Cooperative Education Students

Cooperative Education is a formal plan of education in which students alternate sessions of full-time work with sessions of full-time study. Purdue's Cooperative Education Program (Co-Op) is a five-year professional development experience, designed to combine practical on-the-job experiences with the classroom training of a four-year college curriculum. It helps students integrate theory and practice, confirm career choices, investigate potential job opportunities, and become better graduates. At the same time, it allows students to earn money and help finance their education.

Students working during a "co-op" semester are not typically enrolled in any credits, but they do have full time student status and loans are deferred. Students on work assignments are not typically eligible for financial aid during that term. While students are away from campus on their work assignment, they are registered for a course at Purdue, for which they are charged a fee each term. This fee covers part of the added cost to the University of administering this special program.