Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy

Academic Requirements for Receiving Financial Aid

The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended by Program Integrity regulations passed on October 29, 2010, mandates institutions of higher education to establish a standard of satisfactory academic progress for students who receive financial aid. This standard must apply to the student’s entire academic history, whether Title IV financial aid was received or not. In order to remain eligible to receive aid at Georgia College, students must meet the standards specified for acceptable academic performance and for satisfactory progress toward the completion of their program of study. The standards are established within the framework of applicable federal regulations specifically for the purpose of determining the eligibility of students to receive aid under the generally funded Title IV programs, including Federal Pell Grant, Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant, Federal Work-Study, Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship, and Federal Direct Loan Programs (Stafford, PLUS, and Grad PLUS). These standards should not be confused with Good Standing, Warning, Probation, Dismissal, or Exclusion as defined by Georgia College’s academic policies.

Please note that all transfer hours, as well as all attempts of courses repeated, are included in the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) calculations.

Components

The Georgia College definition of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) for receiving financial aid includes the following components:

I. Qualitative (GPA) Standards

Students are expected to maintain the following overall cumulative grade point average (GPA) as indicated below:

Graduate Students

Quantitative (Incremental Progress) Standards

Students are expected to successfully complete 67% of all attempted coursework. This cumulative calculation includes all Georgia College and any transfer coursework attempted. Attempted hours and successful completed hours are based on all courses included on the students’ official academic history. Further, all attempts of repeated coursework and non-credit coursework are included. The formula of this calculation is:

Cumulative hours Successfully Completed

= % Completed

Cumulative hours Attempted

The following will be considered as hours successfully completed:

Grades A, B, C or D

"S" (Satisfactory)

"K" (Credit by Examination)

Likewise, the following will be considered as hours not successfully completed:

"F"

"WF" (Withdrew Failing)

"W" (Withdrew)

"U" (Unsatisfactory)

"I" (Incomplete)

"IP" (In Progress)

Maximum Time Frame Standards

Students will have a maximum of 150% of the average program to complete their degree requirements while continuing to qualify for federal and state aid. The maximum time frame allowed will consist of all attempted hours inclusive of hours described in the Quantitative Standards section of this policy. The allowable time frames at Georgia College are as follows:

Allowance for subsequent post master degree programs (specialists, doctoral, etc) will have varying increases to the maximum allowance hours. This information will be displayed on the GC online student's self-service account at the time that the student's eligibility is determined.