Standard of Academic Progress for Financial Aid Recipients (Procedure 4.2000)

Purpose

Seminole State College’s Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) policy is implemented to ensure that students receiving federal student aid are making adequate progress toward completing their degree programs. SAP will be monitored for all periods of enrollment, regardless of whether or not the student received financial aid for that enrollment period. This Policy applies to all students who receive Federal, State or Institutional funds.

Procedure

1. Conditions
   1. Qualitative Measure (cumulative GPA)
      Students must maintain a minimum cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.00. Successful completion of a class is defined as having earned a grade of A, B, C, D, S, or P. Unsatisfactory completion or non-completion of a class is defined as having earned a grade of F, N, W, I, U, or X.
   2. Quantitative Measure (PACE/Completion Rate)
      Students must successfully complete at least 67% of cumulative credit hours attempted to remain compliant with SAP policy. The number of credits attempted is the number of credit hours for which a student is officially registered each semester and is determined at the end of the drop/add period. A student's relevant academic history, including credits transferred from other schools, credits received through dual enrollment or credits received through testing methods , such as CLEP or Advanced Placement, and regardless of whether or not the student received financial aid during a given semester or enrollment period, is evaluated to determine whether the student is maintaining SAP.
   3. Maximum Time Frame to Complete a Degree or Certificate
      The maximum allowable timeframe for receiving aid is equal to 150% of the length of the student’s published academic plan. All transfer hours accepted to the College will be counted towards the maximum timeframe. Repeated coursework will also be counted towards the maximum timeframe.  Remedial coursework will be counted towards the maximum timeframe (up to 30 credits. In some cases, coursework such as English for Academic Purposes (EAP), may warrant an appeal by the student if the student exceeds the maximum time-frame allowed under Federal financial aid regulations.)
2. Consequences of Failure to Meet Satisfactory Academic Progress
   The Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships measures SAP at the end of each enrollment period (semesters or clock-hours). If the student meets all three of the conditions listed above, they remain eligible to receive Federal student aid funds in the next semester of enrollment, and they will be considered to be in “Meets” status. Otherwise, one of the following SAP status designations will be assigned to the student.
   1. Financial Aid Warning
      If a student with an existing SAP status of “Meets” fails to meet the Qualitative and/or Quantitative  SAP conditions, the student will enter Financial Aid Warning status for the next enrollment period.  The student will be notified of this status via electronic communication to the student’s College-provided email address. The student will continue to be eligible to receive federal student aid funds while in Financial Aid Warning status, however students will be unable to defer tuition or charge books against their financial aid for the upcoming term until grades have been posted for the current term and satisfactory academic progress has been determined.
   2. Financial Aid Suspension
      Students who fail to meet SAP after their Warning period, or have exceeded maximum hours, will be placed on Financial Aid Suspension. A student on Financial Aid Suspension is ineligible to receive financial aid. If a student who is placed on Financial Aid Suspension feels that they have extenuating circumstances beyond their control that contributed to their inability to meet SAP standards they may submit a SAP appeal. If the SAP appeal is approved by the College, students will be placed on an Academic Plan that contains strict terms and conditions designed to help the student successfully meet SAP. Failure to meet any section of the Academic Plan will result in Financial Aid Suspension. Submitting a SAP appeal does not guarantee approval. Students awaiting a response from the College are responsible for paying their tuition and fees by their deadline date. In the event that any books have been charged against Financial Aid or tuition deferred, students must either return those books by drop/add and bookstore refund deadlines, and drop their courses or be responsible for paying their tuition and books.
3. Appeal Process
   Students can appeal their Financial Aid Suspension by completing a SAP Appeal following this process:
   1. Student completes the SAP Assessment located on the Financial Aid website.
   2. If the assessment shows that the student has extenuating circumstances, the SAP Appeal Form is made available to the student.
   3. The student submits the SAP appeal form, a personal statement outlining the extenuating circumstance in detail, and corroborating documentation to the Financial Aid office.
   4. A personal statement should include two major components:  1) a detailed explanation of the extenuating circumstance; and 2) measures put in place that will assure the student will now be successful.
   5. All appeals are reviewed by Financial Aid Specialists and/or appropriate management staff to ensure the decision regarding the appeal follows federal regulations, college policies, and procedures. The decision regarding the appeal is final, unless additional documentation is produced that warrants a re-appeal. Students will be notified of the results of their appeal via electronic communication to the student’s College-provided email address.
   6. If the appeal is approved, the student will be placed on a term-by-term Academic Plan described in the Financial Aid Suspension section above.