In addition to maintaining good standing within your college, your academic performance must meet two main SAP components:
- Minimum Grade Point Average (GPA)/Qualitative Standard
This component is represented by your cumulative grade point average (GPA). Your cumulative GPA must be a minimum of 2.0 after successfully completing 60 credits or your fourth term of enrollment, whichever comes first.
- Pace/Earned Credits (Quantitative) Standard – Students must successfully complete at least 67% of the credits they attempt while receiving financial aid (cumulative, including transfer credits), and are allowed to receive financial aid for a maximum timeframe of 150% of the published credits required to complete their degree. For example, if your undergraduate degree program requires 120 credits, you are eligible for financial aid for up to 180 attempted credits. The following grades are not considered successful completion of the course:
F, I, W, NW, U, NR, NC
Examples:
- Student attempted 15 credits and successfully completed 12, with one three credit course receiving an I (incomplete) grade
Calculation: 12/15 = 80% completion rate – this student has met the Pace/Earned Credits (Quantitative) Standard
- Student attempted 60 credits and successfully completed 36
Calculation: 36/60 = 60% completion rate – this student has NOT met the Pace/Earned Credits (Quantitative) Standard
Students who receive all “NW” grades indicating that they did not attend any of the classes for which they received financial aid will have their financial aid for the current semester recalculated, as required by federal regulations.
Transfer Credits – These credits are counted towards total attempted and earned credits, but they do not impact the Minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) Standard.
Withdrawals – Withdrawals – Courses from which students withdraw AFTER the end of the drop period (in which they receive a “W” grade) will count as attempted and not successfully completed in the Pace/Quantitative Standard calculation. Receiving a “W” during your Financial Aid Probation period (during which you are following an Academic Plan requiring a specific number of credits earned) may impact your ability to retain financial aid eligibility.
Repeated Course – If you repeat a course, credits for each time you register will be added to the attempted/earned credit totals. However, only the most recent grade received will be used in the calculation of your cumulative GPA. There is no regulatory limit on the number of times that a student may be paid to retake a failed course, unless the student has also previously passed that course. If the student previously passed the course, the student may receive Title IV aid to pay for that course only one more time.
Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory Grades- Courses that have been designated with Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading are not factored into the qualitative component (GPA) of the SAP calculation. However, the courses do count toward the quantitative measure and pace of progression. For students with a mix of letter grades and S/U courses, all courses would count in the quantitative measure. Unsatisfactory grades count as attempted but not successfully completed in the Pace/Quantitative calculation.