Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy
Satisfactory Academic Progress and Title IV Financial Aid Requirements. It is necessary to measure the progress of each student on a term-by-term basis in order to provide students with clear guidelines and expectations against which to gauge performance and progress towards the degree. The monitoring of satisfactory academic progress also permits the college to provide students with timely academic advice and support services. The number of credits earned, work experiences successfully completed, and grade point average (GPA) are some of the criteria by which academic progress is gauged.
Antioch College’s standards of satisfactory academic progress require that students earn Antioch College credit and complete cooperative work experiences at least at a satisfactory rate each term. Students must understand that failure to meet these standards of progress may necessitate additional terms of enrollment, delaying graduation, generating additional costs in tuition and fees, and the potential loss of Title IV eligibility.
Antioch College will perform two types of satisfactory academic progress evaluations—Antioch evaluations and Title IV evaluations. Antioch evaluations will be performed at the ends of the Fall, Winter, and Spring terms. Although sanctions will be applied in accordance with this policy, Antioch evaluations performed at the ends of these terms will be for internal academic purposes only, and while they will not affect students’ Title IV eligibility, they may result in the adding or removing of academic sanctions (probation, suspension, dismissal). A Title IV evaluation will be performed at the end of each Spring term for the purpose of determining Federal Title IV Student Aid eligibility. Although there will be no evaluation performed at the end of a block term (November-December or July-August blocks), the grades for a block term will be figured into the evaluation performed at the end of the next regular term (Fall, Winter, or Spring term).
Students receiving an SAP sanction are sent an official notification via email from the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.
Qualitative Evaluation - Grade Point Average
All students are expected to maintain at least a 2.0 cumulative grade point average. Students who fail to meet this standard for any SAP evaluation may be placed on academic probation, receive an academic suspension, or be academically dismissed. Students who fail to meet the standard of academic progress for Title IV evaluations may be at risk of losing their eligibility for federal financial aid (see “Academic Probation”).
Pace of Completion - Credits Completed and Maximum Timeframe
The federal government allows students to receive federal financial aid for 150% of the number of credits required to earn their degrees. Antioch degree programs require 180 credits for completion. 150% of 180 credits are 270 credits. Therefore, a student may receive financial aid for 270 attempted credits prior to completing their degree requirements for graduation. Students who attempt credits beyond the 270 credits will not be eligible for federal financial aid for those credits.
The rate at which students complete courses will be measured cumulatively for satisfactory progress evaluations. The completion rate is determined by dividing the number of cumulative credit hours successfully completed by the number of cumulative attempted credit hours. The 150% allowed by the federal government equates to a 67% completion rate (180 earned credits divided by 270 attempted credits equal 66.666%).
Part-Time Students
All Antioch College students are expected to maintain a full-time course load of at least twelve credit hours for each regular term in which they are enrolled (Fall, Winter, and Springs terms), although a course load of 16 credit hours per study term and 12 credits per co-op term is required to graduate within 4 years. Since there are no less than full-time programs at Antioch College, there is no SAP policy to uniquely measure the progress of a student who may occasionally be enrolled for less than full-time status. Students who intend to enroll for less than full-time status must submit a “Petition for Less than Full-Time Status” to the Registrar’s Office during the registration period.
Financial Aid Appeal and Probation – Impact of SAP on Financial Aid
Students who are placed on academic probation as a result of a Title IV evaluation immediately lose eligibility for federal Title IV financial aid. A student who has lost Title IV aid eligibility may appeal to have their Title IV aid reinstated. A financial aid appeal must be submitted to the director of financial aid. The appeal must be based on the following criteria:
- Injury or illness
- Death of a relative
- Other mitigating circumstances
The appeal must be made in a letter written by the student. The student must submit the letter to the director of financial aid by the last day of the first week of the term. (SAP letters are sent to students before the start of the term. Students are encouraged to submit their appeals as early as possible.) The appeal must explain why the student failed to make SAP and what has changed in their situation that will allow them to make SAP at the next evaluation point. If the appeal is successful, the student will then be placed on financial aid probation for the term and will continue to be eligible for Title IV aid. The student must meet SAP at the end of the term while on probation or they will not be eligible for financial aid after that term until they have reestablished Title IV eligibility (see “Reestablishing Title IV eligibility”).
Multi-Term Academic Plan while on Probation
In some cases, a cumulative 2.0 GPA and/or a cumulative 67% completion rate may be mathematically difficult or even impossible for the student to achieve in one term, depending on the number of cumulative credits attempted and earned. In these cases, APRC may determine that a student will need more than one term to raise their cumulative GPA to at least 2.0 and/or their completion rate to 67%. The student may be placed on academic probation for more than one term, as determined by APRC, to allow them a reasonable chance of correcting the deficiency.
In these cases, APRC will determine a benchmark and, possibly, other conditions the student must achieve at the end of the first term of probation in order to continue on probation for a subsequent term. This information will be included in the satisfactory academic progress letter (SAP letter) that informs the student of their probationary status. If the student achieves these benchmarks, they will remain on probation for the next term. If the student fails to achieve this benchmark, they will be suspended for the next term.
If a multi-term probation would require unrealistic expectations (based on the student’s performance history), the student will be dismissed rather than placed on probation.
Registration During Academic Probation
When a student is placed on academic probation because of an SAP evaluation, in addition to any case-specific requirements included in the SAP letter, APRC will make recommendations to the student and their advisor for the subsequent term’s registration. The recommendations will be aimed at improving the student’s grade point average and/or completion rate by, for example, pointing out failed classes that could be repeated, taking specific courses that could provide lacking skills (e.g. writing or quantitative), or to provide a path for getting back on track for students who have fallen behind on key requirements for a timely graduation.
Case-Specific Satisfactory Academic Progress Evaluations
The Registrar may conduct additional SAP evaluations, on a case-by-case basis, for a student’s prior term when necessary. For example, a student may have received an IN or NG grade indicator for one or more classes. When revised grades are submitted, the student’s GPA or completion rate may have changed, necessitating a new SAP status for the student. The student will receive an updated SAP letter, if necessary.
Other Requirements
Incomplete Courses
Courses for which a student receives an incomplete grade (IN) have no grade points and will have no effect on SAP grade point average evaluations. However, incomplete courses will count as credit attempted for the purpose of SAP evaluations for completion rate. Incomplete grades must be rectified by the 5th week of the student’s next study term on campus, unless specified otherwise on the incomplete request form by the instructor, or they will be converted to an “F” and will be counted in the GPA at the next SAP evaluation.
Withdrawals
Courses from which a student withdraws and receives a withdrawal indicator (W) have no grade points and will have no effect on SAP grade point average evaluations. However, withdrawn courses will count as credit attempted for the purpose of SAP evaluations for completion rate.
Course repetitions
Students who fail a course are permitted to repeat that course up to two times in order to earn a passing grade (three total attempts are possible). If a student repeats a course, any earlier grades earned for that course will be excluded from the student’s grade point average, but will remain on the transcript (followed by the indicator “R” for “repeated”). The most recent grade earned will replace the previous grade(s) and be included in the calculation of the GPA for SAP evaluations. However, all iterations of the course will count as credit attempted for the purpose of SAP evaluations for credit completion rate. Only the last iteration will count as credit earned if, in fact, the student successfully completes the course.
Course repetitions and Financial Aid
Federal regulations allow students to receive Title IV aid to repeatedly take courses for which they earned no higher than ‘F’ until a passing grade is earned, but students are eligible for Title IV aid to repeat courses for which they earned higher than ‘F’ only once. Even though all grades below ‘C’ are considered non--passing courses at Antioch College, courses for which a student has earned C−, D +, D, or D− can only be repeated once with financial aid eligibility, even if the student fails the course the second time it is taken.
Transfer credit
Credit hours accepted as transfer credit from another institution indicated by a transfer indicator (T) have no grade points and will have no effect on SAP grade point average evaluations. However, transferred courses will count as credit attempted and credit earned for the purpose of SAP evaluations for completion rate.
Basic Skills Course
Credit hours and grades for College Math Skills MATH 090 will not be excluded from SAP evaluations.
Change of Major (Degree Program)
Coursework taken by a student for enrollment in other majors will not be excluded from SAP evaluations.
All credits attempted are included in the qualitative evaluation (grade point average) and in the evaluation of the pace of completion. This includes coursework during periods when students are not eligible for federal financial aid, coursework during optional Winter and Summer block terms, and coursework from a previous major or degree (for students who change).
Pursuit of Second Degree
Students enrolled in a second undergraduate degree program are subject to the federal maximum timeframe component for undergraduate study. The Office of Financial Aid will determine the maximum timeframe for Title IV aid for students enrolling for a second undergraduate degree.
Courses for which a Student is not Eligible for Federal Aid
A student’s schedule may sometimes include courses for which the student may not receive federal funds. The federal government will not provide funds for the following types of courses:
- Courses the student is auditing*;
- Courses in which the student previously received an incomplete, and is in the process of completing;
- Courses the student is repeating for a second or greater time (see “Course Repetitions” above).
* Courses that a student is auditing may not be counted toward the student’s enrollment status (i.e., full- or part-time status).