Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
How to Keep Your Financial Aid
- Complete 67% of all classes attempted, and
- Maintain a Valencia Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.0 or higher, and
- Maintain an overall Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.0 or higher, and
- Complete your degree within the 150% timeframe (i.e. an associate degree of 60 credit hours must be completed within 90 credit hours)
- Become familiar with Valencia's Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy
Are you meeting SAP standards? Use this worksheet as a guide.
| What Happens | Your Financial Aid Status | What you need to do |
|---|---|---|
| If you have not been on a Financial Aid Warning semester, and your overall GPA drops below 2.0, your overall Valencia GPA drops below 2.0, OR your overall completion rate drops below 67%. | Warning. You will still remain eligible for Financial Aid, however you must improve your GPA and/or completion rate by the start of the next semester or your financial aid may be suspended. | Seek assistance from your Academic or Program Advisor, or Learning Support. Work to raise your GPA to a minimum of 2.0 and your completion rate to at least 67%. |
| If your overall GPA drops below a 2.0 or your Valencia GPA drops below a 2.0. | Suspended - You are not eligible for financial aid. | Raise your GPA to a 2.0 or higher or you can appeal if you have mitigating circumstances. |
| If you do not have an overall completion rate of 67% or more. | Suspended - You are not eligible for financial aid. | Raise your completion rate to 67% or higher to become eligible for financial aid or you can appeal if you have mitigating circumstances. |
| If you attempt over 150% of your degree or certificate program (major). | Suspended - You are not eligible for financial aid. | You can appeal if you have mitigating circumstances. If your appeal is approved you will need to successfully complete 100% of all classes and required to maintain an overall GPA of 2.0 or higher. |
Completion Rate Worksheet:
| Enter your hours | Sample | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Credit Hours Completed | ____________________ | 25 |
| divided by | / | / |
| Total Credit Hours Attempted | ____________________ | 35 |
| Equals | = | = |
| Completion Rate | ____________________ | 71.42% |
Standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress for Recipients of Financial Aid
Standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) for Financial Aid Eligibility Federal regulations (34 CFR 668.34) require a student to move toward the completion of a degree or certificate within an eligible program when receiving financial aid. Specific requirements for academic progress for financial aid recipients are applied differently than college Academic Standards, Warning, Probation, and Suspension. Federal regulations state that Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards must include a review of all periods of enrollment, regardless of whether or not aid was received. The student must meet all the minimum standards in order to receive financial aid.
I. Evaluation of Financial Aid Eligibility
- Standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) are applied at the end of every semester to determine eligibility for the following academic semester. SAP standards are calculated using the cumulative GPA and cumulative completion rate. Students must maintain an overall GPA of 2.0 or higher, a Valencia GPA of 2.0 or higher, and a completion rate of 67% or more.
- Students will be placed on financial aid warning if they have not met the standards of satisfactory academic progress. Students will be notified of their status of warning, and referred to institutional resources for assistance in improving their academic performance.
- Students who fail to meet the required standards after a semester on financial aid warning will be placed on financial aid suspension. Students will be ineligible for aid during the suspension. Students will need to raise their GPA and/or completion rate to meet the minimum SAP requirements to regain financial aid eligibility or appeal their financial aid suspension, if applicable. (see V. Appeal Process)
- The evaluation period will be based on attendance in all prior semester(s) and will include all classes attempted whether federal aid was received or not. The initial evaluation at Valencia will be based on all previous institutions attended once the transcripts are received, evaluated, and posted to the student's record. SAP will be reviewed after each semester. The student's cumulative GPA and completion ratio must meet the minimum standards or the student will be placed on financial aid warning or financial aid suspension (if currently on financial aid warning status).
- Credits evaluated will include credits attempted at Valencia, transfer credits accepted by Valencia, and courses funded through consortium agreement.
- Students on financial aid warning, financial aid probation, and those following a Financial Aid Eligibility Progress Plan will be evaluated according to the terms of the progress plan.
- Students who do not meet the Standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress will be notified by Atlas email and their status will be available on Atlas under the financial aid Requirements section.
- Students may follow the appeal process or the reinstatement procedures as outlined in V and VI. Students will not have eligibility for any further federal aid until they have met Standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress or have been granted an appeal approval.
II. Eligibility
A. Students must meet the following criteria:
- Students must complete with a passing grade 67% of all credits attempted
- Students must maintain a Valencia GPA requirement of 2.0
- Students must maintain a cumulative GPA requirement of a 2.0
- Students must complete their degree or certificate program within the 150% timeframe of their degree or eligible certificate program. For example, if a program is 60 credit hours then the student must complete all required coursework within 90 hours. This includes all previously earned credit including classes taken at previous institutions, repeated grades and college preparatory coursework.
Note regarding completion percentages: Grades of F, I, U, W, WN, WP, WF, WW, AR, and courses not yet graded are considered attempted but not meeting progress standards for the purposes of financial aid. Grades of R20 and MR are not considered attempted credits and may be ignored for the purposes of financial aid. Grades of S+ and S- are considered successful attempts for the purposes of financial aid.
Note regarding GPA: Grades of A, B, C, D, F will impact the Valencia and cumulative GPA. Grades of R20, S+, S-, U, W, WN, WP, WF, WW, and AR will not have a positive or negative impact on the Valencia and cumulative GPA.
III. Maximum Timeframe Eligibility
- Students who have attempted more than 150% of the credits required for their degree or certificate program are not considered to be making Satisfactory Academic Progress and therefore, are ineligible for financial aid funds.
- Students seeking second degrees and students with double majors are monitored like any other students under this policy. If or when the student exceeds the maximum time frame allowed for their respective programs, students may appeal if they have mitigating circumstances. All transfer hours accepted by Valencia will be included when determining maximum timeframe eligibility.
- A student with a Bachelor's degree or higher will be considered to have exhausted maximum timeframe eligibility.
- A student may appeal as outlined in V. Reinstatement procedures as outlined in VI are not applicable to maximum timeframe eligibility.
- Students are limited to one timeframe appeal and will be required to successfully complete 100% of all future coursework if approved. A degree audit will be required for all timeframe appeals.
- Students who have earned a Bachelor's degree may not earn an Associates of Arts Degree. All credits earned apply to the 150% timeframe for the degree program in which the student is currently enrolled.
IV. Repeated, Audited, Consortium, Remedial Courses, Enrollment
- Financial aid eligibility will include repeated courses which were not successfully completed. Students who are on their third attempt of a class must pay full cost of tuition according to Florida statute unless they have a successful third attempt appeal.
- Financial aid eligibility will include repeating a course one time if the student earned prior credit for the course with a grade of a “D” or better. All classes taken must be counted as attempted classes regardless of grade forgiveness.
- Courses funded through a consortium agreement are included in determining academic progress.
- All attempted remedial credits will be included when evaluating SAP. (A maximum of 30 remedial credit hours, excluding ESL courses may be funded.)
- Enrollment in any part of term will be considered in the respective fall, spring, or summer term to be evaluated for SAP.
- Students transferring in Z Grades only (i.e., AP, CLEP, Military, Experiential) in their first term at Valencia will be evaluated as SAP OK if their earned hours are 67% or greater than the attempted credits.
V. Appeal Process
A student who has lost financial aid eligibility due to extenuating circumstances may appeal.
- Each student appealing for financial aid must meet with an Academic Advisor, Counselor, Transfer Program Advisor, or Student Success Coach. Bring with you a print out of your My Education Plan (MEP) so that your remaining credits can be verified.
- Extenuating circumstances that may be considered include: personal illness or accident, serious illness or death within immediate family, or other circumstances beyond the reasonable control of the student.
- All appeals must be in writing to the Office of Student Financial Assistance and include appropriate documentation.
- Examples of documentation could include an obituary notice, divorce decree, or a letter from a physician, attorney, social services agency, parole officer, employer, etc.
- The condition or situation must be resolved which will allow the student the ability to complete course work successfully or an appeal will not be granted.
- The outcome of an appeal may include a denial or probationary period with a Financial Aid Eligibility Progress Plan (FAEPP) to assure students meet the Standards of Satisfactory Academic Process.
- Students will be notified by Atlas email of the results of the appeal, and of any
restrictions or conditions pertaining to their appeal.
- If approved, all courses attempted must lead to a successful attempt with a final grade of C or better or the student’s appeal period will no longer be continued (for this purpose, an S+ or S- grade is acceptable).
- If a student withdraws from a course during their appeal period, they will no longer be eligible for financial aid (for this purpose, a grade of R20 or MR will be ignored).
- If the student fails to make satisfactory progress during an appeal period, any further appeal will be denied with limited exceptions and only due to circumstances beyond the student’s control.
Students, whose initial appeal is denied, may submit a written request for a review of the appeal to the College Financial Aid Services Appeals Committee. The Committee's decision is final. If the Committee's decision is to uphold the denial, the student may not submit any subsequent requests for funding consideration. In order to regain eligibility for financial aid, the student will need to regain Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards. Students who do not meet the terms of their financial aid probation may permanently lose eligibility for federal student aid at Valencia College.
VI. Reinstatement of Financial Aid Eligibility
- A student who has lost financial aid eligibility may be reinstated after the student has taken classes to meet the minimum requirements of an overall and Valencia GPA of 2.0 and a cumulative completion rate of 67% of all credit hours being evaluated or was approved on appeal.
- All classes including those taken at other institutions will be taken into consideration for reinstatement purposes.
- A Student must be able to complete their degree or certificate within the 150% timeframe.
- It is the student's responsibility to notify the Office of Student Financial Assistance when this condition has been met.
- Students who exhaust the 150% timeframe and have used their one appeal cannot be reinstated financial aid at Valencia.
67% Completion Chart for Successful Progression toward a Degree or Eligible Certificate by Term.
The chart below demonstrates 67% for attempted hours in a semester. The left hand column is the attempted hours and the corresponding number in the right column is the number of hours you must successfully complete with a 2.0 GPA to maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress. For example, if you register for 14 credit hours, you must complete 10 credit hours with a 2.0 GPA or higher to meet the satisfactory academic progress requirements for the semester. Both the 2.0 GPA and completion rate of 67% applies to both the semester and cumulative credit hour on your transcript.
| Credit Hours Attempted | Earned Hours Needed (Passed with GPA of 2.0 or greater) |
|---|---|
| 19 | 13 |
| 18 | 13 |
| 17 | 12 |
| 16 | 11 |
| 15 | 11 |
| 14 | 10 |
| 13 | 9 |
| 12 | 8 |
| 11 | 8 |
| 10 | 7 |
| 9 | 7 |
| 8 | 6 |
| 7 | 5 |
| 6 | 5 |
| 5 | 4 |
| 4 | 3 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 1 | 1 |