Maintaining Aid

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Students who receive federal financial aid are required by the U.S. Department of Education to meet satisfactory academic progress (SAP) standards in order to establish and maintain their financial aid eligibility. Under Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, an institution must establish reasonable standards for measuring whether a student is maintaining SAP. SAP standing is monitored and reviewed each semester. Students who fail to meet the standards may be placed on a warning, suspension, or educational plan. As such, be sure to review the SAP standards, terms, and definitions carefully to know what is expected of you. The SAP policy established for College of Western Idaho (CWI) includes standards that are the same or stricter than the standard for Good Academic Standing. This policy applies to all students in all for-credit programs, regardless of whether the student received Title IV aid.

Federal regulations indicate that students who receive federal financial aid may be required to repay federal financial aid funds if they drop, completely withdraw, fail to earn a passing grade from all classes during any semester, or fail to complete the enrollment period for which they were registered. CWI is required to determine the earned and unearned portions of Title IV aid the student was scheduled to receive. 

  • SAP Standards

    Grade point average (gpa)

    • Students must maintain a minimum institutional GPA of 2.00. Institutional GPA includes all coursework receiving a letter grade of A, B, C, D, F, or X taken at CWI and includes remedial coursework.
    • Grades from transfer coursework are not included. 

    Pace of Completion 

    • Students must make progress toward completion of their declared degree or certificate while maintaining a minimum 67% completion rate.
    • The completion rate is calculated by dividing the cumulative number of credit hours successfully completed by the cumulative number of credit hours attempted.

    Maximum Time Frame

    • Students must be able to complete their declared degree or certificate program within 150% of the published number of credit hours required to complete the program. 
    • To get the total number of credit hours, all remedial credit hours attempted are subtracted from all credit hours attempted at CWI (including repeated credits) and all credit hours transferred from other colleges or universities. This total is then used to determine the student's current progress toward their degree or certificate.
  • SAP Standing

    Your SAP standing may be viewed in your Self-Service Toolkit in myCWI. Select Financial Information from the left menu, then Financial Aid Menu and Satisfactory Academic Progress. 

    Good standing

    • Students who are meeting all SAP standards and are not placed on warning, suspension, or an education plan are in good standing.
    • Students in good standing are eligible for financial aid.

    Warning

    • Students who have not met one or more of the SAP standards will be placed on warning.
    • This standing is temporary and intended to alert students to a current deficiency in their academic progress.
    • Without improvement, students will be placed on suspension.
    • Students placed on warning remain eligible for federal financial aid.

    Suspension

    • Students will be placed on suspension if they cannot mathematically complete their declared degree or certificate or cannot raise their institutional GPA to the minimum 2.00 within the maximum time frame.
    • If extenuating circumstances lead to academic difficulty or a student has exceeded the maximum time frame, students may appeal their suspension or request an evaluation of their credits.
    • Students placed on suspension are no longer eligible for federal financial aid.

    Education plan

    • Students who have successfully appealed their suspension will be placed on an education plan.
    • In order to begin meeting SAP standards, students must meet all requirements outlined on their plan.
    • Progression is measured at the end of every semester. Once all standards are met, the student will be moved to good standing.
    • Students who fail to meet their plan requirements will, once again, be placed on suspension.
      • Requirement includes remaining in major associated with the Education Plan. Any major change results in failure to complete the Education Plan, and a new appeal will be required.
    • Students who fail to attend courses within three semesters of an approved education plan will be required to submit a new appeal.
    • Students placed on an education plan regain eligibility for federal financial aid.

    denied

    • Students who have had an appeal denied must attend and complete multiple semesters successfully until they begin meeting all SAP standards again.
    • Students with a denied appeal remain ineligible for federal financial aid.
  • Regaining Eligibility

    SAP Appeal

    Students who have experienced academic difficulty due to extenuating circumstances (such as death of an immediate family member, hospitalization, and/or illness), must submit the following documents to appeal their suspension:

    • SAP Appeal Form completed and signed by both the student and their advisor
    • Detailed, typed statement describing the circumstances that prevented the student from meeting SAP, along with how the issue(s) have been resolved
    • Any required supporting documentation

    The deadline to submit an appeal is the last day to withdraw each semester.

    Remaining credits evaluation

    Students who have exceeded the maximum time frame due to transferred credits or prior degree/certificate credits, may request an evaluation to see if any credits that do not fulfill graduation requirements for a current/additional program may be excluded from the maximum time frame calculation.

    An evaluation may be requested by submitting an Remaining Credits Evaluation Form, completed and signed by both the student and their advisor

    For students seeking an additional degree or certificate, all attempted credits from a prior degree or certificate that fulfill graduation requirements must be counted.

    IMPORTANT: Submitting an SAP Appeal or Remaining Credits Evaluation form does not guarantee approval. If it is clear that a student cannot mathematically complete their declared degree/certificate or cannot raise their institutional GPA to the minimum 2.00 within the maximum time frame, the appeal or evaluation will be denied, and the student will no longer be eligible for federal financial aid.

  • Drops & Withdrawals

    Students who receive federal financial aid may be required to repay federal financial aid funds if they drop, completely withdraw, or fail to earn a passing grade from all classes during any semester or fail to complete the enrollment period for which they are registered. 

    If a student must drop before the census date:
    Classes may be dropped any time prior to a semester's census date for a full refund of tuition and fees.

    If a student must drop a class after the census date:
    Withdrawing from a class after the course's census date may result in a student not meeting the Satisfactory Academic Progress standards. A student not meeting these standards may be placed in financial aid suspension.

    If a student withdraws or fails to complete a semester:
    A complete withdrawal, unsatisfactory grades in all courses, or failing to attend the full period of enrollment may result in a return of federal funds on a student's behalf. 

    Visit the Withdrawals section on the Financial Aid page of the Academic Catalog for more information. 

    Return of Title IV Funds Procedures

  • Terms & Definitions

    GRADING

    • A, B, C, D, and P grades represent credits successfully completed for SAP purposes.
    • F, NC, NP, I, W, WIP, and X grades represent credits that have not been successfully completed.

    IMPORTANT: While considered successfully completed for SAP purposes, a D grade may not be passing in all courses and may not fulfill specific program and/or graduation requirements.

    REPEAT Courses

    • Repeat courses are subject to the College's academic policies.
    • A course with a grade representing credits that have not been successfully completed may be repeated with the assistance of federal financial aid.
    • A course with a grade that represents credits that have been successfully completed may be repeated one time with the assistance of federal financial aid.

    Incomplete Courses

    • Incomplete courses must be arranged with instructors and must be completed as indicated by the instructor in accordance with the College's grading policies.
    • Courses extended beyond the published end of the period of enrollment in which they were originally scheduled are not considered credit hours successfully completed.

    Audited Courses

    • Audited courses must be arranged in advance with the instructor and declared by the due date published in the catalog.
    • Audited courses are not counted as attempted or completed credits and are not eligible for federal financial aid.

    Non-credit courses

    • Non-credit courses (such as Workforce Development, Adult Education, and English as a Second Language) that do not satisfy graduation requirements in the student’s declared degree or certificate are not counted as attempted or completed credits and are not eligible for federal financial aid.

    Remedial Courses

    • Remedial courses have a course number below 100 and are credit-bearing.
    • Credits are included in the institutional GPA calculation and are counted as both attempted and completed credits in the pace of completion calculation but are excluded from the maximum time frame calculation.
    • Students may receive federal financial aid for a maximum of 30 remedial credit hours.