Satisfactory Academic Progress

These measures are taken at the end of each payment period. A payment period is defined as the period of time during the school year when a student can receive a disbursement of financial aid funds—typically this is a semester.

Duration of Eligibility
Eligibility for financial aid is terminated if a student takes longer than 150% of the established time to complete his/her course of study.

Full-time undergraduate students cannot take more than six years to meet their degree requirements, nor can they attempt more than 184.5 credits to meet their degree requirements. Undergraduate students seeking a second Bachelor’s degree may receive financial aid for an additional 90 credits.

Graduate students cannot take more than six years to meet their degree requirements, nor can they attempt more than 79.5 credits to meet their degree requirements.

Quantitative Measure
Undergraduate students must successfully complete 123 credits toward their degree to graduate. To meet financial aid satisfactory academic progress, a student must successfully complete 68.3% of attempted credits in each semester.

Graduate students must successfully complete 30-53 credits toward their degree (depending on their program) to graduate. To meet financial aid satisfactory academic progress, a graduate student must successfully complete 55% of attempted credits in each semester.

Qualitative Measure
All undergraduate students must achieve the following cumulative grade point average (GPA) to maintain financial aid satisfactory academic progress:

• Zero to 29 credits must hold a GPA of 1.75
• 30 to 75 credits must hold a GPA of 1.90
• Above 76 credits must hold a GPA of 2.0

All graduate students must achieve a 3.0 cumulative grade point average (GPA) to maintain financial aid satisfactory academic progress.

Failure to Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress

Financial Aid Warning
The Director of Financial Aid measure’s a student’s satisfactory academic progress at the end of each payment period (semester). Students who do not meet the satisfactory academic progress measures described above will be given a “Financial Aid Warning.” The student will keep this Warning Status for one full semester, during which he/she is expected to bring their academic standing up to the required standard.

The student may receive financial aid for this semester. If the student succeeds in bringing up his/her academic standing to the appropriate level, he/she will continue to be eligible for federal financial aid. However, if the student fails to meet the satisfactory academic progress measure at the end of the Warning Period, he/she will no longer be eligible for federal financial aid.

Example: 

Students who lose eligibility for financial aid may have it reinstated for future semesters once they have brought their academic performance up to the appropriate measure.

Appealing the Financial Aid Measure of Academic Progress/Financial Aid Probation
A student who fails to meet satisfactory academic progress after having a Warning Period may appeal to have their financial aid continued.

• Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal PDF

If the appeal is accepted by both the College’s Office of Academic Affairs and the Financial Aid Office, the student will be assigned a probation status. The student is to use this probationary semester to bring his/her academic standing up to the required standard, and may receive financial aid during this semester.

If the student succeeds in bringing up his/her academic standing to the appropriate level, he/she will continue to be eligible for federal financial aid. However, if the student fails to meet the satisfactory academic progress measure at the end of the Probation Period, he/she will no longer be eligible for federal financial aid.

Students requesting an appeal are required to complete the Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal Form and submit this form with supporting documentation to the Director of Financial Aid before the end of the drop/add period for which the student is requesting the appeal.

An approved appeal will include a credible academic plan approved by the Office of Academic Affairs that clearly shows how the student can successfully complete the program of study within the appropriate amount of time.

Once an appeal is made and approved, the student will not have the opportunity to appeal and be granted a probationary period again. Students are permitted a single probationary period over their entire enrollment at the college.