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Satisfactory Academic Progress

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) are the standards for progression toward a degree or certificate. The UAFS Financial Aid Office reviews SAP at the end of each semester after grades have been posted for all students. Please review our complete SAP policy below.

UAFS Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Policy

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Appeal Form

SAP appeals will be reviewed on a regular, rolling basis. You can submit your completed appeal to finaid@uafs.edu or the Financial Aid Office on the 2nd floor of the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center.

Resources for Maintaining / Regaining SAP

UAFS values the success of our students. For this reason there are several campus resources available to students to assist with any issues that may arise. Students should make themselves familiar with these resources so they can receive help to accomplish their goals.

 

FAQs

There are three standards to SAP:

  • Course completion rate
  • GPA
  • Maximum timeframe allowed.

A student's course completion rate is determined by taking their earned hours (including accepted transfer coursework) divided by their total attempted hours (including accepted transfer coursework, withdrawals, and F's).
Students are required to maintain a 67 percent course completion rate. This means they must successfully earn 67 percent of all attempted credit hours.

Students are required to maintain a cumulative 2.0 GPA at UAFS to remain eligible for federal Title IV aid.

Federal regulations state that a student is only eligible to receive federal aid up to 150 percent of the required credit hours published for the student’s degree. This means if a student is pursuing a bachelor's degree that requires 120 credit hours, the student may attempt up to 180 credit hours before losing financial aid eligibility.
For any student with a double major, that student may be eligible for up to 150 percent of the required credit hours for the primary declared degree only. The U.S. Department of Education does not allow consideration for double majors.

Satisfactory Academic Progress will calculate to one of the following standings: Clear, Warning, or Suspension. Please note that SAP standing from financial aid is not the same as academic standing.

  • Clear - A student meets all standards of SAP and is eligible to receive Federal Title IV financial aid. 
  • Warning - A student does not meet one or more of the standards of SAP at the end of a term and is now placed on Warning. A student is still eligible to receive federal Title IV financial aid while on Warning, but will have only one semester to come back into compliance with the standard SAP Policy into a Clear standing. If at the end of the Warning semester, the student does not come back into compliance with the standard SAP policy into a Clear standing, the student will be placed on Suspension.
  • Suspension – A student does not meet one or more of the standards of SAP after a Warning semester. A student is not eligible to receive federal Title IV financial aid while on Suspension. If a student is at maximum 150 percent timeframe, the student is placed immediately on SAP Suspension.

There are two options:
  1. The student may enroll in courses without federal Title IV financial aid to raise their course completion rate and/or GPA. A student may attend another college or university and transfer the hours back to improve their course completion rate, but GPA may only be improved by earning higher grades at UAFS. Transfer grades do not count.
  2. If a student is on SAP Suspension and has extenuating circumstances that result in not meeting SAP standards, the student may submit an SAP appeal.

The Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Appeal process is a way for a student on SAP suspension that has extenuating circumstances for not meeting the standard SAP policy to request their federal Title IV financial aid be reinstated. Please refer to the SAP Appeal Form for instructions on how to complete it and what documentation is required for the appeal. Please refer to the posted SAP Appeal dates for deadlines to turn in the Appeal Form and all documentation required to the UAFS Financial Aid Office. Once all appeal documents have been submitted to the UAFS Financial Aid Office, the appeal will go before a committee to review. Once the appeal committee reaches a decision, the UAFS Financial Aid office will notify the student via email of the committee’s decision. This appeal decision is final. Every appeal must have a new extenuating circumstance and new documentation.