed full-time and taking between 6 and 11 credits per semester.

A full-time co-op semester might be recognized as full-time registration by the University and AFE, but does not allow for AFE funding eligibility.

Graduate students working on their thesis are considered full-time in each term, whether they are registered with credits or not. Graduate non-thesis students must be registered for at least 12 credits per semester or be deemed full-time and taking between 6 and 11 credits per semester.

Withdrawing from or cancelling a course could have an impact on your AFE assessment. Contact the Scholarships and Student Aid Office for more info.

TIP: Check out AFE’s assessment simulator, a self-serve calculator that helps you estimate the amount of government aid you may receive in their Loans and Bursaries Program for full-time studies. This amount does not represent the final assessment and may vary substantially from what you will actually receive. Please note: the amount entered for tuition should only include basic Quebec tuition. McGill’s Student Accounts website has more info to help you with this. Read more about allowable expenses.

Part-time students

AFE's Loan Program for part-time studies applies to students who are registered part-time (6 to 11 credits per semester) and who are not deemed full-time. Students who are restricted to registering part-time due to special circumstances should investigate if they qualify for deemed full-time status (info below), as this status can make them eligible to apply for AFE’s Loans and Bursaries Program for full-time studies. This does not apply to students who are part-time between two periods of full-time study (e.g., part-time in summer).

Students enrolled at recognized educational institutions in Quebec can apply for AFE’s Part-Time Loan Program, even if they are studying in a program that is only offered part-time and not recognized by AFE (no program code). The part-time program must lead to a certificate or diploma and can be offered either online or in-person.

Consult AFE’s guide to the Loans Program for part-time studies for more information, including a loan assessment simulator table.

Deemed Full-time Status

In some instances, it is possible to be deemed full-time by AFE when taking between 6 and 11 credits per semester. This is commonly applied to students who:

• Are or will be parents
• Have a disability*
• Have a serious mental or physical health disorder**

*Student Accessibility & Achievement can help students fill out the specific forms for your AFE application

**AFE medical certificate form 1015 is available on AFE’s website.

Dependent status

If you are considered a dependent student, your parent(s), guardian(s), spouse or sponsor must complete their declaration forms via AFE’s online services.

Students' parent(s) or guardian(s) are expected, by law, to contribute to their child’s education if they are in a position to do so. When assessing the need of a student, AFE takes into consideration the amount parents/guardians should be contributing to their child’s education. It is important to note that this amount will be used to calculate a student’s net need and could create a deficit in the budget if it is not provided. Our office has a Financial Aid Roadmap for Parents with guidelines and tips on this topic.

Note: parents/guardians are not liable for their child’s student loans. The Act respecting financial assistance for education expenses states that the person applying for financial assistance under the Loans and Bursaries Program is considered to have reached an age of majority, even if he or she is not 18 years of age.

Summer studies

AFE eligibility criteria for summer studies are the same as those seen on this page.