Satisfactory Academic Progress
Satisfactory Academic Progress
Students must make Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) towards earning a degree at CCBS to receive financial aid from all federal and state student aid grants and loan programs. Some additional grants and scholarships may also use part or all of the SAP standards as minimum criteria for funding eligibility.
To remain in good standing, a student must hold a cumulative GPA above 2.0 and be progressing toward completion of their degree within a period not to exceed 150% of the published length of the program. In order to meet this standard of progression, students should be passing 67% of their attempted credits. Transfer students with no grade history at CCBS will enter on good standing. A Financial Aid SAP calculation, including transfer hours applicable to the current degree pursuit and CCBS hours earned, will be run at the end of the next semester.
Financial Aid SAP will be measured at the end of each semester. Students previously in good standing will be placed on Financial Aid warning if the minimum SAP standards are not met. The student will retain eligibility for aid during the warning period, which will last one semester. Students not meeting the minimum SAP standards by the end of the warning semester will be placed on Financial Aid probation. Under probation, students are no longer eligible to receive financial aid. In order to continue receiving aid, students must appeal their probation status. Financial Aid probation may be appealed if unusual and/or mitigating circumstances affected a student’s academic progress. Such circumstances may include a severe illness or injury to the student or an immediate family member, the death of a student’s relative, student activation into military service, or other circumstances as deemed appropriate for consideration by the Financial Aid Appeals Committee. With a granted appeal, a student may attend one additional semester under probation. A student who remains below the required academic standards at the end of the probation semester must submit a new appeal detailing new circumstances for review in order to be considered for continued eligibility under an academic plan.
To appeal, the student must submit a typed letter and any supporting documentation to the Financial Aid office. These must explain in detail why the student failed to meet the minimum academic standards, what unusual and/or mitigating circumstances contributed to the failure, and how the situation has changed to allow the student to meet Financial Aid SAP requirements by the next calculation. Appeals must be received by the Financial Aid office no later than 2 weeks after the student is notified of probation status. Early appeal submission is strongly encouraged. The Financial Aid Appeals Committee will review the appeal and will notify the student in writing of their decision. If an appeal is approved, the student will temporarily regain financial aid eligibility.
Regular aid eligibility will resume when the student raises their cumulative academic measurements to the required levels.
Updated: July 2023