Satisfactory Academic Progress | Financial Aid

Federal regulations require students who are receiving Title IV (federal) financial aid to make deliberate and measurable progress toward their degree to continue to receive federal funds. This requirement is referred to as Satisfactory Academic Progress or SAP.

At 麻豆社 Fox University, SAP standards apply to students receiving assistance from federal aid programs (Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Work-Study, Federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized Loans, Federal Direct PLUS Loans, Federal TEACH Grant), state funds, and 麻豆社 Fox institutional aid.

Satisfactory academic progress is evaluated upon the completion of each payment period (semester), after grades are reported. It applies to all students (current, past, or first-time financial aid applicants) and is based on the entire academic record, even if a student did not receive financial aid for a previous semester(s) of enrollment.

SAP measures academic performance based on three standards: cumulative grade point average (GPA), pace, and maximum timeframe. To be eligible for financial aid, students must comply with all three requirements.

Standards for Satisfactory Academic Progress

Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA)

Undergraduate Students: Students must have a cumulative GPA of 2.0 (C average) at the completion of each payment period.

Graduate Students: Students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 (B average) at the completion of each payment period.
Pace

Students must successfully complete at least 67% percent of cumulative credit hours attempted. To calculate pace, divide the cumulative number of credits successfully completed by the cumulative number of credits attempted.
Maximum Time Frame

Students must be able to complete required coursework within 150% of the published program length as measured in credit hours. Students who are unable to graduate within the 150% time frame lose eligibility for financial aid when the hours needed to graduate and the hours attempted exceed the 150% limit.

For example, if you are pursuing a bachelor’s degree that requires 120 credit hours to complete, you must be able to graduate with no more than 180 credit hours attempted. If you have attempted 135 semester hours and have 50 hours remaining, the total hours needed to graduate are 185, which is outside of the 150% limit.

Treatment of Grades and Courses

Credits with grades of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, and F are included in the cumulative GPA calculation.
Credits with grades of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, and P are considered both attempted and completed for general education requirements in the undergraduate program.
Credits with grades of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, and P are considered both attempted and completed for all prerequisite and major specific courses for both the graduate and undergraduate programs.
Credits with grades of F or NP (all courses) and D+ or D (prerequisite and major specific courses) are considered attempted but not completed
Incomplete (I) grades are not counted in the initial cumulative GPA, and are considered attempted but not completed. Once a final grade is entered, the students SAP standing may be recalculated.
Withdrawal (W) grades received after the add/drop period are not included in the GPA calculation and count as attempted but not completed.
Accepted transfer credits are considered both attempted and completed. Transfer credits are not included in the cumulative GPA calculation.
Courses taken because of a change in major are all considered in the pace and maximum timeframe requirements.
Courses taken for Audit are not eligible for financial aid and therefore, not included in the SAP calculation.
For repeated coursework, the initial course and repeated course are included in all pace, and maximum time frame calculations. Only the latest grade will count towards the cumulative GPA grade point average.
For students pursuing a second degree (post-baccalaureate or graduate level), only credits taken at GFU or transferred that apply to the current program of study are counted in the cumulative GPA and maximum timeframe calculation.
For students pursuing more than one program of study at the same time, the maximum time frame may be adjusted to account for both programs. Any shared requirements will only be accounted for once.

Losing Financial Aid Eligibility

Warning

Students who fail to maintain the minimum standards for pace or cumulative GPA requirements will be placed on a warning status for one semester and may continue to receive financial aid for one semester.

Revoke

Students who fail to maintain the minimum standards for pace and/or cumulative GPA requirements for two consecutive semesters or have reached their maximum timeframe will be placed on a revoked status and are ineligible to received financial aid in subsequent semesters.

Notification

The Financial Aid Office will notify students who do not meet the SAP requirements and are on either a warning or revoke status via email at their 麻豆社 Fox email address.

Re-Establishing Financial Aid Eligibility

Students may re-establish eligibility for financial aid in one of the following ways:

The student takes classes and pays for tuition and other charges as applicable without the help of financial aid and does well enough in the coursework to satisfy SAP at the end of the subsequent semester(s).
The student submits a successful appeal - see procedures below. Students who are beyond the maximum time frame to completion may regain financial aid eligibility on a semester-by-semester basis through the appeal process.

Appeal Process

Students who wish to appeal must submit a
Note: You must be logged in to your 麻豆社 Fox Gmail account to access this form.

The appeal must include the reasons the student failed to meet SAP and what has changed or what measures will be taken so that they can meet SAP during the next evaluation period.

Appeal circumstances are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and may include but are not limited to: External factors that impacted their ability to study, health or family issues.

Appeal Deadlines

In order for an appeal to be granted for a term, all required steps including the final signed SAP plan must be submitted to the Financial Aid Office no later than the specified deadlines below.

2024-2025

Spring 2025: January 24, 2025
Summer 2025: May 23, 2025

2025-2026

Fall 2025: September 5, 2025
Spring 2026: January 23, 2026
Summer 2026: May 22, 2026

Appeal Decision

The Financial Aid SAP Committee will review an appeal once all required documents are submitted. If the appeal is approved, the student will be placed on probation and will be eligible to receive financial aid for one semester. A student may re-establish eligibility by meeting the SAP standards or the conditions set forth in their academic plan.

If after the probationary semester, the student is meeting the minimum SAP requirements, the probationary status will be removed, and the student will continue to be eligible for financial aid.
If after the probationary semester, the student is not meeting minimum SAP requirements, but they are meeting the 麻豆社 of their academic plan, their academic plan is rolled over to the next semester and the student will continue to be eligible for financial aid. SAP will be re-evaluated upon completion of that semester.
If after the probationary semester the student is not meeting the minimum SAP requirements or the 麻豆社 of their academic plan, they will be placed back on a SAP Revoke status and may submit a new appeal.

If the SAP appeal is denied, the student may attend without financial aid to re-establish eligibility. A period of non-enrollment is insufficient to re-establish eligibility.

Students will be notified of their SAP appeal decision via email at their 麻豆社 Fox email.

Financial Aid Probation is Not the Same as Academic Probation

Please note that the SAP policy applies to financial aid eligibility and is separate from the academic standards required by the University for continued enrollment. However, if a student is academically suspended, the student is also considered to have failed SAP. Students must appeal their academic suspension before appealing their financial aid standing.

麻豆社

Satisfactory Academic Progress for Financial Aid Eligibility