Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Policy
All students who apply for federal financial aid (including loans) or state financial aid at IU South Bend are required to meet or exceed the following Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) policies in order to receive aid. An award year consists of Fall, Spring and Summer, in that order. SAP is evaluated annually after Spring grades are recorded and once a FAFSA for the aid year is received. Students who are below the SAP standards at the end of the spring term are not eligible for summer aid.
Undergraduate students must maintain a minimum program GPA of 2.0 (unless a higher GPA is required by the program) and complete 67% of the course work attempted. Transfer hours will count as completed.
Graduate students must maintain a minimum program GPA of 3.0 and complete 67% percent of the course work attempted.
Students receiving financial aid must attend all classes.
Undergraduates who receive all F’s or a combination of F’s and W’s, and who received federal aid for an academic period, may be required to repay all or part of aid received.
All transfer credit hours accepted at Indiana University are counted toward the maximum attempted hours.
Any repeated course work on your transcript will count toward GPA and maximum attempted hours. For more information click here.
All remedial and ESL courses count toward minimum GPA and maximum attempted hours.
Any student not meeting the standards listed above, regardless of whether or not they have ever received aid, is deemed to be ineligible for future aid. In order to regain eligibility a student must either meet the minimum standards (our office conducts an automatic review at least once each semester/session) or file an appeal based on extenuating circumstances. Approved appeals will result in the student being placed on a Financial Aid Contract which will outline student specific requirements. Grades and completion rates for students on a Financial Aid Contract are verified at the end of each semester/session to determine if the student met the terms of the contract or is now meeting both qualitative (GPA) and quantitative (completion rate) SAP standards
All students must complete their degree within 150% of the maximum length of the program, regardless of whether or not they have received financial aid for the credits. An undergraduate student pursuing a major requiring 120 credits for graduation would reach the maximum timeframe once 180 credits have been attempted. For example: A student enrolled in 15 credit hours per semester would reach 120 credit hours within 4 years and 180 credit hours within 6 years.
A High Hours Course Outline is required from the academic advisor once a student has attempted 125 percent (150 credits for a degree requiring 120 credit hours) of the maximum hours needed for their degree. These students are monitored until their degree is completed to ensure they only receive aid for required courses. Students who cannot mathematically complete their degree within the 150% time frame will cease to be eligible for aid unless they file a successful Excessive Hours Appeal.
Students pursuing two degrees at the same time who are considered high hours will be awarded aid for the degree they can complete first.
If a student changes programs from one department to another (i.e. from Education to Liberal Arts and Sciences) the maximum time frame will include all attempted hours from the student’s first date of attendance. The institution may, with documentation, consider only those courses which apply to the new major in the maximum time frame. This will be done on a case by case basis. In addition, if the student changes majors but remains in the same school (i.e. from Psychology to English), the time frame given to the student will remain the same as the time frame for the original major.
Students seeking an additional undergraduate or graduate degree are only eligible to be considered for loans, Federal Work-Study, and CVO (Child of Veteran or Public Safety Officer Supplemental Grant program). Some institutional and/or outside funding may also be awarded to students in this category. There are no exceptions to this policy. Students must still meet the minimum requirements of SAP.
All federal requirements for Satisfactory Academic Progress are outlined in the US Department of Education’s Federal Financial Aid Handbook, published annually.
All appeals must be submitted electronically.
Timeframe of deadlines:
Priority Deadline: Submit the SAP appeal online Four weeks before the start of the term (official first day of classes), for which the student is requesting aid.
Second Priority Deadline: Submit the SAP appeal online two weeks before the start of the term (official first day of classes), for which the student is requesting aid.
Final Deadline: Student must initiate and submit SAP appeal no later than 30 days before the official last day of classes for that term, for which the student is requesting aid. Students should not wait for the final deadline. If the SAP appeal is denied, students are responsible for paying the entire account balance.
When filing an appeal please note the current term deadline dates.