The University of the West (UWest) is required by law to establish for all federal and state financial aid recipients - both qualitative and quantitative standards for “satisfactory academic progress” toward the completion of the degree objective. Aid programs covered by these standards are: Federal Pell Grant, and SEOG Grants, Federal Work Study, Federal Loan programs (Direct, PLUS, Grad PLUS), and some State aid programs. These academic standards apply for all periods of enrollment regardless of whether or not aid was received.

The Financial Aid Office, in consultation with the Registrar, reviews all aid recipients for compliance with the satisfactory academic progress policy at the end of each payment period.

Qualitative Requirements: Minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA)

The GPA is based on grades for credits earned at UWest and does not include grades transferred from another institution. An undergraduate student must maintain a 2.0 cumulative GPA. A graduate student is required to have a 3.0 cumulative GPA for graduate level coursework. Students who fall below these requirements will not be considered to be making satisfactory academic progress.

Quantitative Requirements: Minimum Credit Earned

A student receiving aid must successfully complete a minimum 67 percent of attempted each semester, applicable to his/her degree, and consistent with his/her enrollment/funding status. For example, if a student enrolls in 12 credits (minimum required for full-time undergraduate enrollment) in a semester, he/she must complete a minimum of 8 credits in that semester to maintain satisfactory academic progress. Students who fall below this requirement will not be considered to be making satisfactory academic progress.

Earned credits, for the purposes of this policy, are grades of “A”, “B”, “C”, “D”, “P” and all plus or minus variations on these grades.

Maximum Time Frame:

Pace of progression required to ensure a student must complete his/here degree by attempting no more than 150 percent of the credits normally required for attainment of the degree. A student is no longer eligible to receive financial aid after this maximum is reached. Pace calculated by dividing cumulative hours student successfully completed by cumulative hours student has attempted. For example, if undergraduate program can normally be completed with 120 credit hours, a student’s financial aid eligibility will be suspended once the student reaches 180 cumulative attempted credit hours, whether the student has attained the degree or not.

The 150% maximum time frame applies to both undergraduate and graduate students.

Financial Aid Warning, Probation and Termination

Students who do not meet the standards of the Financial Aid SAP policy at the end of each payment period will be placed automatically on financial aid warning. Students who are continuing are eligible to receive Title IV financial aid during the warning period for the one payment period. A student is on financial aid warning, without an appeal or other action.

At the end of the warning period, which is one payment period, if students are still unable to meet SAP after the subsequent payment period, students can make an appeal in writing to the Financial Aid Office (see SAP Appeals below). After students successfully appeal, students are placed on financial aid probation for the next payment period. Students must meet SAP at end of that payment period, or during the probationary period, students are required to meet with their academic advisors to develop a plan of action to get them back on track.

A student’s financial aid will be terminated for any of the following reasons:

• Cumulative GPA is lower than the required minimum standard for two consecutive semesters;
• Failure to complete 67 percent of cumulative credits attempted for two consecutive semesters;
• Accumulation of credits attempted equal to 150% of credits normally required for attainment of the degree (undergraduate or graduate).

Reestablishing Financial Aid Eligibility:

Students whose financial aid is terminated due to lack of academic progress may reestablish their eligibility upon meeting the SAP standards again. To regain financial aid eligibility, a student must:

• Raise GPA
  To increase the GPA, a student must enroll and complete coursework at UWest. Grades transferred from other institutions are not included in the calculation of UWest GPA;
• Correct a Credit Deficiency
  Credit deficiency can be made up by taking and completing additional courses at UWest. Undergraduates may also take general education courses at a college with whom the UWest has a written transfer agreement. All coursework must be applicable toward the student’s degree objective and not exceed the number of credits that are transferable to the UWest.

Students will not receive financial aid from UWest until they are determined to be making satisfactory academic progress again, except in the case of an appeal (see SAP Appeals below). Such students must be prepared to pay for their education while making up the deficiency.

SAP Appeals

Students who have lost their financial aid due to unsatisfactory academic progress may appeal to the Financial Aid Office. The appeal must be made in writing describing the circumstances that have been affecting their academic performance, must be submitted within 30 days of notification of unsatisfactory status, and must be accompanied by appropriate supporting documents.

Acceptable reasons for appeal include, but are not limited to, personal or family accident, illness or injury of the student, death of a close family member, or other extenuating and unavoidable circumstances beyond the student’s control. On-going, chronic medical problems do not meet the definition of “extenuating circumstances.” If the condition existed at the time aid was offered, it should have been taken into consideration when the student planned his/her classes and credit load.

Factors considered in reviewing an appeal include, but are not limited to, the student’s entire academic history, level of borrowing in relation to credits completed, class standing; number of semesters of aid; previous deficiencies and appeals; and “extenuating” and “unavoidable” circumstances.

If a student’s eligibility is reinstated because of an appeal, his satisfactory academic progress will be reviewed again within one semester.

Withdrawals, Repetitions, Incompletes and transfer Credits

• Withdrawals
  Courses from which the student withdraws after the official drop deadline are included in the cumulative credits attempted;
• Repeated Courses
  Repeated courses enable the student to achieve a higher cumulative grade point average. Credits attempted in repeated classes are included in the cumulative credits attempted;
• Incomplete Courses
  Courses that are assigned an incomplete grade are included in the cumulative credits attempted. These course credits cannot be used as earned credits until a satisfactory grade is assigned;
• Transfer Credits
  All transfer credits accepted towards a student’s UWest degree will be used in determining when the maximum time frame requirement has been reached. However, grades for the transferred credits are not included in the cumulative GPA calculation.

The awarding and review of Institutional scholarships and fellowships have separate eligibility and scholarship criteria, including different GPA requirements.