Federal Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
Final regulations published in the Federal Register on October 29,2010 (668.16 and 668.34) by the U.S. Department of Education require institutions that participate in the student financial aid programs under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended to (the HEA), to implement new guidelines, effective July 1, 2011; tied to the annual Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) review for federal student aid. Fredonia conducts a review of Satisfactory Academic Progress tied to the receipt of federal student aid on an annual basis, at the completion of the Spring semester. If a student fails to achieve satisfactory academic progress at that time, the institution may not award and disburse federal Title IV program funds to the student.
Incompletes and WDs
Effective 7/1/11, GPA and pace of completion are affected by course incompletes and withdrawals. Transfer courses must count as both attempted and completed hours when measuring quantitative progress.
Repeated Courses
A student may repeat a course if he/she has not received a passing grade in the course while receiving Title IV aid. A student may only repeat a course once if he/she has passed the course previously while receiving Title IV aid.
Transfer Credit
A guide for transfer credit evaluation for many of the colleges from which we commonly receive transfer students is available at the Transfer Credit Information page. All academic courses successfully completed at a fully accredited college or university are transferable; however, we reserve the right to determine what constitutes an academic course. Your grade point average does not transfer.
Financial Aid Probation
This will be a new status assigned to a student who fails to meet the Satisfactory Academic Progress review at the completion of the Spring semester, who has appealed that determination via the institutional Waiver process, and has subsequently had eligibility for federal aid reinstated. This status will be assigned for a single consecutive payment period and the student will receive Title IV funding while in this status. At the end of that payment period, the student must meet the institution’s SAP standards or meet the requirements of the “academic plan” that may have previously been developed by the institution to qualify for further federal aid.
The institutional SAP Waiver Policy and Use of Academic Plans is based on the following set of procedures:
- A student will be notified within four weeks at the conclusion of the Spring semester if he/she fails to meet federal Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements.
- If the student chooses to appeal the loss of federal student aid for the subsequent semester, he/she must submit a letter and include supporting documentation with the Waiver Application that supports the reason for failing to meet federal Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements along with an academic plan for reestablishing eligibility.
- The basis on which a student may file an appeal are the death of an immediate family member, student illness, illness of a family member, and/or other personal and emotional difficulties.
- The Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Waiver Committee will review the documentation and either approve or deny the Federal Waiver request and will subsequently notify the student via written and electronic means.
- If the federal aid waiver is approved, the student is placed in a Financial Aid Probation status for the next semester.
- Once in a Financial Aid Probation status, a determination will be made as to whether or not a student could meet the required SAP standards after the subsequent payment period and if not, the Dean/Department Chair will develop an “academic plan” in collaboration with the student to ensure that the student meets Federal SAP standards by a specific point in time. The “academic plan” then becomes the students mandate to meeting federal Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements in place of the standard federal SAP Chart.
Please refer to the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) charts on the right hand index for the specific SAP criteria.