Our Standards of Academic Progress (SAP) have been adopted to determine continuing eligibility for students who are receiving or applying for financial aid. Academic progress will be reviewed at the end of each term to determine whether you are making satisfactory improvement. This review will include all periods of your enrollment, even those for which you did not receive financial aid.
You are expected to be continually aware of your grades.
Texas State Technical College (TSTC) Standards of Academic Progress (SAP) are adopted to determine continuing eligibility for students who are receiving or applying for financial aid. Students who receive financial aid must have a declared major and be enrolled in an eligible degree or certificate program. TSTC evaluates all parts of the Standards of Academic Progress at the end of each term of enrollment. This review will include all periods of the student’s enrollment, even those for which the student did not receive financial aid. Students are expected to be continually aware of their grades. A student who fails to meet the standard of progress (SAP) will be notified by email at the email address on the student record; however, failure to receive notification will not change the SAP status. https://www.calculator.net/gpa-calculator.html.
Students are required to maintain satisfactory academic progress (SAP). These standards will be used to determine eligibility for all Federal Title IV aid, as well as State and institutional aid, and certain waivers and exemptions offered by the State of Texas. Some aid programs such as the TEOG (Texas Educational Opportunity Grant) require higher standards, such as a higher grade point average (GPA) and/or a higher completion rate.
You must complete your classes with at least a 2.00 cumulative GPA based on all terms of enrollment. This is also known as qualitative progress. All college-level and developmental courses will be evaluated at the end of each term. Transfer courses are not counted towards the GPA evaluation.
You must complete at least 67% (66.5%) of the cumulative credit hours in which you enroll. This is known as quantitative progress. All college-level and developmental courses will be evaluated at the end of each term. Only passing grades count as successful completions. Incomplete, in progress, failing grades, and drop/withdrawals are not considered completed courses, but are considered attempted courses, and will be calculated in the 67% completion requirement. Any transfer hours that are accepted from other colleges and applied toward the completion of your program are counted in the cumulative completion rate.
You must complete your program in 150% of the minimum hours required to complete your program. For example, if your degree program requires 60 credit hours for completion, you must complete that program within a maximum of 90 attempted credit hours. Once you reach the 150% limit or the Financial Aid Office determines that you cannot complete your program within the 150% limit, you will no longer be able to receive financial aid. Several variables are considered when calculating the 150% limit. These variables include but are not limited to:
● Credits attempted for all periods of enrollment are evaluated even if you were not receiving aid to pay for them. Attempted hours are the hours in which you are enrolled as of the census date of a term. If you withdraw from a course(s) after the census date for that course it is still counted as an attempted course and is included in the SAP calculation. Developmental courses are not counted in this calculation.
● Any transfer hours that are accepted from other colleges and applied toward the completion of your program are counted in the maximum time frame. Transcripts from all colleges previously attended must be submitted before any financial aid is released.
● If you repeat a course, both attempts will be counted in the maximum credit hours and progression calculation, even if you did not receive aid for both attempts.
● A student may receive aid when repeating a course that was previously unsuccessful regardless of the number of times the course was attempted and failed.
● Once a course has been successfully completed, a student can retake and receive financial aid for that same course only one additional time (one retake attempt). Federal regulations limit the amount of federal aid that can be used when repeating a course that has previously been passed with any grade higher than an ‘F’. If a student earns a ‘W’ or ‘F’ in a course, the student can continue to repeat the course paid with federal aid so long as they are meeting minimum Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements. Once a grade of ‘D’ or higher is earned for a course, students can only repeat the course one more time.
● Separate rules apply for developmental courses.
Students receiving financial aid must declare a major in an eligible certificate or degree program. Students should only register for courses approved for their designated degree plan/catalog year. Change of Major request forms may be submitted to the Enrollment Coach or in Workday where the student will have the ability to submit online via their portal. The Records Processing Center will change the student major to ensure that the student’s new program is tracked for SAP. Transfer credits that are applicable to the student’s degree plan will be counted in both the attempted and completed credits.
Changing programs will not change a student’s current status. The student’s maximum time frame will be re-evaluated and only those credits that are included in the new program will be considered.
Enrollment in developmental courses is indicated by testing or as recommended by an enrollment coach/advisor. You may receive financial aid for a maximum of 27 attempted hours. These courses will be included in determining the cumulative GPA and cumulative completion rate, but will not be counted in determining the maximum time frame. Once you have attempted 27 credit hours of developmental classes, you will not be able to receive additional financial aid to pay for those courses.
● A student may receive aid when repeating a course that was previously unsuccessful regardless of the number of times the course was attempted and failed.
● Once a course has been successfully completed, a student can retake and receive financial aid for that same course only one additional time (one retake attempt).
● Financial aid will not pay for:
The first time that a student fails to meet the minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA and/or the cumulative completion rate of 67%, the student will be placed on financial aid warning. The only exception is for exceeding maximum timeframe hours, which results in immediate suspension. Students on ‘warning’ status may receive financial aid without completing an appeal.
Students can be placed on financial aid suspension for several reasons:
● Failing to meet the 2.0 cumulative GPA and/or the 67% completion rate during the warning period
● Reaching the maximum time frame for the program of study which is calculated by multiplying the number of hours in the program by 1.5
● A student who filed an appeal and was placed on an academic plan or on probation and who failed to meet the conditions of the appeal
If you are on financial aid failed status you may have your aid reinstated in one of the following manners:
● Continue to attend Texas State Technical College without financial aid until you achieve both a cumulative GPA of 2.0 and a cumulative completion rate of 67%
● File a Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal demonstrating mitigating circumstances and be approved.
● The maximum time frame limit is when you’ve attempted 150% of the credits needed to complete your program at TSTC. This limit could also be reached if you’re returning for an additional associate degree/certificate. At this point, you are no longer eligible for financial aid. There is no warning prior to a student reaching this status.
● If you have reached the maximum time frame for your program of study (150%), you may not regain eligibility to receive additional financial aid unless an appeal is granted.
Students who are placed on failed status due to financial aid suspension or maximum time frame may file an appeal based on mitigating circumstances. All appeals must be completed online and may not be submitted unless they include supporting documentation. Once you are notified of not being eligible due to not making satisfactory academic progress, you have five working days to submit an appeal or up to the subsequent semester census date, whichever comes first. The student is responsible for any payments and meeting payment deadlines during the appeal process. The student should not miss payment deadlines while waiting for a response. Failure to pay for tuition and fees may result in de-registration. The student is responsible for balances due if the student withdraws before or after an appeal is denied.
Appeals will only be granted for conditions causing extenuating hardship to the student, such as the death of a family member, illness or injury of the student, or other mitigating circumstances.
The appeal must require supporting documentation regarding your mitigating circumstance, such as medical statements or death certificates, or other supporting documentation. Appeals for mitigating circumstances can not be submitted without documentation. Submitting an appeal does not guarantee approval of the appeal. Sitting out a semester or more does not change the SAP calculation result. Appeals will be reviewed by Enrollment Coaches and may be appealed to the Team Lead, whose decision is final.
An appeal must include the following:
A completed Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal Form
● Documentation to support any claims
● A description of the steps you have taken to remedy the situation
● A Success Plan showing a plan of action you intend to take for academic success
The student will be placed on an academic plan and their progress will be reviewed at the end of each term. Failure to meet the 2.0 term and or 67% term completion rate will result in suspension from aid. The conditions of the appeal may require a higher term GPA and/or completion rate at the discretion of the Enrollment Coach.
A student will be placed on probation if we determine that he or she should be able to reach both the 2.0 cumulative GPA and 67% cumulative completion rate requirements at the end of the next term of enrollment. If the student fails to meet these standards, he or she will be placed on suspension.
A student may be placed on an academic plan under which they are able to achieve a 2.0 GPA by the end of their second year of enrollment so that they will be eligible for graduation. While in this status, a student must be making progress according to an academic plan which dictates that a student must achieve a term GPA of 2.0 or higher and a term completion rate of at least 67% in order to continue to retain aid eligibility. The conditions of the appeal may require a higher term GPA and/or completion rate at the discretion of the Enrollment Coach. The first term that a student is under an academic plan will be a probationary term. If the student complies with the terms of the academic plan, he or she will be making academic progress and can continue to receive aid as long as they meet the conditions of the plan. Failure to achieve these conditions will result in suspension.
The student will not be eligible to receive financial aid until he or she meets the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) standards as listed above; both a cumulative 2.0 GPA and a cumulative completion rate of 67%. It may take several semesters in order for a student to regain aid eligibility.
