Federal regulations require that a student make satisfactory academic progress toward the completion of a degree or certificate at Texarkana College in order to receive federal financial aid. At Texarkana College, the standards that students must meet to fulfill this requirement are stated in the Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress policy (FA-SAP). In addition, state law requires that students who receive exemptions and/or waivers to tuition and fee charges also maintain the same FA-SAP standards as students who receive financial aid. Students must maintain FA-SAP as a minimum to receive state financial aid, although some state grants and scholarships have stricter eligibility requirements. Finally, the Department of Veteran Affairs also requires colleges to have and enforce a satisfactory academic progress policy students must meet to continue receiving veteran educational benefits. Texarkana College has opted to use its FA-SAP policy as its satisfactory academic progress standard for VA education benefits and Hazlewood.
Students should be aware that FA-SAP standards are different from Academic SAP standards at Texarkana College. Students should also be aware that FA-SAP will be evaluated at the end of each semester.
Financial Aid Standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress Are:
The federal government mandates that all college satisfactory academic progress policies include a qualitative, quantitative, and maximum time frame component. At Texarkana College, those are the GPA (qualitative), Completion Rate (quantitative), and Max Credits (time frame).
I. GPA Requirement:
All financial aid recipients must have a cumulative FA-SAP grade point average of 2.00.
II. Completion Requirements:
Students must, at a minimum, receive satisfactory grades in 67% of cumulative credits attempted. This calculation is performed by dividing the cumulative total number of successfully completed credits by the cumulative total number of credits attempted. All credits attempted at Texarkana College (except audits, which must be entered as such by the class census date) are included. Articulated transfer credits are included in this calculation. This evaluation will be made prior to aid being awarded and after grades are posted at the end of each semester a student is enrolled at the College.
Credits with satisfactory grades at Texarkana College are those for which a grade of A, B, C, or D is earned. Courses with a grade of F, W, WF, U, and I are considered unsatisfactory for financial aid purposes and are included in this calculation.
Note: Federal Student Loan borrowers must meet FA-SAP requirements at the point of loan certification and again prior to the disbursement of any loan proceeds.
III. Maximum Time Frame (Max Credits):
The regulation set by the Department of Education specifies that for an undergraduate program, the maximum time frame may not exceed 150% of the published length of the program. Developmental and ESL course work are included in this calculation. Attempted credit from all enrollment periods at the college is counted; whether the student received financial aid for those terms is of no consequence.
Students who apply for financial aid at Texarkana College after having previously completed a bachelor’s degree or beyond will be considered to have exceeded the maximum time frame for an associate degree or certificate program, and they will be placed on max credits suspension immediately. After all their prior college transcripts have been articulated for potential transfer credit to Texarkana College, a degree plan must be created by an academic advisor as a component of a student’s max credits appeal, and the student’s appeal may proceed.
Failure to Meet Satisfactory Academic Progress
Warning Status
Students who fail to meet FA-Satisfactory Academic Progress for the first time (excluding students who have already attempted 150% of the credits required for their programs of study) will be automatically placed in a Warning Status for one (1) term and are expected to meet FA-SAP requirements by the end of that term. Students who fail to meet FA-SAP requirements at the end of the warning status term will be placed on Financial Aid Suspension.
Financial Aid Suspension
Unless extenuating circumstances exist and an appeal is granted, a student in Financial Aid Suspension should expect to continue classes at his or her own expense until FA-SAP requirements are again met.
Students who fail to meet FA-SAP and who choose to enroll without benefit of student financial aid may re-appeal after any term in which they are enrolled without the receipt of financial aid to determine whether they have again met FA-Satisfactory Academic Progress standards. If the standards are met, eligibility is regained for subsequent terms of enrollment in the academic year.
Satisfactory Academic Progress Notification
Students who do not meet FA-SAP due to grade point average, completion of hours, or has reached the maximum time frame of their program will be issued a FA-SAP memo by the financial aid office as soon as possible; however, notice of financial aid warning may be retroactively incurred based on an evaluation of the student’s previous academic record.
Note: Any student who wishes to appeal the loss of financial aid for failure to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress must do so online at https://texarkanacollege.edu/sapappeal.
Appeal Process
Students who become ineligible for federal/state/VA financial aid under the FA-Satisfactory Academic Progress standards may submit a request for reinstatement (appeal) to the financial aid office with the required supporting documentation attached. Appeal forms with insufficient documentation or explanation will not be processed.
The FA-SAP Committee will review the “Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal” submitted by the student, and a decision of approval by the committee or denial by the committee will be noted and students will be informed of the decision.
SAP Probation
Students who have successfully appealed the loss of their financial aid are placed on probation. Students on probation are eligible to receive financial aid for one (1) semester, after which they MUST be meeting all the FA-Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards or the requirements of an academic degree plan that was pre-approved by the Financial Aid Office. If not, the student will be placed back on suspension.
SAP Auto-Probation
If a student made good academic progress defined by a 100% completion rate and a 3.0 GPA during the previous semester, they do not have to formally appeal and will be granted an automatic probationary status.
SAP Appeal Denial
Students who are placed on financial aid suspension for reasons of GPA and/or completion, and whose appeals are denied by the FA-SAP Committee, must complete at least 6 credit hours with a passing grade of “C” or better before they will be allowed to re-appeal their suspension.
If a student’s SAP appeal for max credits is denied because the FA-SAP Committee determines their attempted hours are too excessive to allow for further financial aid or VA education benefit funding, this denial is permanent and will not be changed by attempting or passing additional courses.