Operating Instruction 7.6.2.1 Satisfactory Academic Progress Exception

Operating Instruction
 Chapter 7 - General Finance Provisions

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for System Procedure 7.6.2

Part 1. Purpose
To prescribe basic requirements used by colleges and universities for determining whether an exception to established academic and financial policies and procedures regarding back-dating a registration cancellation for some or all registered courses will be granted to students whose appeal for reinstatement of financial aid eligibility is denied.

Part 2. Regulatory Compliance
Federal and state regulations require that students who are receiving financial aid meet certain eligibility criteria. One of these criteria is referred to as Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). Colleges and universities must monitor all graduate and undergraduate students for SAP, beginning with their first term of attendance. Notice of probation or suspension of financial aid eligibility will occur for students who fail to meet and maintain these standards.

Part 3. Appeal
Students suspended from financial aid eligibility have the right to appeal based on extenuating circumstances, as described in the college or university financial aid SAP policy. Students who choose to appeal their suspension status must complete and return an appeal form with appropriate documentation by the college- or university-published appeal deadline date for the academic term indicated on the appeal form for which the student is requesting funds.

Part 4. Deadlines
The registration and financial obligation date is the fifth day of each academic term or the end of the first business day after the first class session, whichever is later. Courses dropped after the obligation date are recorded in accordance with college or university policy (e.g., with a “W” grade), and the related financial liability for tuition/fees remains with the student; if a student officially withdraws from all enrolled courses, the schedule for refund/credit percentages applies.

Part 5. Guideline Requirements
The college or university SAP policy includes appeal deadlines for each term that are established to provide sufficient time for the student to gather the required documentation for his/her appeal. This deadline occurs later than the term’s registration and financial obligation date. The short timeline between the notice of suspension of financial aid eligibility and the obligation date for the next academic term may cause difficulties for the student to make an informed decision regarding enrollment. Therefore, exceptions to the college- or university-established academic and financial policies may be granted to students whose appeal for reinstatement of financial aid eligibility is denied. Where applicable, exceptions may be granted only where the appeal deadline is within the first 30 days of the term.

Subject to the appeal deadline restriction, a student who submits a completed appeal form (including appropriate documentation) which is received by financial aid administrators on or before the published deadline for the term may be granted a special provision to address the difficulties inherent in the process.

If the student’s appeal for reinstatement of financial aid eligibility is then denied, the student will be notified of this decision via college or university e-mail. The student will then be given five (5) business days after the notification date (e-mail timestamp) to elect to drop all or a portion of his/her enrolled academic credits without penalty or obligation. The dropped credits will be treated as a canceled registration, as though the drop was recorded prior to the term’s registration and financial obligation date, and the tuition/fee charges related to the course or courses will be removed from the student’s financial liability to the college or university.

A student who elects to drop all or a portion of his/her enrolled academic credits within the five (5) business days after the notification of denial for reinstatement shall submit in writing to the college or university of this decision. The student must also update his/her official registration records to reflect the dropped course(s) within this timeline.

All or a portion of a student’s enrolled academic credits dropped later than five (5) business days after the notification of denial will be subject to normal college or university academic and financial policies.

Part 6. Eligibility for Exception
The exception is available to students who received suspension notices and were unable to submit an appeal for financial aid eligibility for the subsequent term because of personal injury, illness, or other extraordinary and unexpected reasons.

In all other circumstances, the exception is available only to students who are subject to the tight timelines that occur between certain academic terms.

Students are granted this exception if they:

  1. receive suspension notices after fall semester and submit appeals for financial aid eligibility for the subsequent spring semester,
  2. receive suspension notices after spring semester and submit appeals for financial aid eligibility for the subsequent summer session, or
  3. receive suspension notices after summer session and submit appeals for financial aid eligibility for the subsequent fall semester.

Students are not granted this exception if they:

  1. receive suspension notices after spring semester and submit appeals for financial aid eligibility for the subsequent fall semester, or
  2. submit appeals for financial aid eligibility following a suspension that occurred earlier than the most recent prior term.

Related Documents:

Operating Instruction History:

Date of Adoption: 04/25/06
Date of Implementation: 04/25/06
Date of Last Review: 03/13/17

Date and Subject of Amendments:

03/28/19 - Technical changes were made to Part 6 for consistency with other policies and procedures. Specifically, “semester” was changed to “session” when referencing summer term.

Additional HISTORY.

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