Satisfactory Academic Progress for Financial Aid Eligibility

Federal regulations require students who are receiving Title IV (federal) financial aid to make deliberate and measurable progress toward their degree to continue to receive federal funds. This requirement is referred to as Satisfactory Academic Progress or SAP.

At George Fox University, SAP standards apply to students receiving assistance from federal aid programs (Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Work-Study, Federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized Loans, Federal Direct PLUS Loans, Federal TEACH Grant), state funds, and George Fox institutional aid.

Satisfactory academic progress is evaluated upon the completion of each payment period (semester), after grades are reported. It applies to all students (current, past, or first-time financial aid applicants) and is based on the entire academic record, even if a student did not receive financial aid for a previous semester(s) of enrollment.

SAP measures academic performance based on three standards: cumulative grade point average (GPA), pace, and maximum timeframe. To be eligible for financial aid, students must comply with all three requirements. 

Standards for Satisfactory Academic Progress

  1. Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA)

    Undergraduate Students: Students must have a cumulative GPA of 2.0 (C average) at the completion of each payment period.

    Graduate Students: Students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 (B average) at the completion of each payment period.

  2. Pace

    Students must successfully complete at least 67% percent of cumulative credit hours attempted. To calculate pace, divide the cumulative number of credits successfully completed by the cumulative number of credits attempted.

  3. Maximum Time Frame

    Students must be able to complete required coursework within 150% of the published program length as measured in credit hours. Students who are unable to graduate within the 150% time frame lose eligibility for financial aid when the hours needed to graduate and the hours attempted exceed the 150% limit.  

    For example, if you are pursuing a bachelor’s degree that requires 120 credit hours to complete, you must be able to graduate with no more than 180 credit hours attempted. If you have attempted 135 semester hours and have 50 hours remaining, the total hours needed to graduate are 185, which is outside of the 150% limit.

Treatment of Grades and Courses

Losing Financial Aid Eligibility

Warning

Students who fail to maintain the minimum standards for pace or cumulative GPA requirements will be placed on a warning status for one semester and may continue to receive financial aid for one semester.

Revoke

Students who fail to maintain the minimum standards for pace and/or cumulative GPA requirements for two consecutive semesters or have reached their maximum timeframe will be placed on a revoked status and are ineligible to received financial aid in subsequent semesters.

Notification

The Financial Aid Office will notify students who do not meet the SAP requirements and are on either a warning or revoke status via email at their George Fox email address.

Re-Establishing Financial Aid Eligibility

Students may re-establish eligibility for financial aid in one of the following ways:

  1. The student takes classes and pays for tuition and other charges as applicable without the help of financial aid and does well enough in the coursework to satisfy SAP at the end of the subsequent semester(s).
  2. The student submits a successful appeal - see procedures below. Students who are beyond the maximum time frame to completion may regain financial aid eligibility on a semester-by-semester basis through the appeal process.

Appeal Process

Students who wish to appeal must submit a SAP revoke appeal form
Note: You must be logged in to your George Fox Gmail account to access this form.

 The appeal must include the reasons the student failed to meet SAP and what has changed or what measures will be taken so that they can meet SAP during the next evaluation period.

 Appeal circumstances are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and may include but are not limited to: External factors that impacted their ability to study, health or family issues.

Appeal Decision

The Financial Aid SAP Committee will review an appeal once all required documents are submitted. If the appeal is approved, the student will be placed on probation and will be eligible to receive financial aid for one semester. A student may re-establish eligibility by meeting the SAP standards or the conditions set forth in their academic plan.

If the SAP appeal is denied, the student may attend without financial aid to re-establish eligibility. A period of non-enrollment is insufficient to re-establish eligibility. 

Students will be notified of their SAP appeal decision via email at their George Fox email.

Financial Aid Probation is Not the Same as Academic Probation

Please note that the SAP policy applies to financial aid eligibility and is separate from the academic standards required by the University for continued enrollment. However, if a student is academically suspended, the student is also considered to have failed SAP. Students must appeal their academic suspension before appealing their financial aid standing.