Satisfactory Academic Progress
Stay on Track With SAP
Understanding your SAP status or next steps can be confusing. Our Financial Aid team is here to help.Satisfactory Academic Progress
Federal and state regulations require institutions to establish standards for measuring students’ academic progress toward a degree. All students who apply for financial aid are monitored for Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP), regardless of whether they received financial aid during previous periods of enrollment.
The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships reviews SAP at the end of each term. To remain eligible for financial aid at UTPB, you must meet the minimum SAP standards by the end of each enrollment period.
Satisfactory Academic Progress Policies and Procedures Guide
Progress Requirements and Limits
To maintain financial aid eligibility, students must meet UTPB’s requirements for GPA, pace of progression, and maximum timeframe.
Qualitative Requirements
Undergraduate students must maintain a minimum cumulative UTPB GPA of 2.0. Graduate students must maintain a minimum cumulative UTPB GPA of 3.0. SAP is measured according to graduate student classification, whether or not a bachelor’s degree has been earned.
Pace of Progression Requirements
You must successfully complete at least 67% of your cumulative attempted credit hours.
Attempted hours include:
- All hours you enroll in at UTPB or any other college
- Repeated courses
- Courses you have failed, taken an incomplete in, or withdrawn from
- Transfer credit hours
Pace of Progression is calculated by dividing your cumulative number of successfully completed hours by your cumulative number of attempted hours.
Maximum Hour Limit
Federal regulations require institutions to establish a maximum timeframe for completing a degree or certificate while remaining eligible for federal, state, or institutional financial assistance. All terms of enrollment are considered, whether or not you received financial aid during those terms.
Undergraduate Students
Undergraduate students cannot exceed 150% of the credit hours required for their degree plan at any institution of higher education. This includes all registered, earned, and attempted hours.
Graduate Students
For graduate programs, the maximum timeframe cannot exceed the published length of the program, measured by the number of years at UTPB.
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Students
Post-baccalaureate certificate programs are monitored for maximum timeframe based on their 12-month or 24-month period of aid eligibility.
Additional Hours That Count
University withdrawals and dropped, duplicated, or never-completed hours are counted, as are hours earned in the Armed Forces. Hours excluded under UTPB’s Academic Fresh Start option are also included as attempted hours for financial aid purposes.
Understanding Your SAP Status
After your SAP review, your status reflects whether you are meeting the requirements for continued financial aid eligibility.
- Meets SAP: You are in good standing and meeting all SAP requirements.
- Warning: You are not meeting one or more SAP requirements for qualitative progress and/or pace of progression. You may continue to receive financial aid while in warning status.
- Not Meets SAP: You are not meeting SAP requirements for qualitative progress, pace of progression, and/or maximum hours. You are not eligible for financial aid while in this status.
Repeated Coursework
Under federal regulations, a student is not eligible for Title IV (federal) financial aid for a course repeated more than once if the student previously passed the course.
For example, a student takes BIOL 101 and earns a D. The student may retake the course once and receive financial aid for that course. If the student attempts to take the course again, federal financial aid cannot be used to help pay for the class.
Appeal Process
If you fail to meet SAP requirements and lose financial aid eligibility, you may be able to submit an appeal with supporting documentation if mitigating circumstances affected your academic progress.
SAP appeals have submission deadlines for each term:
- Fall priority deadline: July 15
- Spring priority deadline: October 15
- Summer priority deadline: May 15
Documents received after the priority deadline do not guarantee that financial aid will be available before classes begin. You may need to sign up for a payment plan to hold your classes while your financial aid is processed.
SAP appeals will be accepted no later than 10 days before the end of the term for which you are appealing.
