Students who are eligible to receive federal student aid must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress towards their program.  The Department of Education establishes standards in three different areas that a student must meet to maintain eligibility for federal student aid:

• GPA: students must maintain a cumulative minimum GPA of 2.0 or higher. Grades of A, B, C, D, and F are all counted towards the GPA.
• Pace: Successful completion of 67% or more of the credit hours attempted. All coursework successfully completed is divided by the total number of credit hours attempted.
  • Successful completion means finishing the credit hours with a grade of A, B, C, D, S.
  • Grades of F, W (withdrawn), I (Incomplete), U (Unsatisfactory) are considered unsuccessful completion and only count as credit hours attempted.

• Maximum Timeframe: Students must complete their program within 150% of the published time of their program.
  • Example: Business AS requires 60 credit hours to complete. 150% of 60 credit hours is 90 credit hours. Once a student reaches 90 credit hours or more and has not graduated, they have reached maximum timeframe.
  • Situations such as multiple programs of enrollment, previously earned degrees, changes in programs, repeated coursework, and remedial coursework can all influence the maximum Timeframe for a student.

All students are included in the SAP calculation at the end of each semester regardless of using federal student aid or not and will fall into one of the following categories:

• Meeting SAP- the student is meeting all the minimum requirements and continues their eligibility for federal student aid
• Warning– the student is not meeting the GPA and/or the pace standard and will have 1 semester to meet those standards
• Suspension– the student did not meet the GPA or Pace standards after the warning semester and is not eligible for federal student aid
• Maximum Time frame– Student has earned 150% or more of the credits needed to graduate
• Probation– the student has regained federal aid eligibility with an approved appeal and will remain eligible if the conditions of the appeal are being followed.

Students are notified of the change in their SAP status via the Hub > Self Service > Financial Aid. An email notification will be sent to their school issued emails for suspension and maximum timeframe statuses.

Reinstatement: A student placed on Suspension or maximum timeframe Status can have their status overridden and federal financial aid reinstated when one of the following occurs:

1. The student has an approved SAP appeal (Suspension and Maximum Timeframe)
2. The student enrolls and successfully completes without federal financial aid until SAP standards are met. (Suspension only)

Appeal Process

When failure to meet and maintain the SAP standards are caused by extenuating circumstances, federal regulations allow those students to submit an appeal for reconsideration. Extenuating circumstances may include but are not limited to: illness of a student or student’s family member, death of a family member, personal accident or injury of a significant nature, or other extenuating circumstances that are outside of the student’s control. Along with the appeal packet, students must meet with their academic or faculty advisor to develop an academic plan to ensure the student is successful through to graduation.

Instructions to submit an appeal are available in the Office of Financial Aid. The Student Appeals Committee reviews and determines the approval or denial of all submitted SAP appeals and all decisions are final.