Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards

Satisfactory Academic Performance (SAP) Standards for Students Receiving Federal Student Aid

As required by Federal Regulations, students must maintain a minimum level of academic progress in order to continue receiving federal financial aid.  Academic progress of aid recipients will be reviewed annually at the end of the spring semester.  Students who are not making minimum progress in any of the categories as defined below will be considered to be ineligible to receive financial aid.

Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards:
In order to continue receiving federal financial aid, academic progress is measured in the following three ways:

  1.  Qualitative Standard:  A minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA)
    • All Undergraduates must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of at least 2.0
    • All Graduate students must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of at least 3.0
  2.  Quantitative Standard:  A minimum completion rate.
    • Completion rates are calculated by dividing the number of completed credits against the number of attempted credits.  ALL students must have successfully completed 67% of all hours attempted.  This calculation includes all classes taken at Marymount (including developmental).
    • Incompletes, Withdrawals, Repeats and Failing grades all count toward your attempted but not completed credit hours.
    • Transfer credits are counted both in attempted and completed.
    • Students should be aware that, for federal financial aid purposes, you can only receive federal financial aid toward one retake of a previously passed course or its equivalent.  This means that once a student has passed a particular course, Financial Aid can count that student as being enrolled in that course only one more time for federal aid purposes.

 

  1. Maximum Timeframe for Completion:
    • All students must complete their program of study by attempting no more than 150% of the hours normally required for completion.  For example, an undergraduate program of study that is normally completed in 120 credit hours, financial aid eligibility will be suspended once it is mathematically impossible for a student to graduate before attempting  180 credit hours or more.

Loss of Eligibility due to Academic Progress:

A student who has lost eligibility to participate in federal student aid for reasons of academic progress will be ineligible for financial aid unless they choose to appeal for reinstatement and/or are meeting the minimum requirements.

How to view your Satisfactory Academic Progress:

To see your most recent Satisfactory Academic Progress Evaluation, click on red or green bar to view details, on Marymount’s Financial Aid Self-Service portal.

Appeals

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Appeals:

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Appeals will only be accepted for extenuating circumstances.  The appeal may not be based upon your need for assistance OR your lack of knowledge that your assistance was in jeopardy.

  • An appeal must be based upon some unusual situation, condition or other mitigating circumstances which prevented you from passing courses, or which caused you to withdraw from classes. Examples of possible situations include documented serious illness, severe injury or death of a family member. 

How to Appeal: 

  • The Appeal Form must be submitted in writing to the attention of the Financial Aid Office Appeals Committee via e-mail at faid@marymount.edu.
  • The student must submit in writing and document the specific reasons for not meeting the minimum requirements.
  • Provide relevant documentation supporting your personal statement (i.e. medical documents, hospital record, obituary).
  • Additionally, a clear academic plan must be provided along with the appeal form.
    • Undergraduate Students: If the student’s failure to meet SAP is due to one of the following: 1) Completion Rate or 2) Maximum Timeframe; they must also submit a copy of a developed academic plan from Marynet.
    • Graduate Students: Submit a copy of a developed academic plan from Marynet.

Decisions: SAP Appeal Decisions by the Financial Aid Appeals Committee are final and are e-mailed to students to their MU e-mail account.

  • IF your appeal is approved, you would be placed on a one-semester probation status, which will reinstate eligible aid for the semester while the student works to show academic improvement.  At the conclusion of the probationary period, the student will be re-evaluated and must then meet the minimum standards at the end of that term.
  • You will be notified in writing of the committee’s decision and note that all decisions made by the Financial Aid Office Appeals Committee are final.

SAP APPEAL FORM

No late submissions will be accepted for any reason.  Note: This is not the appeal form for academic merit discontinuations.