In addition to being enrolled in Winter Session at Brown University, students must also be enrolled at least half-time in the Fall term prior to the Winter Session and have registered for Spring courses to be considered for any Winter Session grant and/or loans. 

If eligible, the Winter Session grant will be offered automatically. After registering and prior to billing, the Office of Financial Aid will send notification that the student’s financial aid has been adjusted. The student may then view the Winter Session grant in Banner Self-Service.

Students who withdraw from Winter Session will not be allowed to retain any refund created by, or associated with Winter Session aid.

Winter Need Calculation

Brown determines a winter family contribution which is consistent with the current aid year’s family contribution.  Support will be provided to those eligible aided Brown University students enrolled in a Brown Winter Session course and will be applied only to direct charges posted by Brown including tuition, on-campus Winter Session housing and on-campus Winter Session meal plan.  Only charges for the Winter Session enrollment period may be covered; no extended stay, early arrival, or meal charges before or after the official Winter Session period will be covered.  No external expenses will be covered.  

The Office of Financial Aid calculates the winter family contribution by dividing the total of the full year Total Family Contribution (excluding any Campus Employment or Federal Work Study) by eight.  This represents a per class contribution a family has during non-academic year enrollment.  This figure will be used as the expected FC for Winter Session.  Most Brown direct charges remaining above this winter family contribution will be covered by Winter Grant funds.  Please note that Winter and Summer aid determination is significantly different from Brown’s academic year determination. This support is being offered through funding from the Division of Pre-College and Undergraduate Programs.

Off-campus living expenses, such as meals and housing, are not included in your Winter Grant funding.  Therefore, you should plan additional resources to cover these expenses. 

Students looking for information about housing during winter session or winter break  should review the Residential Life website.  Dining Services will provide communication to all students about meal plan options for the winter session, including a list of dining locations that will be open during the winter. 

Residential Life and Dining Services will provide information about housing and meals by the end of November.  Students requiring any housing or meals during the winter should complete the Winter Break Housing form that should be available on the Residential Life website in November. 

 Students enrolled in Winter Session who were notified of their eligibility for Winter Grant by the Office of Financial Aid may be eligible for meals and/or housing assistance if charged by Brown for the Winter Session time-period.  These students should refer to the email they received from the Office of Financial Aid for specific details of their eligibility.  Note that you cannot receive any aid for intersession (the times between the end of one term and the start of the next).

If a student fully withdraws at any time during the Winter Session, any support provided for meals or housing will be totally eliminated and those charges will be the responsibility of the student.

Winter Break Housing - Not Enrolled in Winter Session

The Office of Financial Aid cannot provide any aid in the winter to students who are not enrolled in winter classes, nor to cover extended stay and/or early arrival charges.

Students not enrolled in Winter Session will have the opportunity to request emergency support through the Winter Break Housing form, however, support is not guaranteed.  If you feel that emergency support may be needed, you should submit the form as soon as it becomes available so the outcome of the request may be provided to you as early as possible. 

Loans must be requested separately. We do not automatically offer loans, as Winter Session borrowing may impact a student's loan eligibility during the academic year.

Students should notify the Office of Financial Aid in writing via email to request a loan. A Financial Aid Counselor can provide students with their loan eligibility prior to registering for Winter Session courses; however, loans will not be processed until registration. Please note that for federal aid and loan purposes, winter session is considered to be part of the Fall term.

Students eligible to participate in the Book/Course Material Support (BCMS) Program will automatically receive support to cover the costs of books/course materials for Winter Session courses. BCMS BRDD students will continue to receive necessary support for their RISD winter session courses. The process to order your books is the same as it was in the Fall semester.

Winter Session grants are only available for continuing undergraduate students who are currently receiving Brown University Scholarship during the full academic year. Students graduating in December will have finished their undergraduate studies, therefore, are not eligible for a Winter Session grant.

Students graduating in December cannot use the Winter Session to extend the loan deferment/grace periods outside of the traditional Fall or Spring semester dates, even if they are enrolled in a final Winter Session course. 

Students that need one class to complete their degree requirements, may on exception, be allowed to take a Winter Session class to complete their degree.  If their enrollment plan is approved by the College, these students may be eligible for Winter Grant.  Students considering this option should request approval by the College and the Office of Financial Aid prior to enrolling.

Funding through a grant from the Global Experiential Learning and Teaching (GELT) Program covers all essential travel costs (flights, accommodations, meals, health insurance for international locations and site tickets). Although loan eligibility may be available to cover other travel-related expenses, any credit resulting from a loan will not be available as a refund until after the program has begun. Travel allowances are not provided for on-campus classes.