Satisfactory Academic Progress

All students must maintain satisfactory academic progress. Students must first meet the University Academic Standing guidelines as defined in the Undergraduate Bulletin, the HSC Bulletin, and the Graduate Bulletin.

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Federal Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy

Eligibility for assistance from the Federal Pell Grant, Federal SEOG, Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Work-Study, and Federal Stafford and PLUS Loan programs is contingent on the student’s meeting "quality" and "quantity" standards. Students are ineligible to receive federal aid when their time of attendance or quantity of credits attempted has exceeded 150% of the time/credits attempted necessary to complete their degree requirements. Examples and guidelines are displayed below:

• A full-time undergraduate student in a four-year program must successfully earn a minimum average of 20 credits per year in order to complete his or her program in a maximum of six years.
• Incomplete (I), No Record (NR), Failure (F), Unsatisfactory (U), No Credit (NC), and Academic Dishonesty (Q) grades do not count as earned credits.
• If you are a transfer student, the University will count only those transfer credits that apply toward the current program.
• Quantitative academic standing is reviewed yearly following the spring semester.
  
  
  • Warning - a student’s quantitative satisfactory academic progress standing will be set to “warning” under the following conditions:
    1. The student has attended for less than 3 (full time*) years and
    2. The student has taken at least 30 credits, and
    3. The student has not earned a minimum average of 20 credits per year.
       
       
  • Probation – a student’s quantitative satisfactory academic progress standing will be set to “probation” under the following conditions:
    1. The prior year’s quantitative satisfactory academic progress evaluation was not already set to “probation” or “unsatisfactory” and
    2. The student has been in attendance at the University for greater than 3 (full time*) years but less than 6 (full time*) years and
    3. The student has not earned a minimum average of 20 credits per year.
       
       
  • Unsatisfactory – If a student’s quantitative satisfactory academic progress is set to “unsatisfactory” the student will be ineligible to receive federal aid for the upcoming academic year and any future year as long as the status remains unsatisfactory. A student’s quantitative satisfactory academic progress standing will be set to “unsatisfactory” under ANY of the following conditions:
    1. The student has been in attendance for 6 or more (full time*) years.
    2. The student has earned more than 180 credits
    3. The prior year’s satisfactory academic progress quantitative standing was set to “probation” and the student has not earned a minimum average of 20 credits per year.
       
       

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• Procedure for Reinstatement
  • For those students who have exceeded either the maximum time frame (6 full time* years) or the maximum earned credits (180 credits) no possibility exists for having their federal aid reinstated.
  • For those students who have not exceeded either the maximum time frame (6 full time years) or the maximum earned credits (180 credits) but have lost their federal aid, they will have their aid reinstated by restoring their “minimum average earned credits per year” to 20 or higher. The student may make up credits during the summer session(s) if he or she has not earned the required number by the completion of the spring semester. However, payment for the summer courses must be made by the student. Those students who used the summer session(s) to bring their record to within compliance of the regulations must make an appointment to see a financial aid advisor to have their federal aid evaluated and reinstated for the following semester.
    
    
• Procedure for Obtaining a Waiver
  • A Student who has exceeded either the maximum time frame (6 full time* years) or the maximum earned credits (180 credits) cannot apply for a waiver.
  • A student who has lost their federal aid because they did not earn the minimum average of 20 credits per year may be granted a “one time” SAP (satisfactory academic progress) Waiver if they can document that their failure to make progress was a result of extenuating circumstances beyond the student’s control. They must also demonstrate that there is reasonable evidence that they will be successful in completing their academic career within the maximum allowable time frame.
  • A student must submit their appeal no later than forty-five days from the date that they were notified by the Office of Student Financial Aid Services that they had failed to meet the quantitative satisfactory academic progress regulations.
  • The Federal Satisfactory Academic Progress team will review all cases and will notify the students of the appeals decision in a timely manner. If the waiver is approved, the student’s federal financial aid will be reinstated on a probationary basis. If upon the next annual review the student does not meet the satisfactory academic progress requirements all future federal aid will be cancelled. No additional appeals will be accepted.

* note: if a student is registered for less than full time their terms will be measured in increments of 0.5 rather than 1.0.

Download the Federal Satisfactory Academic Progress Waiver Form (Adobe Acrobat Reader is required and can be downloaded)

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New York State Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy
In addition to the federal requirements, the New York State Education Department has issued academic guidelines governing eligibility for the Tuition Assistance Program. Under these regulations, students must meet minimum academic achievement requirements in order to receive payment of awards. According to these regulations, good academic standing consists of two elements:

Satisfactory Academic Progress — A requirement that a student accumulate a specified number of credits and achieve a specified grade point average each term of an award.

Pursuit of Program — A requirement that a student receive a passing or failing grade in a certain percentage of a full-time course load in each term for which an award is received. The percentage increases from 50 percent of the minimum full-time course load in each term of study in the first year for which an award is received, to 75 percent of the minimum full-time course load in each term of study in the second year for which an award is received, to 100 percent of the minimum full-time course load in each term thereafter.

The charts below provides a detailed analysis of the State Education Department's requirements for Satisfactory Academic Progress.

Standard Satisfactory Academic Progress for the Purpose of Determining Eligibility for State Student Aid

Semester Calendar Graduate Level Program
Before being certified for this award	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
A student must have accrued at least this many credits	0	6	12	21	30	45	60	75
With at least this cumulative grade point average	0	2.0	2.5	2.75	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0

A student who does not meet these minimum standards for any one semester will be ineligible to receive an award payment for the following semester. However, a waiver of the minimum achievement standards may be granted under certain extenuating circumstances. Students who do not meet the requirements will receive notification as to their next appropriate course of action.