Satisfactory academic progress must comply with federal regulations governing student aid programs.
Satisfactory academic progress standards for financial aid purposes may differ from the academic progress policies of the University and of each individual school. Therefore, it is possible that your school may consider you to be in good standing but you may not be meeting the SAP standards for financial aid.
Satisfactory academic progress measures students’ academic performance in three areas: maximum time frame to complete a course of study, credit hour completion rate and cumulative grade point average. You must meet the requirements in all three areas to be meeting satisfactory academic progress.
Satisfactory academic progress standards must comply with federal regulation. As a result, SAP standards may differ from the academic progress policies of the University and of each individual school.
The satisfactory academic progress policy considers all attempted credit hours in the calculation of credit hour completion rate. Attempted credit hours include all courses in which a student is enrolled after the add/drop period has ended for the term and for which academic credit will be earned. The hours that you attempted during the term in which you withdraw will still be included in the calculation to determine your credit hour completion rate and will also be included in the calculation of maximum time frame. The term will be counted towards the maximum terms of enrollment.
The satisfactory academic progress policy considers all attempted credit hours in the calculation of credit hour completion rate. Attempted credit hours include all courses in which a student is enrolled after the add/drop period has ended for the term and for which academic credit will be earned.
Yes, you are still eligible to attend the University as long as you are meeting the academic progress standards for the School in which you are enrolled. However, if you are denied financial aid for not meeting the Student Financial Services SAP standards, you are no longer eligible for federal, state, or institutional financial aid.
The satisfactory academic progress policy provides for an appeal process for students who are not meeting the minimum standards. The Student Financial Services Appeals Committee may approve an appeal based upon the student following an academic plan, even if the plan does not provide for the student to meet the minimum standards of the policy at the next evaluation period.
Yes. All students are subject to the University’s policy for failure to pay financial obligations.
Students will be notified of the appeal decision of the Student Financial Services Appeals Committee within 30 days of the completed appeal being received.
Several factors are considered in the review of SAP appeals. Below are the most common and important questions the committee will consider in evaluating the merits of the appeal.
- Does the appeal thoroughly explain and detail the student's special circumstances?
- Are the circumstances discussed in the appeal beyond the student’s control?
- Does the appeal explain the changes the student has made to address the circumstances and allow him/her to meet the SAP standards at the next evaluation or at a specific point in time? What resources has the student used or will the student use in the future?
- Is the student’s explanation consistent with the transcript and the academic dean’s statement?
- For students not meeting the GPA requirement, what trend has the GPA followed?
- For students not meeting the credit hour completion requirement, does the transcript demonstrate consistency in credit hour completion?
- Is the academic plan realistic considering the student’s circumstances and past academic performance?
- Does the academic dean's statement strongly suggest that the student will be academically successfully and able to complete his/her degree by the expected graduation date?
- How many times has the student appealed? If the student’s appeal was approved, why did the student not meet the SAP requirements or the academic plan? Are the circumstances of the current appeal similar to the circumstances on a previous appeal?
- If the student appealed in the past, did he/she implement the changes stated on his/her prior appeal? If not, why?
Students are given one opportunity per term to appeal their financial aid suspension. Therefore, it is critical for students to submit all relevant information that affected their satisfactory academic progress.
If your appeal is denied your only options for paying your educational expenses are to either pay out of pocket or to apply for a private student loan.