Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

 

Federal regulations mandate that the Financial Aid office monitor and evaluate the academic progress of all undergraduate and graduate IPFW students whether or not the student received financial aid.

What does this mean?

The Financial Aid office is required by federal law to monitor the progress you make in your classes even if you have never applied for financial aid. There are three (3) components of the Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy that you should remember concerning academic progress: the Rules, your SAP Status, and the Appeal Process.

Rules

There are three rules to SAP: the 67% Rule, the GPA Rule and the 150% Rule.

• 67% Rule: You must complete at least 67% of all coursework attempted at IPFW

  Completion of a Class	Non-completion of a Class
  A	W (withdraw)
  B	F (failed)
  C	I (incomplete)
  D	Audit
  Pass (if a Pass/Fail class)

  To put it simply, a student must complete more than 2/3 of their classes.

• GPA Rule: You must maintain a cumulative grade point average (GPA) based on the total amount of credit hours attempted. If a student has a GPA below 2.0, the student will be placed on probation for this rule. If the student continues to improve (even if it is a few points a semester), the student will still be eligible to receive financial aid and will remain on probation.

  Credit Hours Attempted	Current Minimum Cumulative GPA
  0-29	1.50
  30-59	1.70
  60-180	2.00
  Graduate Credits	3.00

• 150% Rule: You must complete your degree within a maximum time frame—this is called the 150% Rule.
  • Certificate: 45 credit hours
  • 2 Yr. Associate Degree: 90 credit hours
  • 3 Yr. Associate Degree: 135 credit hours
  • Bachelor’s Degree: 186 credit hours
  • Master’s Degree: 45 credit hours

In some cases, students will complete one degree, but pursue a second degree. In these cases, the system will look at all the coursework attempted regardless of which degree program the courses were applied.

The following are cases in which you may be placed on probation:

• You have graduated with your associate’s degree and are continuing toward your bachelor’s degree, but you may not be reflected as such in the system.
• You have graduated with a bachelor’s degree, but are pursing a second bachelor’s degree.
• You have transfer hours that transferred to IPFW, but may not transfer into your degree program.

In cases such as these, we provide the Advisor 150% Rule Coursework Review Form. You will be required to have your academic advisor complete this form. The completed form will indicate how many credit hours you have left to complete your current degree.

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SAP Status

• Probation: A student will be placed on probation first. The full amount of financial aid may be received while on probation. As long as improvement is shown, a student may remain on probation. Once a student overcomes the rule (i.e., has a completion rate above 67% or a GPA above 2.0), the student will be considered SAP Previous. This tells the Financial Aid office the student was on probation, but is no longer on probation.

• Suspension: A student will be placed on SAP suspension if he/she did not meet the requirements of probation (for example, the student completed less than 67% of coursework, the student’s GPA decreased or had no change, or the student has attempted more than the allotted credit hours for their degree program and not received his/her degree). While on SAP suspension, students will not be eligible to receive any financial aid.

Appeal Process

SAP suspension may be appealed. The SAP Appeal must be completed with an explanation of the circumstances contributing to the failure of completion of classes (i.e., explain what caused you to fail or withdraw from your classes).

If the appeal is approved, the student will be placed on SAP Probation. If the appeal is not approved, the student must take a minimum of six credit hours, pay for the classes with their own resources, and pass the classes. Once this is done, the student may complete another appeal indicating the conditions of the previous appeal have been met.

Appeals are reviewed by an administrator in the Financial Aid office at IPFW.

Appeal Form

• Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Appeal Form [PDF]

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