Students are expected to meet Standards of Satisfactory Progress while working toward a degree or eligible certificate. The Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships is required by the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Department of Education to enforce Standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress for students who receive:

• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal SEOG
• Federal Work-Study
• Federal Direct Student Loans
• Federal Direct PLUS Loans

NOTE: The policy is applied to all financial aid recipients regardless of whether or not they received financial aid previously. Fresh Start has no bearing on financial aid.

Credit Hour Requirement

Students must have completed at least 75% of the credit hours for which they have registered since the first quarter of enrollment regardless of whether they received financial aid.

Thereafter, the 75% credit hour requirement will be monitored on a quarterly basis. The chart below will serve as a guide to determine the number of credit hours that should be completed each quarter.

	Registered Credit Hours Minimum credit hours student must earn per quarter 18 14 17 13 16 12 15 11 14 11 13 10 12 9 11 8 10 8 9 7 8 6 7 5 6 5

Degree/Certificate Requirements

For students pursuing an associate degree, a maximum of 153 quarter credit hours may be attempted and for students pursuing a certificate, a maximum of 77 quarter credit hours may be attempted before financial aid will be terminated.

Grade Point Requirements

Students are required to maintain a grade point average of 2.0.

Grades of W, F, X, -, I, IP and Z will be considered as credit hours not successfully completed. Grades of A, B, C, D, Y, N, P,  and S will be considered as credit hours successfully completed.

Notification of Ineligibility

Students will be sent a written notification when they are not meeting one or more of the minimum requirements. The letter will explain the appeal process and will give a deadline for submitting appeals.

Probation

If it has been determined that students do not meet Standards of Satisfactory Progress, they may be continued on financial aid under the following conditions:

1. Does not meet credit hour requirements
   • Students who are 1 - 12 credit hours short of meeting minimum requirements will be given one quarter of financial aid to meet requirements.
   • Students who are 13 - 24 credit hours short of meeting minimum requirements will be given two quarters of financial aid to meet requirements. If students fail to complete at least 1/2 of the requirements during the first quarter of probation, their federal financial aid will be terminated.
   • Students who are 25 - 36 credit hours short of meeting minimum requirements will be given three quarters to meet requirements. If students fail to complete at least 1/3 of the requirements during each of the first two quarters of probation, their federal financial aid will be terminated.
   • Students who are more than 36 credit hours short of meeting minimum requirements will be terminated from federal financial aid.
2. Degree/Certificate requirement
   • Students pursuing degree programs will be placed on financial aid probation when 119 credit hours have been attempted.
   • Students enrolled in certificate programs will be placed on financial aid probation when 53 credit hours have been attempted.
3. Does not meet grade point average requirement
   • Students not meeting the minimum cumulative grade point average requirement will be given one quarter of probation with financial aid to achieve the minimum grade point average for that quarter.

Regaining Eligibility

Students may be reinstated for federal financial assistance after one or more of the following:

• Approval of an appeal by the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships
• Successfully completing the deficiencies at their own expense. Students are required to notify the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships when they are eligible for reinstatement.