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ing Satisfactory Academic

Progress

Alicia Scott

Atlanta Metropolitan College

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Satisfactory Academic Progress

Overview

• Satisfactory academic progress (SAP) is a student eligibility requirement, and schools must ensure that students who aren't making SAP do not receive FSA funds.

• Schools must establish and publish a written SAP policy that includes both a qualitative and a quantitative component.

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• One requirement of the policy is that schools check at regular intervals to make sure that students receiving Title IV aid are meeting the SAP standards.

• The Higher Education Act (HEA) requires that students who get financial aid and who are in a program of study that is longer than two academic years must have at least a "C" average or equivalent at the end of the second academic year, or they must be on track to meet school graduation requirements.

Policy Requirements

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Satisfactory Academic Progress

• The regulations state that a student must complete an undergraduate program within 150 percent of the time published as the length of the program. While the 150 percent rule only applies to undergraduate students, the school must also have a policy for graduate students

• Schools' policies must include procedures under which a student may appeal a determination that he or she is not meeting the SAP standards.

• The school cannot pay Title IV funds to a student who is not making satisfactory academic progress!

Policy Requirements (cont)

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• A school may temporarily waive its requirements for satisfactory academic progress in certain circumstances, which include:

– an injury or illness of the student – the death of a relative of the student – other special circumstances as determined by the

school

Special Circumstances

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Satisfactory Academic Progress

• A school's satisfactory academic progress policy should:– be compatible with the school's goals, mission, and

philosophy – reflect the characteristics of the school's student

body and academic programs – be a shared responsibility of all relevant school offices – be consistent with standards of the school's

accrediting agency

Designing a SAP Policy

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• The policy must:– ensure that students who receive Title IV funds are

progressing toward their educational goals – be written clearly – be distributed to all currently enrolled students

affected by the policy and be available to prospective students

– be implemented with procedures that support compliance with all aspects of the policy

Designing a SAP Policy (cont)

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• Schools must include the following factors in their SAP policies:The Standards must include the following factors in their SAP policies – The standards must be applied consistently within categories of

students (for example: full time, part time, undergraduate, and graduate).

– The standards must be cumulative, including all periods of a student’s enrollment – even periods when the student did not receive Title IV funds. Transfer credits from another school that apply to the student’s current program must also be counted.

Designing a SAP Policy (cont)

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• Important SAP issues that schools must also consider and define in their SAP policies are:– course incompletes – course drops/withdrawals – course repetitions – noncredit remedial courses – school transfers – change of major – double majors

Designing a SAP Policy (cont)

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Satisfactory Academic Progress

• A quantitative standard gives a maximum time frame in which a student must complete an educational program.

• The maximum time frame for an undergraduate program must not exceed 150 percent of the published length of the educational program measured in one of the following:– academic years – terms – credit hours attempted – clock hours attempted

Designing a SAP Policy (cont)

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Satisfactory Academic Progress

• A quantitative standard gives a maximum time frame in which a student must complete an educational program.

• The maximum time frame for an undergraduate program must not exceed 150 percent of the published length of the educational program measured in one of the following:– academic years – terms – credit hours attempted – clock hours attempted

Quantitative Standard

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• The time frame must include a schedule established by the school, designating the minimum percentage or the amount of work that students must successfully complete at the end of each increment if they are to complete their educational program within the maximum time frame.

• The time frame must divide into increments no longer than:– One academic year

OR– One-half the published length of the educational program

...whichever is shorter.

Quantitative Standard (cont)

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• For the purposes of tracking, a system where the student must complete a specified percentage of their credit hours works well for most student information systems.

Quantitative Standard (cont)

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• A qualitative standard consists of grades, work projects completed, or other similar factors that can be measured against a "norm" to gauge a student's academic progress.

• By the end of the second academic year, students who are in a program of study longer than two academic years and are receiving federal student aid must have:– At least a "C" average or its equivalent OR– An academic standing that will allow the student to meet the

requirements for graduating from the program • For this purpose, an academic year is measured as a

period of time, not a grade level.

Qualitative Standard

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• A school may use a graduated grade point average (GPA) instead of using a single fixed standard.– For example: • less than 30 hrs attempted- 1.8• 31-60 hours- 2.0

Qualitative Standard (cont)

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• For example, the school might require a student in a four-year degree program to earn at least a 2.0 average to graduate. So, if a school policy permits progression toward the 2.0 graduation requirement, then the school might permit a lower standard early in the program. A student might be required to have a minimum GPA of 1.75 (on a scale of 0 to 4.0) at the end of the second academic year, then a higher GPA in subsequent terms to meet the 2.0 standard by graduation time.

Qualitative Standard (cont)

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Satisfactory Academic Progress

• At a minimum, a school must review a student's satisfactory academic progress after each increment as defined by the school, but the school can review SAP more often. The school's policy should specify when SAP will be checked.

• Half-time students aren't expected to complete a program as quickly as full-time students. The use of increments allows schools to check SAP for full-time and part-time students at appropriate times

Checking SAP

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Satisfactory Academic Progress

• How SAP is Checked– The school must compare the amount of work

the student attempted to the amount of work that was successfully completed. One way of doing this is to require an equal percent or amount of work to be successfully completed in each increment.

Checking SAP (cont)

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Satisfactory Academic Progress

• Who is responsible for checking SAP?• When designing SAP policies, schools must decide

which school office and which personnel within that office are responsible for reviewing SAP.

• If the school decides that an academic office is responsible for monitoring SAP, it must also decide how the information will be communicated to the financial aid office.

Checking SAP (cont)

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• Who is responsible for checking SAP?– When designing SAP policies, schools must

decide which school office and which personnel within that office are responsible for reviewing SAP.

– If the school decides that an academic office is responsible for monitoring SAP, it must also decide how the information will be communicated to the financial aid office.

Checking SAP (cont)

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• Schools must decide how they will handle and document any SAP communications, such as notifying students of probation, suspended aid, and appeal decisions.

• Schools determine how SAP will be checked if they enter into consortium agreements. The "home" or primary school's SAP standards should be used to measure the student's progress, and the agreements should say which school will monitor SAP.

Checking SAP (cont)

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• http://ifap.ed.gov/fregisters/attachments/FR061810ProgramInterityIssuesNPRM.pdf

Negotiated Proposed Rule Making (NPRM)

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QUESTIONS??????????