Policy Standards for Financial aid
satisfactory academic progress
Federal and state regulations require
all students make satisfactory academic progress toward completion
of degree, certificate or licensure requirements to receive student
financial aid. All terms of attempted enrollment are considered in
determining satisfactory academic progress regardless of whether aid
was awarded for the term.
Failure to meet satisfactory progress
standards results in ineligibility for state and federal aid
programs (including all grants, loans, campus Work Study, Vocational
Rehabilitation, Post-Secondary Childcare, Indian Scholarships, and
University Scholarships). MSUM reserves the right to withdraw aid at
any time if it becomes readily apparent that a student has not
maintained satisfactory academic progress.
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Qualitative Standard: GPA Undergraduate
Attempted credits include all courses
on student records after the fifth class day, including withdrawals,
incompletes, repeats, non-credit and remedial courses. MSUM’s
academic policy requires all undergraduate students to achieve the
following cumulative GPA at the points indicated:
•
1 - 26 credits: 1.6
•
27 – 59 credits: 1.9
•
60 or more attempted
credits: 2.0
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Graduate:
Beginning with the first attempted
credit, graduate students must maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA.
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Quantitative Standard: Completion Percentage
Financial aid standards require
students to satisfactorily complete a minimum of 67 percent of their
total cumulative attempted MSUM credits with a minimum grade of “D”
(or “P” or “S” if enrolled on a pass/fail or
satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis).
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Quantitative Standard: Maximum Credits Attempted
Credits attempted to complete a
degree and receive financial aid cannot exceed 150 percent of the
credits required to complete the degree program.
A.
Undergraduate students become ineligible to receive
funding after they have attempted 180 total semester credits at
MSUM, including accepted transfer credits. Grades of Failed (F),
Failed/No Attendance (FN), Unsatisfactory (U), Incomplete (I),
No Credit (NC), In Progress (IP), Withdrawn (W) and blank (Z)
for courses taken at MSUM count as credits attempted but not
completed.
B.
Students who are enrolled in an undergraduate program and
seeking a second bachelor’s degree, teacher certification or
licensure are limited to 60 attempted semester credits in an
approved degree plan.
C.
Graduate students are limited to 52 attempted semester
credits.
D.
Students seeking a specialist degree are limited to 53
attempted semester credits beyond their first graduate degree.
Students who have completed only a bachelor’s degree are limited
to 105 attempted graduate semester credits if seeking a
specialist degree.
Programs that require longer than
these limits must have individual approval from the Office of
Scholarship and Financial Aid through an appeal process. Students
must submit for review an academic plan approved and signed by their
advisor indicating the semesters remaining for degree completion, a
course plan for each remaining semester, and projected graduation
date. Appeals for credits in excess of 150 percent solely to improve
GPA are not approved, unless the course is part of an approved
academic plan. Submission of an appeal does not indicate automatic
approval of the academic plan. Each appeal is reviewed on a
case-by-case basis.
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Evaluation Period
Monitoring satisfactory academic
progress begins with the first credit attempted and is done at the
end of every semester (fall, spring and summer).
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Failure to Meet Standards
If at the end of a semester a
student fails to meet MSUM Satisfactory Academic Progress
qualitative or quantitative standards, MSUM will allow that student
to retain his or her financial aid eligibility on a probationary
status for one semester.
A.
If at the end of the probationary semester a student meets
MSUM’s cumulative qualitative and quantitative standards,
MSUM will reinstate the student’s eligibility for financial aid.
B.
If at the end of the probationary semester a student fails to
complete 67 percent cumulative credits, they are placed on
financial aid suspension.
C.
In addition to the financial aid suspension, if at the
end of the academic probation semester a student does not meet
MSUM’s cumulative GPA (qualitative) standards, the
student will be placed on suspension from class enrollment.
The first suspension for GPA below the minimum requirements
is for one semester; a second suspension for insufficient GPA is
for one calendar year; a third suspension for insufficient GPA
is for two calendar years.
D.
Continued Probation
1.
If at the end of a probationary semester a student who has
been on probation meets MSUM’s qualitative (minimum 2.0 GPA
for the semester) and quantitative (successfully complete
all semester courses) standards required for the
probationary semester but has not met MSUM’s cumulative
standards, MSUM will permit the student to retain financial
aid eligibility under a “continued probation” status.
Probation status continues to be monitored each semester
until the student meets MSUM’s cumulative qualitative and
quantitative standards, at which time the student’s
financial aid eligibility “good standing” status will be
reinstated.
2.
If a student on “continued probation status” fails to meet
MSUM’s qualitative or quantitative cumulative standards or
the standards required for the probationary semester,
MSUM will suspend the student from financial aid
eligibility.
E.
If MSUM determines it is not possible for the student to raise
his or her GPA or course completion percentage to meet MSUM’s
cumulative standards before the student would reach the end of
the program for which he or she is receiving financial aid, MSUM
will suspend the student from financial aid eligibility
immediately upon completion of the evaluation.
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Notification
Students who fail to meet the minimum
standards will be notified by letter when they are placed on
probation or suspension. It is possible for students to be placed on
financial aid suspension for failure to meet more than one type of
Satisfactory Academic Progress standard. Students who have not
received financial aid in the past are immediately subject to
standards when they apply for financial aid.
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Appeals
A.
Financial aid suspension status may be appealed to the Office of
Scholarship and Financial Aid. Appeals are made on the basis of
extraordinary or mitigating circumstances (major illness, death
in the family, serious accident, etc.) or the successful
completion of additional coursework. Each case is reviewed
individually. Financial aid eligibility may be reinstated for
one term with continued financial aid eligibility contingent
upon the student’s satisfactory completion of terms established
by the Office of Scholarship and Financial Aid. The Office of
Scholarship and Financial Aid informs students in writing within
seven business days of its decision, provided adequate
documentation was submitted by the student.
B.
If a student is not satisfied with an adverse decision,
subsequent appeals are submitted to the Financial Aid &
Suspension Appeals Committee.
C.
Academic Suspension status for insufficient GPA may be appealed
to the Financial Aid and Suspension Appeals Committee through
the Office of Academic Affairs.
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Re-establishing Eligibility for
Financial Aid after Suspension
Students whose financial aid eligibility has been suspended may
regain eligibility only through MSUM’s appeal process or when they
meet the institution’s satisfactory academic progress qualitative
and quantitative standards. If Incomplete (I) credits are a factor
in failure to maintain satisfactory progress, subsequent successful
completion of these credits may be used to re-establish eligibility
for aid. Paying for classes out of pocket or sitting out a period of
time in and of itself is not sufficient to re-establish a student’s
financial aid eligibility.
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Additional Elements:
Treatment of Grades
A.
Credits attempted: the number of credit hours for which a
student is officially enrolled at the end of the free drop/add
period each semester. Credits with grades of F, FN, I, W, IP, NC
and Z count as credits attempted.
B.
Credits earned: grades designated as
A, B, C, D (including pluses and minuses), or S. Credits with
grades of F, FN, I, W, IP, NC and Z do not count as credits
earned.
C.
Percentage completion is calculated by dividing the number of
earned credits by the number of attempted credits: Earned
credits ÷ Attempted credits = percentage completion
D.
GPA calculation: includes grades of
A, B, C, D, F, FN, and pluses and minuses associated with a
letter grade.
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Academic Forgiveness
Credits for courses previously taken,
for which academic forgiveness is granted, count in calculating
percentage completion, maximum credits attempted and cumulative GPA
for financial aid satisfactory academic progress.
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Audit Courses
Courses taken for audit are
not funded by financial aid, are not used in calculating
Satisfactory Academic Progress and do not count as credits attempted
or earned for purposes of financial aid.
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Tri-College, Study Abroad, State
University Common Market, ISEP, NSE, Consortium Agreements & other
travel programs
Credits attempted and earned
while participating in these programs are included in calculating
satisfactory academic progress.
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Remedial/Developmental Credits
Identifies credits attempted
for courses numbered less than 100, including Corrick Center
courses. By MnSCU policy, up to 30 remedial credits are excluded in
calculating maximum credits attempted but included in grade point
average and completion percentage calculations.
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Repeated Courses
Students who repeat a course
may receive financial assistance more than once for enrollment in
the same course. MSUM’s academic policy states when a course is
repeated, each enrollment is included in calculating the percentage
of successfully completed credits at the end of the academic year,
and the total number of attempted credits is used to determine
length of eligibility. For example, a student enrolls in a three
credit course, fails it and the following semester re-enrolls in the
same course and earns a C. That student would have enrolled in six
credits, but successfully completed only three credits. Repeating a
course more than once results in the removal of only one previous
grade from the GPA calculation. Once a student receives a C+, C or
C- grade, the course may not be retaken again for a higher grade.
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Transfer Credits
Transfer credits accepted by
and applied by MSUM toward a student’s general education, program, or
degree requirements apply toward the maximum credits attempted
calculation. They do not count as credits attempted for calculation
of cumulative completion percentage, and grades associated with
these credits are not used in calculating MSUM cumulative GPA.
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Withdrawals
If a student withdraws from MSUM before financial aid is
available for distribution, the student forfeits financial aid
eligibility, as defined by Federal and State program regulations. If
a student withdraws from all enrolled courses for any reason during
the semester after student aid has been distributed, the University
refund policy will be followed as administered by the MSUM Business
Office.
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Academic year:
the period from August to May (Fall and Spring semesters). Summer is
a semester trailing the academic year.
Calendar year:
the period from January through December.
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