Satisfactory Academic Progress

Federal, state, and university regulations require financial aid recipients to show progress toward the completion of their degree. This policy, referred to as Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP), must include a qualitative measure, and a quantitative measure.

Questions?

Find the answers to to questions about Satisfactory Academic Progress.

Students Readmitted Under Forgiveness Policy

Students readmitted under the one-year forgiveness policy are not eligible for financial aid, even though they may appear to meet Standard 1 of this SAP policy (per institutional policy, one-year forgiveness students are those who have earned a minimum of 30 semester hours of transferable credit since they last attended Appalachian; in addition, to be readmitted, the grades earned at other postsecondary institutions when combined with the grades earned previously at Appalachian must result in a GPA of at least 2.0). In general, students readmitted under any of Appalachian State’s other Academic Renewal/forgiveness policies (e.g., two-year) are not eligible for financial aid in their first semester/term after readmission. However, students readmitted under any of the forgiveness policies are eligible to appeal for financial aid using the appeal process(es) described below. Keep in mind that federal policy for SAP rules do not allow exclusion of forgiven grades from SAP calculations, even though an institution’s academic policy may allow such forgiveness.

Evaluation Period

The Office of Student Financial Aid evaluates the three standards of SAP at the end of each spring term. The evaluation must be cumulative and include all terms of enrollment at Appalachian, even if the student does not receive aid in any given term. 

At the point of evaluation, the student is either making SAP, maintaining an approved SAP Academic Plan or not making SAP.

• If meeting SAP requirements, the student is eligible to receive financial aid for the subsequent summer, fall, and spring terms;
• If maintaining an approved SAP Academic Plan, the student is eligible to receive aid for the next enrolled term;
• If not meeting SAP requirements, the student is ineligible to receive financial aid for the summer, fall, and spring terms, but has the right to appeal this determination using the appeal process(es) outlined in this policy.

When a student appeals for financial aid, appeals are reviewed for a single term of enrollment only. If, for example, an appeal is approved for a SAP Academic Plan for the fall term, that student’s record will be re-evaluated at the conclusion of the fall term to determine aid eligibility in the upcoming spring term. Note that the evaluation conducted at the end of the spring term includes a review of financial aid eligibility for summer for all students, including those students who have reestablished eligibility.

Appeals

Students who are not maintaining SAP under this policy are eligible to submit a SAP Appeal. Successful appeals are generally approved for a single term after which SAP standards will be evaluated according to the terms of the appeal approval.

SAP Appeals are only considered for the following reasons:

• Standard 1: Student is academically suspended, or is otherwise not in good academic standing
  Appropriate, documented extenuating circumstances resulting in academic suspension or otherwise not meeting the qualitative standard, even if the student has been granted readmission (including under a Academic Renewal/forgiveness policy) or permission to re-enroll following a suspension.
• Standard 2: Not earning at least 67% of total attempted hours at Appalachian State (for the degree program)
  Appropriate, documented circumstances for why a student is not completing 67% or more of total attempted hours at Appalachian in the student’s degree program. Circumstances may include withdrawal for medical reasons, extended personal illness or injury, death or illness of immediate family member, required to take pre-requisite or preparatory coursework, called to active military duty, or other extenuating circumstances (all with sufficient and appropriate supporting documentation.)
• Standard 3: Total attempted hours exceed 150% of the published length of the program
  Appropriate, documented extenuating circumstances resulting in total attempted hours exceeding 130% of published length of program in credit hours, or reasonable documented plan to complete the degree program within 150% of published length of program in credit hours.

SAP Appeals, including all required documentation, must be submitted online through Student Forms, in AppalNet, by the established deadline for each term. Any appeal submitted after the deadline will be considered for a future term and may require additional documentation after the current term ends. To receive a timely decision, we strongly encourage students to submit an appeal immediately after receiving notification they are no longer meeting SAP
requirements or before the established priority consideration. Submitting an appeal does not guarantee approval.

Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeals must include the following:

• A Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal Form
• A personal statement describing the circumstances that resulted in the student not meeting SAP and the actions the student has taken to achieve academic success going forward, specifically in the term for which the student is appealing for financial aid. This should be a specific plan for being able to meet the SAP standards and graduation requirements in a timely manner.
• Third party documentation supporting the appeal. Examples of such documentation include, but are not limited to, written statements from doctors on letterhead stationery, copies of medical bills, orders for military activation, and/or death certificate(s).

Deadlines