Satisfactory Academic Progress
Federal regulations mandate a student receiving financial assistance under the Title IV programs must maintain satisfactory academic progress in his/her course of study regardless of whether or not financial aid is awarded each semester. Title IV funds include Pell Grant, SEOG, Direct loans, and Federal Work Study.
Student financial aid, as defined in this policy, specifically applies to all federal, state, and certain institutional aid programs. Federal guidelines stipulate that this policy applies to ALL enrollment periods, regardless of whether students have received financial aid.
This policy provides for consistent application of standards to all students within categories of students, e.g., full-time, part-time, and will apply equally to all educational programs established by the institution.
SAP will be reviewed at the end of every payment period (semester).
NECESSARY REQUIREMENTS FOR SATISFACTORY ACADEMIC PROGRESS:
Qualitative – All students are required to maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 or better. MBC follows school academic standards and does not round GPA.
Quantitative – Refers to a student’s pace. Must complete at least 67% of the cumulative hours attempted each semester. This will include remedial classes. Attempted also includes any classes with a grade of “F, FN, W, WF, WP, WU, and I”. Transfer credits accepted by the institution towards a student’s program are included in the attempted and completed hours and will be used in the pace calculation. MBC rounds pace to the nearest whole number using normal rounding methods.
Maximum timeframe – Morris Brown College is a four-year college with certificate and bachelor’s degree programs. Students must complete their program of study within 150% of the length of the program. For example, a program with a length of 120 hours must be completed within 180 attempted hours. 120 x 150% = 180 hours. Another example would be the Esports Certificate program with 24 hours required- 24 x 150% = 36 maximum attempted hours. Again, all courses taken, including accepted transfer courses and courses with a grade of “F, FN, W, WF, WP, WU, and I”, will be included in this calculation. This number will not be rounded up or down. The quantitative standard is used to measure a student’s pace in a program. A student may be on pace for the semester but not be on pace when calculating the cumulative hours. Pace is measured by dividing the cumulative number of hours the student has successfully completed by the cumulative number of hours the student has attempted. A student is ineligible for financial aid when it becomes mathematically impossible to complete the program within 150% of its length. An appeal will be possible.
FAILURE TO MEET MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
Notifications will be emailed via designated school email of any changes to their federal student aid eligibility. Notifications include Financial Aid Warning status, appeal decisions, loss of eligibility or regaining of eligibility. Students will be assigned one of the following statuses:
Financial Aid Warning is a status assigned to a student who fails to meet satisfactory academic progress. The student will automatically be placed in a Financial Aid Warning status for one payment period (semester). During a Financial Aid Warning period, students are not making SAP but continue to be eligible for federal student aid. If a student continues to fail SAP at the end of a financial aid warning period, they will lose federal student aid eligibility. There is no limit on the number of times a student can be placed in a warning status, except that the warning periods can never be consecutive.
Financial Aid Suspension is a status assigned to a student who has not met the requirements for Satisfactory Academic Progress and has not been granted an appeal or a student who was on Financial Aid Probation and failed to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress or the requirements of the established academic plan and will not be eligible to receive Title IV funds.
Financial Aid Probation is a status assigned to a student who fails to make satisfactory academic progress for a subsequent payment period and who has appealed and has had eligibility for aid reinstated. A student on financial aid probation may receive Title IV funds for one payment period (semester). At that point, the student must meet the school’s SAP standards or the requirements of the established individual academic plan to maintain Title IV eligibility.
Academic Plan
Academic plans will be tailored to meet the individual student needs and will have a defined endpoint (e.g., date, end of second semester, etc.) at which point the student will meet the general SAP standards or complete the program.
Academic plans can last several semesters depending on the severity of the SAP issues. While on an academic plan, the student is required to meet the plan requirements. While on a multi-semester plan, the student is in a probationary status during the first semester of the plan. During subsequent semesters in which the student is meeting the plan requirements, the student is considered to be maintaining SAP. The student continues to be federal student aid eligible as long as they are on a plan and meet the plan requirements or meet the general SAP standards.
APPEAL PROCESS:
A student suspended from federal student aid eligibility may appeal that loss due to special or mitigating circumstances outside of the student’s control. These may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Student illness or injury
- Family member illness, injury, or death
Students who appeal must complete MBC’s SAP Appeal Request Form within 14 days of notification of suspension. In addition, a student must provide all applicable supporting documentation. The appeal must explain why the student failed SAP and what has changed to allow the student to make SAP at the end of the probationary period.
Appeals are reviewed by MBC’s SAP Appeal Committee prior to the start of the upcoming semester. The Appeal Committee may review the failure of any SAP measurement. As part of the appeal process, the SAP Appeal Committee may implement any of these three options:
- Approval- based on circumstances and the student can mathematically meet the general SAP standards by the end of the probationary period.
- Approval- based on circumstances, school places the student on an academic plan.
- Denial- based on circumstances.
Financial Aid Probation
If a student’s appeal is approved by the committee, the student will be placed on Financial Aid Probation, which can never exceed one payment period. While on Probation, a student is not making SAP but remains eligible for federal student aid.
APPEAL PROCEDURES:
How to appeal:
- Complete a SAP appeal form (the link to the DocuSign form is included in the Notification)
- Appeal is due to the Financial Aid Office within fourteen (14) calendar days of notification.
- The appeal must explain why he/she failed to make satisfactory progress and what has changed in their situation that will allow them to make satisfactory progress at the next evaluation.
- Students must submit a SAP appeal form and a letter of explanation of mitigating circumstances with all appropriate documentation attached. The appeal committee will not view incomplete documents.
The Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeals Committee will review the request and make a decision within ten business days of the receipt of the appeal. Written notification of the decision will be forwarded to the student. The decision of the Appeals Committee is final.
If your appeal is approved:
- You will be placed on Financial Aid Probation/PLAN.
- You must meet the Satisfactory Academic Progress minimum requirements as outlined above.
- You must meet the minimum requirements EVERY semester.
- You will be evaluated at the end of each semester to determine that you continue to be eligible for Title IV funds.
If your appeal is denied:
- You will not be eligible for Title IV funds and will be placed on Financial Aid Suspension.
If you fail to meet minimum standards while you are on Financial Aid Probation/PLAN:
- You will not receive any Financial Aid funds.
- You must get back into Good Standing on your own. (without financial aid) Another appeal is not an option.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Excluded Grades
The following types of grades cannot be used to remove financial aid probation or suspension or to fulfill re-matriculation requirements: credits by audit or special examination; grades earned from advanced placement or CLEP exams for which prior approval was not obtained; withdrawal or incomplete grades; and grades earned in zero-credit courses.
Additional SAP Requirements
- Students who are not receiving financial aid will still be evaluated for financial aid eligibility on the same basis as students who receive federal, state, or institutional aid. Should such students apply for financial aid, eligibility will be based on their past performance as measured by the SAP standards for financial aid. Periods when a student does not receive Title IV aid will be counted toward maximum time frame.
- Students who are enrolled in a dual degree program may request in writing an extension of the maximum time frame provision of the SAP policy. Such requests will be evaluated on an individual basis.
- Students who are pursuing a second degree will be given the equivalent of six (6) full-time semesters to complete the program, including prerequisite courses.
- Transfer students will be placed within the policy’s maximum time-frame level based on the number of transfer credits accepted by Morris Brown College. Credit hours that transfer into and count as credit in the student’s program of study will count as both earned and attempted credits. Transfer credit will not be factored into the student’s GPA. Transfer hours that are accepted any time after an official checkpoint will be factored into SAP at the next official checkpoint.
- Credits earned at foreign institutions are included in the financial aid SAP evaluation if the college accepts the credits.
- Courses in which a grade of “I” was given will count toward the academic year attempted minimum and will influence the GPA in the semester the course was taken. All attempted and earned credits are counted in maximum time-frame determination.
- Credit for remedial courses will count toward determination of enrollment status, minimum credits, and maximum time frame.
- Courses that are repeated will count toward enrollment status and maximum time frame. For purposes of financial aid SAP, only credits adding to the cumulative credits earned will be acceptable toward the required minimum number of credits earned each year. Repeat courses for which a student previously received a passing grade will not count.