SCHOOL POLICY

This policy defines satisfactory academic progress for all SHP matriculating students.

The Program Directors, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Assistant Dean for Enrollment Management, and Assistant Dean for Student Affairs are responsible for implementing this policy.

To be eligible for Title IV aid, a student must maintain satisfactory academic progress (SAP).  The University’s policy contains qualitative (cumulative GPA), quantitative (completion rate), and maximum time frame measurements.  It also includes appeal procedures that may result in warning or probationary periods.  The quantitative standard for undergraduates is based on successful completion of a minimum number of credits, and for graduate students, it is based on the minimum number of terms completed.

A. Completion Rate & Cumulative GPA:

To continue to receive financial aid, students must meet the following standards:

At the end of each term, the student must have completed 67% of the credits attempted.  Undergraduate students must have a cumulative GPA of 2.0. Graduate students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0.

Physician Assistant students must earn a cumulative GPA of 2.0 at 25%, 2.3 at 50%, and a 2.5 at 75% of program completion.

The completion rate is calculated in the following manner:

Completed credits + Accepted Transfer credits/ Attempted credits + Accepted Transfer credits

Credits transferred in from another institution will be added to both the total attempted and completed credit percentages.  Similarly, Advanced Placement credits will be added to both the total attempted and completed credits.  All periods of enrollment and all courses attempted are included in the calculation for SAP. Incomplete and withdrawal grades do not earn credits to meet the academic standard and do not influence the GPA in the term of the course was attempted.  However they are counted as attempted credits.  Therefore excessive withdrawals and incompletes may jeopardize the student’s SAP status. Repeated courses will count as part of the attempted credits but will not be duplicated in the completed credits.  Courses from which the student withdrew are counted as attempted credits, but not as completed.  Pass/fail courses are counted as attempted and will count in completed only if the course is passed.

B. Maximum Time Frame for Completion

Undergraduate students cannot receive financial aid for credits in excess of 150% of the required credits for graduation in their degree program. Graduate and Doctoral students must complete their program within the following Maximum Years:

If the student exceeds the maximum time frame, s/he may appeal to the University Center Director of Financial Aid for a one-time extension of aid eligibility if the student is within one term of completing their degree program and the GPA requirement for graduation has been met.  The student must explain what circumstances caused the student to exceed the maximum timeframe and how those circumstances have changed or what actions the student has taken to allow them to graduate within one term.  If the appeal is accepted and the student can graduate within one term, as confirmed through the student’s school, the student will be permitted one additional term of financial assistance.  Failure of the student to graduate at the conclusion of that term will cause the student to become ineligible for further financial assistance.

Once the student has completed all of the required coursework, the student is no longer eligible for financial aid.

C. SAP Monitoring

The Financial Aid Office monitors all Title IV eligible students after every semester including the summer term, and will notify the student if they are not meeting SAP. Previously dismissed or withdrawn students who were not meeting SAP when they left, will not be eligible for aid when re- admitted until they meet SAP standards.

Students who are not making SAP at the conclusion of a term will be placed on Financial Aid Warning.  This status allows a student who has not progressed satisfactorily to remain financial aid eligible for a period of one term.  All students not making SAP MUST contact the Office of Student Affairs. At that time a determination will be made if the student will need to meet with the Academic Counselor. 

All students on Financial Aid Warning will be reviewed again at the end of the next term of enrollment. If at the end of that semester, the student is still not in compliance with the SAP standards, the student will be ineligible for financial aid.

D. Appeal for Reinstatement of Financial Aid Eligibility

Students who wish to appeal for reinstatement of financial aid eligibility should submit a written request to the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs within 3 business days of receiving notification that financial support has been terminated. The appeal must describe the circumstances that caused the failure to maintain SAP, and must provide an explanation as to how the student plans to overcome those circumstances to meet SAP standards.  If the appeal is approved, the student will be notified by the Assistant Dean and then placed on Financial Aid Probation for one term. At the end of the term the student’s progress will be reviewed again.  If the student is still not in compliance with the SAP standards, the student will remain on probation but must meet with their advisor to develop a SAP plan.

The SAP Plan will specify a minimum number of credits the student must earn in a term, and/or a minimum term grade point average.  Failure to meet these benchmarks will result in withdrawal of aid. The student may appeal for reinstatement but the circumstances for the second appeal must be different from the first. Circumstances such as an illness or death in the immediate family or other extreme mitigating circumstances will be considered.

Example

Neither paying for one’s classes nor sitting out a semester affects a student’s SAP standing, so neither is sufficient to re-establish eligibility.  A student who has completed all the coursework for his or her degree or certificate but has not yet received the degree or certificate cannot receive further financial aid for that program.

E. Students Enrolled in Other Institutions or Joint Programs

Students enrolled in SHP courses as exchange students or as students in Joint Programs with other institutions are subject to the same standards of academic progress as described in this policy, provided the student’s enrollment is administered by SHP.  If the terms of the exchange program or Joint Program include stricter requirements for satisfactory academic progress, the stricter requirements will be enforced.

F. Documentation

Documentation of all decisions concerning probation, dismissal, appeal, or re-establishment of satisfactory academic progress shall be reported to the student and maintained in the student academic file in Enrollment Management in accordance with the University’s record retention requirements.

G. Remedial Courses

Remedial courses are counted as attempted credits in the completion rate and the maximum timeframe calculations.  If the course is given a passing grade, the course credits are also counted as completed.  Failed courses receive no credit toward the completion or maximum timeframe calculations.

H. Treatment of Consortium, Change of Major, Second Degree & Minor Degrees

Courses taken under a written agreement (e.g. a consortium or contractual agreement) must be included in a student’s completion and maximum timeframe calculation.  Students who change their major, or enroll in a second degree, will have all credits applied to the new major counted as credits attempted and/or completed, as well as used in the maximum timeframe calculations.   The completion and maximum timeframe will then be calculated based on the credits required for the new major.

Students who elect to obtain a minor degree along with their major are treated in the same manner as if they only have the major.  That is, all courses, both attempted and completed, will be counted in determining the completion rate and maximum timeframe calculations, as well as used to determine the overall cumulative GPA.

EXHIBIT A

Table of Program Requirements for Satisfactory Academic Progress:

AY 2015-2016 SHP Maximum Time Frames

AY 2014-2015 SHP Maximum Time Frames

AY 2013-14 (Revised Spring 2014) SHP Maximum Time Frames

AY 2013-2014 SHP Maximum Time Frames

AY 2012-2013 SHP Maximum Time Frames

AY 2011-2012 SHP Maximum Time Frames

AY 2010-2012 SHP Maximum Time Frames

AY 2009-2010 SHP Maximum Time Frames

EXHIBIT B

Appeal process for student appealing notification of not being eligible for financial aid
*Locate the Appeal for Financial Aid Probation form under the current year's additional form area.