Western State College of Colorado

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"SATISFACTORY ACADEMIC PROGRESS"

I. INTRODUCTION

The office of financial aid is required by federal and state regulationsto monitor a student's "satisfactory academic progress".

The policy defined below applies to all students receiving assistance from any financial aid program (non-scholarship) administered by the college financial aid office.

II. ESTABLISHING ELIGIBILITY

In order to establish initial eligibility for financial aid, student past academic records are reviewed according to the following guidelines:

• Students who have never attended Western are considered in good standing.

• Students who have attended Western but did not receive aid will have their past academic records reviewed.

  • These students must meet the same criteria as defined below for maintaining eligibility as those who have been on aid.

  • Students not meeting the criteria as defined below will not be eligible to receive financial aid.  Students are eligible to appeal.

• Students who transfer credits to Western will have those credits count towards 150  maximum credits earned.

III. MAINTAINING SATISFACTORY PROGRESS

Students are considered to be making satisfactory academic progress and will be eligible to apply for and receive financial aid as long as the following requirements are met:

• Minimum cumulative GPA requirement for maintaining progress

• Students must have a Western cumulative GPA at the end of each semester based on the following:

  • 44 or fewer cumulative credits earned - 1.88
  • 45 or more cumulative hours earned - 2.00

• Minimum cumulative percentage of credits completed to maintain progress:

  • Students must have a cumulative credits earned to credits attempted of at least 75% at the end of each semester.

• Minimum cumulative credit to be completed at the end of each academic year to maintain progress:

  • Full-time students are expected to graduate within 5 years. To accomplish this, a full-time student needs to complete a minimum of 24 credits for each academic year.

Part-time and partial year students will have the ‘minimum credits completed’ requirement adjusted accordingly.

IV. PROBATION AND SUSPENSION

Students will be placed on financial aid probation if they do not possess a satisfactory grade point average, do not possess the minimum percentage of credits completed ratio, or do not complete the minimum annual cumulative credits earned.  Students on probation are eligible to receive financial aid up to an additional semester.

If these students do not meet the requirements for maintaining eligibility at the end of the probationary time, future participation in financial aid programs will be suspended.

Students, who are on probation and have no mathematical chance of regaining good standing at the end of their current semester, may continue on probation in subsequent semesters.  The Director of Financial Aid will review these cases on an individual basis and the students must complete the semester without any withdrawals, incompletes and must possess a minimum of at least a 2.00 semester GPA.

V. REINSTATEMENT OF ELIGIBILITY (Appeal Process)

Students who have had their financial aid suspended may appeal their case in writing, using the Satisfactory Progress Appeals Form, available from the financial aid office, to the Director of Financial Aid.

If a student is placed on academic probation or suspension by the Registrar's Office and has been placed on financial aid suspension by the Financial Aid Office, the student must contact both offices to have the suspensions or probations removed.

VI. OTHER INFORMATION ON SATISFACTORY PROGRESS

• Successful Credit Completion

  • Successful credit completion means that a grade of A, B, C, or D has been earned.

• Dropping Credits, Audits, Incompletes, Repeats and Withdrawals

  • If credits are dropped, the student's award, if not already disbursed, will be adjusted to reflect the new number of credits enrolled.  Additionally, it will affect the minimum percentage of credits completed ratio.

  • Credits taken for audit do not count as credits attempted or as credits earned when calculating satisfactory progress.

    • Credits initially registered for as letter grade(s) and later changed to audit will be counted as credits attempted.  Audits never count as credits earned.

  • A grade of "Incomplete" counts as credits attempted, but not as credits earned.

    • Incomplete grades may result in the student being placed on financial aid suspension.  If the credits are completed,  the student must obtain an unofficial transcript from the Registrar's Office and bring it to the Financial Aid Office in order for the financial aid suspension to be removed.

  • Both the original credits and any repeat credits will be included in the credit completed percentage ratio (see Section III) above.  The grade given for repeated credits will replace the old grade and the cumulative GPA will be recalculated.

  • Credits withdrawn from will be treated the same as credits not satisfactorily completed.

• Maximum number of credits

  • Western expects all full-time students to graduate with a first degree by the time 150 credits (including transfer hours) have been earned.

• Scholarship recipients

  • Many scholarship recipients are required to maintain a higher credit hour level or grade point average than outlined in this policy.  Guidelines for scholarship requirements are usually available from the Financial Aid Office individual scholarship donors.

• More on Academic Suspension

  • Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy for financial aid adheres to the new academic suspension policy, which states:  Any student who earns less than a 1.0 GPA in any semester may be placed on academic suspension.