Satisfactory Academic Progress for Students with Federal Assistance

Lyon College Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy

In accordance with federal regulations, to be eligible to receive and maintain any Title IV (federal) aid, a student must make satisfactory degree progress. The satisfactory academic progress (SAP) of students will be monitored at the end of each fall, spring, and summer semester.

SAP is measured in three ways:

• Students must progress qualitatively by earning the required number of grade points,

• Students must progress quantitatively by completing the required percentage of cumulative hours attempted, and

• Students must complete their program of study within a reasonable time period.

Qualitative Measure

For the qualitative portion of the SAP requirement, hours attempted (see left column below) means all graded hours a student takes at Lyon or transfers to Lyon. These hours include passed and failed courses, repeated courses, courses dropped with a “W,” “WP,” or “WF,” courses in which a student has been assigned an “I”, and courses taken for a grade of pass or fail. Grade point averages, however, (see right column below) are based solely upon credits earned while enrolled at Lyon College.

Minimum SAP qualitative requirements are as follows:

Students transferring to Lyon College are assumed to be maintaining satisfactory academic progress. Hours transferred from previously attended schools (including concurrent college hours taken while in high school) will be considered when establishing total hours attempted for GPA requirements, as well as determining the maximum number of hours allowed for financial aid eligibility.

Quantitative Measure

Students receiving financial aid must also satisfactorily complete with a grade of “D” or better 67% of cumulative hours attempted. Attempted hours are all hours a student is enrolled in past the last date a student can drop the class without a record of the course. Incompletes and withdrawals will not be considered passing grades.

• Withdrawals: Courses with a grade of “W” will affect the quantitative measure of academic progress in determining eligibility and maintaining financial aid.

• Audit Courses: Courses taken for audit do not count for credit or graduation and, therefore, are not counted in determining eligibility for receiving or maintaining financial aid.

• Courses taken pass/fail are counted for quantitative measurements (pace and maximum time frame).

• Repeated Courses: If a student repeats a class at Lyon, only the most recent grade will be in the GPA calculation, but the hours from all attempts will be included in qualitative measurements.

Maximum Hours to Complete Course of Study

Students must complete their degree requirements within a normal time frame. To remain eligible to receive financial aid, students must complete their degree requirements within 150% of the published length of their academic program. In most cases students will be eligible to receive financial aid during the first 180 attempted hours as an undergraduate, whether or not they received financial aid or whether or not the course work was successfully completed. This includes both Lyon College and transfer hours. A student will be placed on federal financial aid suspension if his course work is in excess of 180 hours or if at any time it becomes clear that the student will not meet the quantitative standards by graduation date. This particular quantitative measurement will be monitored at the end of each spring semester.

Financial Aid Warning

Students who fail to meet the minimum Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements, as listed above, will be placed on financial aid warning. Letters will be sent to notify students of their addition to the financial aid warning list. The letter will state the required SAP minimums and inform the students that they have a one-semester probationary period in which to meet SAP requirements, during which time the students are allowed to keep their federal financial aid. Students on warning who meet SAP as of the end of the probationary period will be eligible to continue receiving financial aid.

Financial Aid Suspension

Students who fail to meet the minimum SAP requirements at the end of the probationary warning period will be placed on the financial aid suspension list, and will not be eligible to receive any further financial aid. The mere passage of time will not restore eligibility to students who have lost eligibility for failure to meet SAP requirements.

Students may appeal the financial aid suspension if unusual circumstances beyond their control prevented them from meeting satisfactory academic progress. Students who are placed on financial aid suspension will be sent a letter informing them of their suspension, the SAP minimums required for reestablishing SAP, and information on how to appeal their suspension.

Regaining Financial Aid Eligibility

There is another way to regain financial aid eligibility besides the appeal process. Financial aid eligibility can be re-established after students improve their academic record to meet the minimum standards required by the SAP policy by enrolling in classes the next term without the assistance of federal financial aid funds. If students do meet SAP through this course work, their federal aid will be reinstated for the following term. If, in attempting to meet SAP, students take classes at a school other than Lyon, they must submit an official transcript from the other school to the Lyon registrar. The financial aid office will then re- evaluate the students’ SAP status.