Satisfactory Academic Progress

Full Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy & Procedure

In order to remain eligible for Title IV Aid, you must meet various criteria. A student must meet these minimum requirements:

• 2.5 GPA Undergraduate/3.0 Graduate
• Complete 67% of the hours you attempt
• Not exceed 150% of the maximum time frame of the published length of your program as measured in credit hours:
   
  • Maximum attempted credit hours (also included are required transfer hours) not to exceed:
    • Accelerated BSN- 127
    • Upper Division BSN- 180
    • Weekend Evening Option BSN 180
    • Adult Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Concentration (MSN)- 67
    • Adult Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (MSN)- 76
    • Nurse Educator Concentration (MSN)- 54 (curriculum prior to FA22 cohort)
      • 63 for FA22 and beyond curriculum
    • Health Systems and Population Health Leadership Concentration (MSN)- 54
    • Health Systems and Population Health Leadership DNP - 90
    • Nurse Anesthesia (DNP)- 138
    • DNP/PhD Post Master’s Option- 45
                                   

All of these requirements are checked at the end of each applicable progress check (term).

While this policy is applicable to recipients of Title IV aid, this policy is as strict as the school’s academic progress policy for non-Title IV recipients. Also, all periods of enrollment are reviewed, including those for which the student did not receive Title IV aid. The Satisfactory Academic Progress review includes all courses taken towards the student’s program of study, regardless of any academic amnesty or academic renewal policy. If a student is enrolled in a program of more than two academic years, the student must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.5 (UG) or 3.0 GPA (MSN) at the end of the 2nd year (UD BSN, MSN, Ph.D./DNP), interpreted to mean at the end of 4 terms. Per our transfer of credit policy, all hours needed for admission are included in the attempted hours calculation for pace. Please see below specific details as it relates to your program:

Students in the Accelerated BSN program will be reviewed at the end of each term. These students must have a 2.5 GPA and complete the required percentage of cumulative attempted hours. Because this program requires a bachelor’s degree for admission, any credits required for admission will count toward the pace and maximum time frame calculation. If the student is not able to meet these minimum requirements, the student will be placed on Financial Aid Warning. The next term after being placed on Warning, the student must meet the minimum requirements. If after the Warning period, the student still has not met the minimum requirements, their Title IV aid will be suspended, and the student must appeal. If the appeal is approved, the next term the student will be placed on Financial Aid Probation. If after the probationary period, the student fails to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress again, they may appeal again. If it is determined that the student’s Satisfactory Academic Progress will not meet the minimum requirements in the next term, an academic plan must be created to ensure that they will meet the minimum Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements by the time period determined in the academic plan.

Students in the Upper Division and Weekend Evening BSN programs will be reviewed at the end of each term, or if they were previously on probation. These students must have a 2.5 GPA and complete the required percentage of attempted hours. If the student is not able to meet these minimum requirements, they will be placed on academic warning. The next term after being placed on warning, the student must meet the minimum requirements. If after the warning period, the student still has not met the minimum requirements, their Title IV aid will be suspended, and they must appeal. If the appeal is approved, the next term the student will be placed on Financial Aid Probation. If it is determined that the student’s Satisfactory Academic Progress will not meet the minimum requirements in the next term, an academic plan must be created to ensure that the student will meet the minimum Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements by the time determined in the academic plan.

Students in the MSN & Ph.D./DNP programs will be reviewed at the end of each term or if they were previously on probation. These students must have a 3.0 GPA and complete the required percentage of attempted hours. If the student is not able to meet these minimum requirements, they will be placed on academic warning. The next term after being placed on warning, the student must meet the minimum requirements. If after the warning period, the student still has not met the minimum requirements, their Title IV aid will be suspended, and they must appeal. If the appeal is approved, the next term the student will be placed on Financial Aid Probation. If it is determined that the student’s Satisfactory Academic Progress will not meet the minimum requirements in the next term, an academic plan must be created to ensure they will meet the minimum Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements by the time determined in the academic plan. These percentages have been carefully calculated such that at the end of the maximum published length of each program (based on number of credit hours), the student has either completed their program or is no longer eligible for Title IV aid.

The Accelerated BSN, Upper Division, Weekend Evening, and CRNA programs accept at a minimum the required prerequisite transfer courses for admission. Courses not needed for admission are not entered into the calculation of attempted hours.

Classes with grades of A, A-, B, B-, B+, C , C+, D, P, S, TR are earned hours, and will count toward the GPA.

Classes with grades of A, A-, B, B-, B+, C , C+, D, F, I, P, S, TR, U, W, WX will count toward attempted hours.

Classes with grades of AU will not count toward attempted hours.

Financial Aid Warning

A student who fails to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress, will be placed on FA Warning but can continue to receive Title IV funding. These students will need to meet with their Financial Aid Counselor during their Warning term as well. If at the end of the warning period, Satisfactory Academic Progress is not met, the student will be suspended, and will need to submit an appeal as to why, and how they plan to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress at the end of the next term.

Students who are placed on Financial Aid Warning will be required to meet with their Financial Aid Counselor. When SAP is run, the individual will add the requirement XXSPWN (AY SAP Warn) to RRAAREQ and will email the FA Counselors to inform them of the students at a WARN status. The FA Counselor will contact the student to schedule an initial appointment with the student for early in the term and note this on RHACOMM using the SAP category. The FA Counselor will use the SAP Warning form to document the meeting and use the SAP category on RHACOMM to also leave a comment. The FA Counselor will refer the student to the appropriate SAAC Coordinator and will attach a copy of the form and notes in an email to the coordinator. A second meeting will be scheduled for about a month later into the term. The requirement on RRAAREQ will then be changed from “R” to “N.” While remote, the form will be stored in the Financial Aid SharePoint site between the initial and second meeting. At the second meeting, additional notes will be documented on the SAP Warning form and by using the SAP category on RHACOMM. The form will then be filed in the student’s financial aid file. The requirement is then satisfied on RRAAREQ.

Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal

If the student is unable to meet the above-mentioned requirements (GPA, Pace, Maximum time frame) they may submit an appeal to the Financial Aid Office. The appeal must explain why the student failed to make Satisfactory Academic Progress and what has changed in their situation that will allow them to make satisfactory academic progress at the next evaluation (the next term). While there is no limit on the amount of appeals a student may submit for any time they fail to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress, they cannot have the same reason twice. The student must have a unique situation that has prevented them from meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements (Car accident, death in immediate family, pregnancy, serious illness, etc.).

Financial Aid Probation

If after successfully appealing, the student will be placed on probation if it is determined they will be able to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements in the next term. The student must meet Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements at the end of the probationary term. If the student fails to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements, they will be suspended from receiving Title IV aid, whereby they must appeal again (using a new reason for appeal).

Academic Plan

If the student is unable to meet the above-mentioned requirements (GPA, Pace, Maximum time frame) at the end of the subsequent term following the Satisfactory Academic Progress evaluation (when the student is on probation), the student will be required to be placed on an academic plan. This plan may detail the student successfully meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress criteria for a certain time period or all the way through until graduation. If the student fails to meet the requirements outlined in the academic plan, their financial aid may be suspended. Students must also appeal to change their plan. They must explain what has happened to make the change necessary and how they will be able to make academic progress.

Regaining Title IV Eligibility

If a student has been denied an appeal, or academic plan, the student can regain eligibility only by taking action that brings them into compliance with the school’s Satisfactory Academic Progress standards. Such examples may include taking a specified number of hours in a certain term, and paying out of pocket, or alternative funding. Once the student has then re-met the Satisfactory Academic Progress criteria, they may regain Title IV eligibility.

Readmission & Treatment of Academic amnesty/renewal- If the student previously attended GSON but were academically dismissed and they are re-admitted, all previous coursework will be included in both the attempted and GPA portions of the calculation. If this previous coursework causes the student to lose Financial Aid eligibility, they may appeal this.

Repeated coursework 

Students must repeat all courses for which a “D” or “F” is earned. Only the grade earned after a course is repeated will be used to compute the GPA. Even though a student may repeat a failed course and earn a higher grade, the original failure is not negated and is a failure when considering academic dismissals. All repeated courses affect financial aid SAP calculations. Regardless of whether the student received financial aid or not, all repeated coursework must be counted as attempted credits. The grade earned in the repeated course is the grade that determines the student’s cumulative grade point average.

In order to receive federal financial aid funds for a repeat of a course, a previously passed course may be repeated only ONE time, and the student may receive Title IV federal funds for a repeated course only the one time. Any subsequent repeats of a course will not be counted in the student's enrollment level for Title IV funds. 

Additionally, the U.S. Department of Education will not permit the school to count in a student's financial aid enrollment level a course that does not count toward the student's declared degree plan and program completion requirements at that school. This includes transfer classes and exploratory classes. 

Second Degrees

Students whose program requires a bachelor’s degree (Accelerated, MSN), at a minimum we will accept transfer hours needed for admission.

Degree changes

If a student changes programs i.e. Accelerated to Upper Division, the hours needed for the new program are also taken into consideration.

Withdrawals

If a student withdraws from a course after the add/drop period for that particular course, the hours are still counted as attempted.

Remedial Coursework

GSON does not offer remedial coursework; therefore, we do not have a policy on how remedial coursework is treated.

Grade Changes

If the student’s grade has been overturned due to an approved appeal after we have run this progress evaluation, it is the student’s responsibility to notify the Financial Aid Office for consideration.