Ask Archie

The Double Dawgs program was created to give ambitious and motivated students a competitive advantage in today’s knowledge economy. By earning both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in five years or less, students can save time and money while positioning themselves for success after graduation.

Students who follow the standard Double Dawgs program of study do so in the following format:

Image showing timeline of Double Dawgs program.

Students following the standard Double Dawgs Program of Study above can receive undergraduate-level financial aid, including the Federal Pell Grant and the HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarships, for years 1 through 4 of this Program of Study as long as they remain otherwise eligible. Once the undergraduate degree requirements have been completed or the student is admitted to the graduate program, the student becomes ineligible for all undergraduate aid and will then qualify for graduate-level student financial aid if they are otherwise eligible.

Certain students are able to appeal to the Double Dawgs program to be admitted to the graduate portion of the program prior to earning their undergraduate degree, and will be working on their undergraduate and graduate degrees simultaneously. Once admitted to the Graduate School, such students must be considered graduate students for federal student financial aid purposes and no longer qualify for undergraduate federal student financial aid. However, these students remain eligible for state student financial aid as long as they are still degree-seeking in the undergraduate program, have not earned an undergraduate degree, and remain otherwise eligible for the state financial aid.

Federal student financial aid can only be used to pay for coursework required for the student’s primary program of study, and federal regulations allow for federal financial aid to pay for only one program at a time in a semester, so students need to work with their academic advisors carefully to determine when the student should seek admission to the Graduate School. Stated another way–federal financial aid can only pay for courses that apply to your degree program, and for only one program at a time in a term.

  • Students admitted to the graduate portion of their program cannot receive any federal student financial aid for undergraduate coursework in which they are enrolled, since undergraduate courses cannot be used to satisfy graduate degree requirements. Such hours for undergraduate coursework will not be counted in the number of enrolled hours used to determine federal financial aid eligibility for that semester.
  • Federal aid recipients only enrolled in an undergraduate program of study and who are taking graduate level coursework where the hours are counting toward the student’s term enrollment for federal aid purposes will be required to work with their academic advisor to complete the Financial Aid Required Course Checklist (PDF) so OSFA can confirm the graduate level courses will be used to satisfy undergraduate degree requirements.

Once a student is admitted to a graduate or professional degree program, they are classified as a graduate student for federal student aid purposes. Per federal regulation, once a student has classified as a graduate / professional student, they are ineligible to receive undergraduate federal financial aid grants. This rule applies generally even if the student subsequently re-enrolls in an undergraduate program; however, such students may still be able to receive federal student loans at the undergraduate level even when they are no longer eligible for undergraduate federal financial aid grants.

Review our FAQs for additional information on financial aid for the Double Dawgs program.

Your Success is our Mission. Let’s Get Started.