Beginning July 1, 2011, the 2011-2012 Satisfactory Academic Progress standards will change in accordance to new federal regulations. These new SAP standards will be monitored beginning with the Summer 2011 term.

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Policy beginning July 1, 2011.

It is important to read the instructions on the SAP Appeal Form before you submit documents to the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (OSFA).

The Colleges of Law, Medicine and Pharmacy have their own qualitative and quantitative standards for assessing Satisfactory Academic Progress and processes for reviewing appeals. Students enrolled in those colleges should contact their college representative directly.

Note: These standards apply to federal and institutional aid and do not necessarily reflect the cumulative grade point average (GPA) or units required to maintain scholarships or advance grade levels.

STANDARDS

OSFA monitors undergraduate and graduate students after every term for successful completion of SAP standards. For financial aid eligibility, terms are defined as fall, spring, and summer.

Qualitative Standards
You must successfully meet the minimum cumulative GPA as shown in the chart below:

Quantitative Standards
You must successfully complete 66% of the units for which you were awarded financial aid as shown in the example below:

The following courses do not count as completed units in the SAP calculation:

• Correspondence
• Audit
• Incomplete
• Failed
• Credit by exam
• Non-credit remedial
• Withdrawn
• Units completed at another institution without an approved consortium agreement on file

You must be making progress toward a degree. To quantify academic progress, the University of Arizona must set a maximum timeframe in which you are expected to finish a program. Accumulation of excess units may result in failing to meet SAP timeframe standards. Excess units are defined below:

Following is an example of how an undergraduate student might fail to meet timeframe standards:

SAP STATUS

Financial Aid Probation Status

OSFA will send a communication regarding your status and the ramifications of being placed on probation. You may be on probation for a maximum of two terms.
 

Financial Aid Suspension Status

If you have been placed on probation for two terms and then fail to meet SAP standards for a third time, you will immediately be placed on Financial Aid Suspension. Suspension means that you are no longer eligible for federal or institutional financial aid, unless you successfully appeal.

Note: Financial Aid disbursements for students with a consortium agreement on file, study abroad units or Independent Study may be delayed until OSFA reviews these grades.
 

REINSTATEMENT OF FINANCIAL AID ELIGIBILITY

If you lose federal and institutional aid eligibility because you are not meeting SAP standards you may regain eligibility in one of the following ways:

1. By successfully appealing loss of eligibility. To appeal, you must submit a Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Appeal Form with supporting documentation. That form provides a non-exhaustive list of circumstances that may give rise to an appeal.

2. By completing one semester using your own resources at UA with at least half-time enrollment (6 graded units undergraduate/5 graded units graduate).  Courses taken must be chosen in consultation with an Academic Advisor.  You must advance toward attaining a degree and show progress within your Academic Plan for graduation. You must submit a Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Appeal Form at the end of the term, after the grades have been posted by the Registrar's office onto your official record.

Once you regain eligibility, you will be awarded financial aid for the following term subject to the availability of funds.