Academic Progress
|
Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy
|
Federal regulations require that a student receiving financial assistance under Title IV programs maintain satisfactory academic progress in his/her course of study regardless of whether or not financial aid is awarded each semester. All semesters of enrollment must be considered when the student's status is determined following each semester. (This includes dual enrollment courses.) Southwest Texas Junior College financial aid satisfactory academic progress policy is applied consistently to all students within identifiable categories of students (such as full-time or part-time).
Students pursuing a Certificate or an Associate degree are responsible for understanding and adhering to the standards of the financial aid satisfactory academic progress policy.
Satisfactory Academic Progress is measured with the following standards as mandated by federal regulations:
Qualitative (Cumulative Grade Point Average),
Quantitative (Maximum Time Frame for completion)
Quantitative Percentage (Attempted hrs/Earned hrs measured by semester) |
Qualitative Standard
|
| Students will be expected to maintain the minimum academic standards as outlined in the Academic Progress Standards Section of the Southwest Texas Junior College 2007 - 2009 Catalog. SWTJC uses a 4-point scale for grade point average (GPA). Students are required to have a 2.0 cumulative grade point average after each semester. |
Quantitative Standard
|
The quantitative standard is used to accurately measure a student progress in a program. There are two components of the quantitative standard:
65% completion rate requirement:
Students must complete 65% of the course load that they register for each semester.
Maximum Time Frame:
Maximum time frame is measured by dividing the number of credit hours that the student has attempted by the number of credit hours that are required to complete the student program of study. If the student reaches 150 percent, then they have reached maximum time frame.
To calculate maximum time frame, multiply the number of credit hours required to graduate from any given major times 150%. The result will be the maximum number of credit hours that the student may attempt and receive aid. For example our associates degree requires 62 hours to graduate. If you multiple this by 150%, the maximum time frame standard would be 93 hours.
A student would be able to take up to 93 hours before attaining the maximum time frame standard. |
How are my grades evaluated under the Standards of Academic Progress?
|
How are my grades evaluated under the Standards of Academic Progress?
courses where grades of A, B, C, D, and P are earned are considered attempted and earned credit hours.
Courses where grades of F, W, Q, I, EW, NR, CIP, or Z are earned are considered credit hours attempted, but not earned. |
What happens if I fail to meet the Standards of Financial Aid Academic Progress?
|
If a student fails to meet one of the qualitative or quantitative standards of academic progress, they will be automatically placed on probation. The student will have one year to improve their academic standing. During the probationary period the student will be allowed to receive financial aid funds as long as they are otherwise eligible for the funds.
If the student improves their academic performance to the required qualitative and quantitative standards they will be placed back in good standing and may be eligible to continue to receive financial aid for the following semesters.
If the student should continue to fail to meet the standards of the satisfactory academic progress policy they will be placed on financial aid suspension and denied further funding until he/she meets the standards again.
A student will also be placed on financial aid suspension if they fail to meet both the qualitative and quantitative standards. In this scenario the student will also be denied financial aid funds until these standards are once again attained by the student.
A student who exhausts the Maximum Time Frame allowed for a program of study will be placed on financial aid suspension. |
Complete withdrawals and the financial aid satisfactory academic progress policy
|
| A complete withdrawal from any program of study will have a negative impact on a students financial aid academic progress. If a student withdraws from school during the semester, his or her grades for the semester will be all Ws. These grades are not passing, therefore the student did not meet the 65% completion rate requirement and will be placed either on financial aid suspension. |
How will I be notified of my Student Financial Aid Academic Progress
|
| Students placed on financial aid probation or financial aid suspension will be notified in writing of their status after grades are available on SWTJC computer system. |
How is the policy applied?
|
| A student attending Southwest Texas Junior College will have their academic progress evaluated on a yearly basis. If a student fails to meet either one of the qualitative or quantitative standards described earlier, then the student is placed on financial aid probation. The student then has one year to bring themselves back into compliance. If the student successfully completes at least 65% of the total number of credits that they attempted in the probationary semester and also has a cumulative GPA of a 2.0 or better and has not yet reached the maximum time frame limit they will be placed back on good standing. If that same student continues to fail to meet these standards, they will be placed on financial aid suspension. The student will remain on Financial Aid Suspension until they bring themselves back into compliance with the standards of the policy unless an appeal is approved. |
The Appeal Process
|
Students who do not meet the standards of Southwest Texas Junior College financial aid satisfactory academic progress policy because of unusual circumstances, such as (illness, death in the family, accidents, etc.) have the right to appeal. During the appeal process the student must be prepared to pay his/her own expenses, such as tuition, fees, books, supplies, etc. Please follow the procedure below to appeal a financial aid suspension. The committee meets at least once every two weeks and reviews all appeals in order based on the date that they were submitted.
A Financial Aid Appeal form must be obtained and submitted to any of our campus locations.
Documentation supporting the extenuating circumstances must be provided to the committee with the appeal form for the committee to review.
Appeals will be approved/disapproved by the Financial Aid Committee.
All decisions made by the Financial Aid Committee are final. |
|
FAFSA School Code = 003614 Financial Aid Questions 
|
