Gwinnett Technical College Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Gwinnett Technical College Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy"

Sydney Price
5 years ago
Views:

1 Gwinnett Technical College Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Standards Federal regulation stipulates that schools must monitor and ensure students maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements to receive financial aid. The minimum SAP standards are: Maximum Time Frame: Students must complete their programs within 150% of the credit hour length of the program; Completion Ratio: Students must complete at least 67% of cumulative attempted credit hours; and Cumulative Grade Point (CGPA): Students must maintain a 2.0 minimum cumulative GPA. Students who fail to maintain any of the three minimum SAP standards are eligible to receive financial aid for one additional semester and are placed in the Financial Aid Warning status. This provides one semester to achieve the minimum requirements needed to regain eligibility. If students fail to meet the minimum SAP standards by the end of their Warning semester, they will be placed on Financial Aid Suspension and are no longer eligible for financial aid. Eligibility for continued financial aid will only be re-established if a) the student subsequently meets the Satisfactory Academic Progress standards; or b) the student successfully appeals and is placed on Probation/Academic Plan status. SAP Calculation Students SAP progress will be reviewed at the end of each semester of attendance and will be calculated after official grades have been posted. Completion Ratio: All attempted hours (including withdrawals, learning support, credits in which financial aid is not used, transfer, repeated courses and incompletes) will be included in the attempted hours figure used to determine SAP completion ratio. Students will not receive duplicate credit for the same course, therefore retake/repeat course credit will not be included in the passed hours total used to determine SAP completion ratio. To calculate completion ratio take the number of passed credits and divide by the cumulative attempted credits. The common rounding method is used when computing completion ratio. When the 1

2 number in the tenths position after the decimal is a five or more, the percentage can be raised by one. For example, if a student has passed credit hours out of 70 attempted hours the actual percentage is 66.5% but will be rounded to 67%. Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA): The Financial Aid Office abides by the institutional policy for calculating CGPA. Learning support classes and withdrawals are not included in CGPA unless the student received a Withdrawal Failing (WF) grade. If a student retakes a class in order to raise a grade or to receive credit for the courses, all grades are used to compute their CGPA. Maximum Timeframe: Students who are mathematically unable to complete their program of study within the 150% maximum time frame will be placed on Financial Aid Suspension. A Warning semester is not permitted per federal regulation for this requirement. Every course taken and transferred into GTC is counted within the maximum timeframe calculation. As an example a student who has a program which requires 70 credits hours to graduate will be eligible to earn up to 105 credits (150%) without exceeding their maximum timeframe. However, if a student enrolled in their 90 th credit is mathematically unable to complete their program within the next 15 credits they will be placed on SAP Suspension as a result and will be required to appeal. Appeal Process Completion Rate and Cumulative GPA Appeals: Students placed on Suspension may appeal their Financial Aid status by submitting a signed SAP Appeal Form, a detailed letter explaining extenuating circumstance(s) addressing how their circumstances have changed to assist in ensuring future academic success, along with document(s) to support the circumstance(s) that may have occurred during the timeframe(s) specified within the letter. All appeals that are approved for CGPA and/or completion rate deficits will require an Education Plan, however the Education Plan does not require submission as part of the appeal but will be requested if the student s appeal is approved. Approval notifications will provide details regarding the submission of an Education Plan. An extenuating circumstance can be defined as: Medical Emergencies leading to the hospitalization of the student or a member of the student s immediate family; or Death of a student s immediate family member; or Unexpected military service; or Other Extenuating Circumstances. Acceptable documentation that can be submitted should include (but is not limited to): 2

3 Hospitalization records preferably indicating entrance and release date of the patient; Death certificates, obituaries, or funeral programs; Official military activation orders; or Other documents verifying the extenuating circumstance. Maximum Timeframe Appeal: Students, who are ineligible due to maximum hours only and are meeting SAP standards for Completion Ratio and CGPA, should appeal by submitting an Education Plan completed by their Program or Enrollment Advisor along with the SAP cover letter. The appeal must also include a personal letter of explanation detailing events/decisions that have led to the students inability to complete their program within the 150% maximum timeframe. If a student has graduated previously and is maximum hours only, they should address why they are returning to GTC for a different program of study. Students will not be granted eligibility for aid solely because they are pursuing two programs of study or because they have previously graduated from a program(s). Additional Information: Students returning from Academic Dismissal will not automatically regain financial aid. They must follow the appeal process applicable to their situation. Members of the Financial Aid Office can but are not required to review a student s appeal prior to submission to the committee. Students should abide by published appeal deadlines each semester. Once an appeal is submitted to the Financial Aid Office it will be reviewed by the Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeals Committee. This committee consists of staff and faculty from the Gwinnett Technical College community. Committee members will review the appeal based upon the SAP appeal criteria. The committee may deem it necessary to put restrictions on a student s approved appeal. For instance, if the student has demonstrated that a full time course load is not in their best interest for successfully completing coursework, the student may be restricted on the number of credit hours they may register for while on an SAP Academic Plan. Decisions are based upon determination of the committee majority. If a student is currently enrolled, on suspension or maximum hours, and misses the semester deadline to appeal, they lose the chance to receive aid for that semester. The student must then wait until grades post to submit an appeal for the following term so that when the committee reviews the appeal, the committee can take that semester s grades into account when making their decision. IMPORTANT: Students are only permitted one appeal per aid year. Should the student violate their SAP Academic Plan due to a subsequent extenuating circumstance, the 2 nd 3

4 appeal must be approved by Financial Aid staff. The student should submit another full appeal for review. Second appeals will only be approved in extreme circumstances. Appeal Determination Approved Appeals: Students who have been granted appeal approval will be notified via student . Students must visit with their advisor and complete an Education Plan before visiting the Financial Aid Office. The Education Plan will map out the classes to be taken to complete the program of study. Students will need to provide their Education Plan to the Financial Aid Office. Students should register for the specified courses by term, which have been outlined by their advisor. If a student deviates from their Education Plan, a new Education Plan from their advisor will be required to maintain aid eligibility. Students cannot change programs or add a second program while on a SAP Academic Plan. If they do so, they must go through the appeal process for the new program. If the student was granted an appeal approval and had already been admitted to two programs of study (Admissions must have record of this), both programs may/should be added to the Education Plan. The Financial Aid Office will review the student s SAP Academic Plan each term after drop/add and a final time after semester grades post. At any time throughout the semester if the student becomes ineligible due to a schedule change, eligibility may be reconsidered for the current term if deemed appropriate. Once a student regains eligibility by meeting minimum SAP standards they will be placed back into good standing. This determination will only occur at the conclusion of each semester after all official grades have been posted. If a student does not attend GTC within 3 semesters of their SAP appeal approval, they will be required to submit a new appeal and follow current SAP policies and procedures. If a student had been placed on SAP Academic Plan, their status will revert back to Suspension and a subsequent updated appeal will need to be reviewed and approved. If a student registers for classes differently than outlined on the Plan, the student must get a new Plan from the advisor and meet with an Enrollment Advisor before the registration period s payment deadline. If registered courses differ from the plan, the student will be responsible for the balance due. Students must successfully pass all courses registered for while on the Plan. They cannot receive a D, F, W, WF, or I (Incomplete) in any of the courses on the Plan. Students failing to comply with the terms and conditions of the Education Plan will result in termination of financial aid for subsequent semesters. Denied Appeals: Determination of a denied appeal is final. Students are permitted one appeal review per aid year. It is important that students understand the process and submit all required documentation with their initial appeal. Denied appeals resulting from incomplete or insufficient supporting documentation will not be reconsidered. You may 4

5 discuss your denial with our office; however a denied decision will not be overturned due to any additional information provided during this meeting. SAP Notifications All SAP correspondence will be sent to students GTC . Please note: Financial Aid Warning does not require action by the student; this designation is intended to inform students in advance that they will lose eligibility in the subsequent semester if they do not meet the minimum requirements at the conclusion of the next semester. Revised: 2/2016 5

Schock Financial Aid Office 030 Kershner Student Service Center Phone: (610) University Avenue Fax: (610)

Schock Financial Aid Office 030 Kershner Student Service Center Phone: (610) 436-2627 25 University Avenue Fax: (610) 436-2574 West Chester, PA 19383 E-Mail: finaid@wcupa.edu Title IV Federal Student Aid