Eastern Connecticut State University -- OFFICE OF FINANCIAL AID -- SATISFACTORY PROGRESS

ECSU SATISFACTORY ACADEMIC PROGRESS POLICY

TO MAINTAIN FINANCIAL AID ELIGIBILITY
FOR TITLE IV AND OTHER STUDENT AID PROGRAMS

In order to receive financial aid from Federal Title IV Programs and most other types of student aid, students must comply with the following set of qualitative and quantitative standards. This policy should not be confused with Eastern’s “academic standing” policies as found in the ECSU Catalogue. PLEASE TAKE TIME TO READ THIS DOCUMENT.

A. Quality of academic performance (qualitative measure): The quality of academic performance required to receive financial aid is as follows: students must be matriculated, must be pursuing a degree or certificate program, and must maintain the level of academic performance required to remain a matriculated undergraduate or graduate student at the University. A student is subject to dismissal from Eastern if his/her cumulative GPA is:

Students who are on academic probation, unless otherwise ineligible, will be able to receive financial aid if they meet the quantitative standard of the “Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy” outlined both below and in the ECSU Catalogue, Student Handbook and Financial Aid Website.

B. Speed of completion of the undergraduate degree or certificate objective (quantitative measure):

For full-time undergraduate students, satisfactory progress is defined as the successful completion of a minimum of 24 semester hours of academic work per academic year for students who enroll in the fall and spring or summer and 12 semester hours of academic work for those initially enrolling in the spring or enrolling only for the fall or summer term. An academic year runs from the beginning of the fall term to the end of the following summer. Non-credit developmental courses recommended by the student’s advisor shall count on a semester-hour equivalent basis determined by the University as part of the 24 or 12 semester hours specified above. Failed courses, audited courses, NCs, NRs, withdrawals (W, WP, WF), incompletes (I), and courses transferred from another institution and earned prior to your first attendance at ECSU will not be counted toward the required number of credits. The grade of CR will be counted. The student must notify the Financial Aid Office when an incomplete turns into a letter grade. At that time, the class will be counted toward the Satisfactory Academic Progress requirement. Students making satisfactory academic progress may receive financial assistance for up to 12 semesters of full-time attendance or until the student is certified for graduation by the University, whichever comes first.

For part-time undergraduate students enrolling for at least six credits per semester, satisfactory progress is defined as the successful completion of a minimum of 12 semester hours of academic work per academic year for students who enroll for at least two terms and 6 semester hours for those initially enrolling in the spring or enrolling only for the fall or only for the summer term. An academic year runs from the beginning of the fall term to the end of the following summer. Non-credit development courses recommended by the student’s academic advisor shall count on a semester-hour equivalent basis determined by the University as part of the 12 or 6 hours specified above. If a student attends at least one-half time for one term and full-time for another, the requirement is 18 credits completed. Failed courses, audited courses, NCs, NRs, withdrawals (W, WP, WF), incompletes (I), and courses transferred from another institution and earned prior to your first attendance at ECSU will not be counted toward the required number of credits. The grade of CR will be counted. The student will notify the Financial Aid Office when an incomplete turns into a letter grade. At that time, the class will be counted. Students making satisfactory academic progress may receive financial assistance for up to the equivalent of 12 full-time semesters or until the student is certified for graduation by the University, whichever comes first.

For less than half-time undergraduate students, satisfactory progress is defined as the successful completion of all semester hours of academic work attempted per academic year. An academic year runs from the beginning of the fall term to the end of the following summer. Non-credit development courses recommended by the student’s academic advisor shall count on a semester-hour equivalent basis determined by the University. Failed courses, audited courses, NCs, NRs, withdrawals (W, WP, WF), incompletes (I), and courses transferred from another institution and earned prior to your first attendance at ECSU will not be counted toward the required number of credits. The grade of CR will be counted. The student will notify the Financial Aid Office when an incomplete turns into a letter grade. At that time, the class will be counted. Students making satisfactory academic progress may receive financial assistance for up to the equivalent of 12 full-time semesters of attendance or until the student is certified for graduation by the University, whichever comes first.

For full-time graduate students, satisfactory progress is defined as the successful completion of a minimum of 18 semester hours of academic work toward completion of a graduate degree or planned program per academic year for students who enroll in the fall and spring or summer and 9 semester hours for students initially enrolling in the spring or enrolling only for the fall or summer term. Failed courses, audited courses, NCs, NRs, withdrawals (W, WP, WF), incompletes (I), and courses transferred from another institution and earned prior to your first attendance at ECSU as a graduate student will not be counted toward the required number of credits. The grade of CR will be counted. The student will notify the Financial Aid Office when an incomplete turns into a letter grade. At that time, the class will be counted. Students may receive financial assistance for up to 6 semesters of full-time attendance or until the student is certified for program completion by the University, whichever comes first.

For part-time graduate students, satisfactory progress is defined as the successful completion of a minimum of 12 semester hours of academic work toward completion of a graduate degree or a planned program per academic year for students who enroll in the fall and spring or summer and 6 semester hours for students initially enrolling in the spring or enrolling only for the fall or summer term. Failed courses, audited courses, NCs, NRs, withdrawals (W, WP, WF), incompletes (I), and courses transferred from another institution prior to your first attendance at ECSU as a graduate student will not be counted toward the required number of credits. The grade of CR will be counted. The student will notify the Financial Aid Office when an incomplete turns into a letter grade. At that time, the class will be counted. Students may receive financial assistance for up to the equivalent of 6 full-time semesters of attendance or until the student is certified for program completion by the University, whichever comes first.

For less than half-time graduate students, satisfactory progress is defined as successful completion of all semester hours of academic work enrolled for per academic year. An academic year runs from the beginning of the fall term to the end of the following summer. Non-credit development courses recommended by the student’s academic advisor shall count on a semester-hour equivalent basis determined by the University. Failed courses, audited courses, NCs, NRs, withdrawals (W, WP, WF), incompletes (I), and courses transferred from another institution and earned prior to your first attendance at ECSU as a graduate student will not be counted toward the required number of credits. The grade of CR will be counted. The student will notify the Financial Aid Office when an incomplete turns into a letter grade. At that time, the class will be counted. Students making satisfactory academic progress may receive financial assistance for up to the equivalent of 6 semesters of full attendance or until the student is certified for graduation by the University, whichever comes first.

D. Summer Session:
Students who do not attain the above levels of satisfactory progress during the fall, intersession, and/or spring semesters may complete the needed hours in the summer session. Students bringing themselves up to the number of hours which would have been required for satisfactory progress at the end of the semester when they lost their status will again be eligible to apply for financial aid. Those who do not complete the needed hours will not be eligible for any Title IV assistance or most other student financial assistance for the following academic year. IMPORTANT: If according to our Satisfactory Academic Progress standards you have not earned sufficient credits to be eligible to continue to receive aid, as previously indicated, you might want to take an additional course at Eastern or elsewhere (see next section).

E. Guidelines for Taking Courses Elsewhere:
To obtain credit for courses taken outside Eastern, students must comply with the following requirements:

Credits for courses taken at other institutions may be transferred to Eastern, but not the grade points. Credit will be granted for grades of C or better. STUDENTS WHO STILL ARE UNABLE TO MEET THE SATISFACTORY PROGRESS REQUIREMENT will not be eligible to receive any Title IV aid or most other forms of student assistance unless a waiver is granted. Please refer to Sections G and H.

F.    Repeated Courses: Many students repeat courses that have been passed, in order to raise their grade point averages (GPA). Students are very often unaware that repeating a course in which credit has been earned (a grade of “D” or higher received), will not earn additional credit. While there may be academic reasons for repeating such courses, it is not the purpose of financial aid to pay for multiple taking of the same course. Repeating a course(s) more than once will not count toward meeting the Satisfactory Academic Progress requirement.

G.    Appeals:   Upon presentation of evidence of medical emergencies or other legitimate personal or family exigencies, students who have been denied financial assistance under this policy may appeal to the Vice President for Academic Affairs. Appeal forms are available in the Financial Aid Office.

Students must include a full explanation of the circumstances that made it difficult for them to meet our criteria (personal, medical, family, etc.). Documentation will be required. The Vice President will consider these circumstances and will also consider the total number of credits earned at Eastern and the quality of previous academic performance.
IMPORTANT: If a student loses his or her eligibility for failing to meet satisfactory academic progress requirements, the student does not regain eligibility merely by dropping out and then reenrolling.

H. Three Possible outcomes of Vice President’s Review of Student’s Appeal:

IMPORTANT: Generally, only one conditional waiver as described above can be granted to a student during their academic career at ECSU. Numbers 1 through 3 above, however, are not intended limit the Vice President’s options where unique or difficult circumstances prevail.

I. Disclaimer: There are instances when a student fails to recognize that they are not making Satisfactory Academic Progress under these guidelines and the University fails to discover, through its systems that the student is short the credits required to continue receiving aid. In such cases, once the University discovers this oversight, an effort will be made to review the student’s entire academic record to see if, since the semester(s) at issue, the student is progressing satisfactorily toward their degree or certificate; or, if the student’s most recent semester has shown evidence that the student will graduate in a reasonable period of time.