1. Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
Delaware – District of Columbia – Maryland
Association of Financial Aid Administrators
2018 Neophyte Workshop – October 10, 2017
Ocean City, Maryland
Craig D. Rorie, Federal Training Officer Federal Student Aid U.S. Department of Education

2. Agenda SAP SAP Basics SAP Measurements SAP Calculations SAP Evaluation
SAP Optional Elements
SAP Resources

3. SAP Basics - Regulation
(a) Satisfactory Academic Progress policy An institution must establish a reasonable satisfactory academic progress policy for determining whether an otherwise eligible student is making satisfactory academic progress in his or her educational program and may receive assistance under the Title IV, HEA programs.

4. SAP Basics - SAP Standards
Reasonable
Consistently applied
Applies to all Title IV programs
If not meeting SAP, not eligible for any TIV program
Cannot say eligible for Pell but not eligible for Loans
“ED provides the outline; schools fill in the details”
Schools have a lot of flexibility

5. SAP Basics - “As Strict or Stricter”
Having an SAP policy “as strict or stricter” then other school policies refers to the actual measurements used to monitor qualitative and quantitative standards - GPA and pace of progression
It does NOT refer to the frequency in which the school checks SAP
Therefore academics might check GPA every term but financial aid can check GPA for SAP purposes annually

6. SAP Basics – Required Elements
Separate from your school’s academic SAP policy
Must be at least as strict as your school's standards for students not receiving Title IV
May not include provisions for academic amnesty or academic renewal
By regulation, all periods of enrollment must be considered

7. SAP Basics - Required Elements
Must include two measurements of student’s progress at each official evaluation point
Grade point average (qualitative) and
Pace of completion (quantitative)
Failure to meet either measurement ends a student’s Title IV eligibility
Policy and Procedures

8. SAP Basics – Required Elements
Must specify that if a student is not meeting the standards, he or she is not eligible to receive Title IV aid
Warning and probation statuses must be described if included in school’s policy
Students must be notified of determinations that impact their Title IV aid
Required elements include:
Measurement of student’s progress at each official evaluation point
GPA student must achieve
Pace of progression
Policy and Procedures

9. SAP Basics – Required Elements
Other Key Items
Policy must include the following -
Describe how student’s GPA and pace of completion affected by:
Incompletes
Withdrawals
Repetitions
Transfers of credits
Transfer credits accepted toward completion of student’s program must count as both hours attempted and hours completed
Policy and Procedures

10. Measurements - Qualitative Measure
Definition: To access quality of academic work using standards measureable against a norm
Grades; work projects; etc.
Must be cumulative
May use a graduated or fixed standard
Can be more restrictive and have payment period measurements in addition to cumulative measures
Could have an overall cumulative program or school GPA and a semester GPA requirement

11. Measurements - Quantitative Measure
Definition: To measure progress toward program completion
Must be cumulative
May use a graduated or fixed standard
Can be more restrictive and have payment period measurements in addition to cumulative measures
Could have an overall cumulative completion pace and a semester completion requirement

12. Measurements - Quantitative Measure
School may use standard rounding rules when calculating percentages under the quantitative measurement
Clock-hour or credit-hour programs
Example – 66.5% could be rounded up to 67%
Rounding is optional within SAP policy
Program integrity Q & A website under the SAP topic, question R-Q9 (clock-hour example)

13. Measurements - Quantitative - Pace
Pace of progression required to make sure student completes within maximum timeframe
Calculate the pace at which the student is progressing by
Dividing the cumulative number of hours the student has successfully completed by the cumulative number of hours the student has attempted:
Cumulative hours completed
Cumulative hours attempted
For clock-hours you are evaluating cumulative clock- hours required to complete as expressed in calendar time

14. Measurement - Maximum Timeframe
Limits of Maximum Timeframe
For undergraduate programs, must be no longer than 150% of published length of educational program
For graduate programs of study, school defines the maximum based upon length of program
Example:
Degree program requires 120 credits for completion
120 x 150% = 180 attempted credits is maximum timeframe
Quantitative measure (tied to max timeframe)
120 credits / 180 credits = 66.6% (usually rounded to 67%)
Student must earn 67% of credit-hours attempted

15. Measurement - Max Timeframe & Pace
The maximum timeframe is used to determine the pace of completion required to ensure that a student completes the program within the maximum timeframe: 100% - Scheduled Length 150% - Maximum Time 118% - Maximum Time 85% - Pace Requirement
= 67% Pace Requirement
= 85% Pace Requirement
= 118% Maximum Time

16. SAP Calculations – Maximum Timeframe
Credit-Hour
Program: 120 credits in 4 academic years 120 credit hours x 1.5 (150% of the program) =
180 credit-hours maximum timeframe
Clock-Hour
Program: 1,200 clock-hours in 40 weeks
40 weeks in program
x 1.5 (150% of the program) =
60 weeks maximum timeframe

17. SAP Calculations – Minimum Pace of Completion
Credit-Hour
Program: 120 credits in 4 academic years 120 credit-hours 180 credit-hours max timeframe =
67% minimum pace of completion
Clock-Hour
Program: 1,200 clock-hours in 40 weeks
40 weeks in program
60 weeks max timeframe =
67% minimum pace of completion

18. SAP Evaluation
Each official evaluation must include evaluation of the qualitative (grade-based), quantitative (time-related) and maximum timeframe standards
Warning and probation statuses only last for one payment period, no matter how frequently SAP is evaluated
“Warning “and “probation” must have the same definitions as described in regulation

19. SAP Evaluation - Frequency
Frequency of evaluation determines options
School must evaluate SAP at end of each payment period for programs of study that are one academic year or less in length
For programs of study longer than one academic year
School must evaluate at least annually to correspond with end of a payment period
School may evaluate at end of each payment period
Student’s SAP evaluations, whether each payment period, annually or less often than each payment period, must occur at the end of a payment period
Official evaluation period cannot be less than a payment period

20. SAP Optional Elements Policy and Procedures SAP statuses
Warning status
Probation status
If the statuses are used in your SAP policy, they must
match the regulatory definitions
only last for one payment period
Policy and Procedures

21. SAP Optional Elements SAP Appeals Policy and Procedures
Process by which a student who is not meeting SAP standards petitions for reconsideration of eligibility for Title IV aid
Policy must describe conditions under which a student may file an appeal
If policy does not allow appeals, then financial aid probation is not allowed
Policy and Procedures

22. SAP – Optional Elements
Financial Aid Warning
For an institution that chooses to evaluate SAP at the end of EACH payment period, a “financial aid warning” status may be used (optional)
Student may continue to receive Title IV aid for one payment period
No appeal necessary
Note: Possible for student to receive more than one warning period during academic career just NOT consecutively

23. SAP – Optional Elements
Financial Aid Probation
To be placed on Probation, a student must:
Appeal and have it approved by the school; AND
Student expected to be making SAP in next payment period; OR
Be successfully following an academic plan designed to ensure student will be able to meet SAP by a specific point in time
Not required to develop academic plans
Can set conditions on developing plans
ED does not define what office(s) develop and oversee

24. SAP Optional Elements Academic Plan
A plan that specifies a point in time at which the student may meet the institution’s SAP standards
Student on an academic plan is evaluated against the plan’s requirements, not regular SAP standards
May be used along with probation

25. SAP Resources/References
FSA Assessments, Student Eligibility section:
668.16, (SAP)
FSA Handbook Vol. 1, Chapter 1
Electronic Announcement - September 2, 2011
Policy Q & A Webpage on program integrity regulations
Upper right-hand side of IFAP
Topic – “Satisfactory Academic Progress”

26. Contacts

27. Contacts - School Participation Team
School Participation Main Number
Region III Institutional Improvement Specialist (IIS)
Joe Kern

28. Region III Contacts - Federal Training Officers
Amber Johnson
Craig Rorie

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30. CASFAA 2014
12/30/2018
Questions?
U.S. Department of Education