Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Policy

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The Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965 requires institutions of higher education to establish and apply standards of academic progress that must be met by all students receiving Federal Student Aid (FSA), under Title IV programs, including Federal Work-Study, Pell Grant, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), Federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans, and Parent PLUS Loan programs. These standards also apply to the following State of Ohio funded programs: Ohio Academic Scholars, NEALP, Frank O’Bannon, Choose Ohio First, and Ohio Safety Officer Scholarships.

All Cincinnati State scholarship recipients and C-State Accelerate recipients are expected to adhere to this policy as well.

The satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Policy was established to encourage students to successfully complete courses and to progress satisfactorily toward degree completion.

Successful completion of a course is defined as receiving one of the following grades: A, B, C, D, or S.

The following grades/statuses are not considered as successful completion of a course: F, W, I, IP, U, N, or NS.

SAP includes a student’s total academic history including any enrollment periods in which a student did not receive financial aid. SAP will be reviewed after each semester for financial aid recipients. If it is determined that a student is not meeting SAP, the student will receive a warning e-mail at the end of the semester. Students will be allowed financial aid conditionally for one additional semester of attendance and future aid will be put on hold pending a review of grades. After which, if it is determined that a student is not meeting SAP, the student will receive a suspension e-mail indicating their financial aid has been suspended. He/she must submit an SAP Appeal e-form for review in order to potentially receive any financial aid for the upcoming semester.

It is the student’s responsibility to read, understand, and adhere to the SAP policy in order to remain eligible for financial aid. Failure to comply with this policy can result in the student’s financial aid being terminated at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College.

Standards

There are three specific measurements of academic performance pertaining to financial aid eligibility.

GPA

Students must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 2.0 in order to remain eligible for financial aid.

Maximum Time Frame

Students are expected to complete a degree/certificate within a maximum time frame of 150% of the published length of that of that program. To determine how many credits a student may attempt for a given program, multiply the number of credits required to complete the program by 150%.

For instance, if a program requires 73 credit hours to graduate, a student must complete their program within 109 credit hours (73 x 1.5 =109).

Students will be notified when they have attempted a number of credit hours equivalent to 100% of their curriculum. If the student has not completed all courses necessary for graduation at 150% of their curriculum, their financial aid will be terminated and they may appeal for additional financial aid funds if they are required to take more credit hours than are listed in the catalog. Transfer credit hours are counted into the formula. Students who transfer more credit hours than are applicable to their program should complete an appeal. All appeals for MTF should include the MTF appeal e-form and a progress review e-form completed by their academic advisor. Once a student graduates from one program, they are no longer eligible for financial aid. Students who wish to complete another degree or certificate must appeal.

Course Completion

In order to ensure that students will graduate within the MTF of their program, they must complete 67% of all attempted credit hours. To determine a student’s completion rate, the number of completed credit hours is divided by the number of attempted credit hours. For instance, if a student registers for 12 credits, but completes only 4 credits, their completion rate is 33% (4/12 = 33%).