Satisfactory Academic Progress

Graduate: Graduate students must maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA or be considered in good standing by their Degree Program to pass their Qualitative Measure.

If a student does not maintain the minimum acceptable GPA, the student will be placed on Financial Aid Suspension. A student placed on Financial Aid Suspension is ineligible for any federally funded financial aid programs until the student’s grade point average improves to the minimum required level.

Students with a full-time enrollment status must earn 67% of the credit hours attempted.

Pace of Completion Calculation:

Earned Hours/Attempted Hours = 67% or higher

Undergraduate: A first-time undergraduate student will be deemed in good standing and eligible to receive federal financial aid until he or she has attempted 150% of the number of hours normally required to complete degree requirements. Attempted hours will include all courses taken at William Carey University. Students transferring into the University will be assumed to be maintaining satisfactory academic progress. Hours that qualify towards the student’s degree at William Carey that are transferred from previously attended schools will be considered when determining the maximum number of hours allowed to receive financial aid.

Graduate: A graduate student will be deemed in good standing and eligible to receive federal financial aid as long as their qualitative standard has been met and until he or she has attempted 150% of the number of hours normally needed to complete degree requirements.

Second Degree: Students seeking a second undergraduate or second graduate degree are only eligible to receive federal financial assistance through federal loans if they have not already met their aggregate limit.

Maximum Timeframe Calculation:

Attempted Hours/Program Required Hours = 150% or lower

Students receiving federal aid are expected to pass 67% of the enrollment hours on which their financial aid was based. Students on Suspension are ineligible for additional federal financial assistance until they enroll at least half-time at their own expense, complete all courses, and earn the minimum required cumulative grade point average.

Students are still eligible for federal financial aid up to 18 repeat hours. Students are allowed to repeat any previously passed course once and repeat any previously failed course until it is passed, or the 18 repeat hour limit has been met.

Students who have their aid suspended because they have exceeded the maximum length of time allowed to meet degree requirements may appeal that suspension ONLY for one of the following reasons:

• The student is enrolled in a course of study that normally requires more than 128 undergraduate credit hours to complete.
• The student has military or vocational (not technical) hours on his or her academic transcript that are not included in their program of study.

Students who have their aid suspended because of failure to meet quantitative or qualitative standards may appeal that suspension ONLY for one of the following reasons:

• Death of an immediate family member. "Immediate family member" includes parent, spouse,sibling, or dependent child.
• The extended illness of the student. "Extended illness" is defined as a documented chronic orrecurring medical or emotional illness that causes the student to be absent from at least tenclass days.
• The extended illness of an immediate family member that places a hardship on the student."Immediate family member" includes parent, spouse, sibling, or dependent child.
• Other unusual circumstances that may affect a student's ability to meet satisfactory academicprogress standards.

Students may be allowed multiple appeals throughout their academic career. However, each appeal must demonstrate new mitigating circumstances beyond the student's control, unless it demonstrates that student is making academic progress.

An appeal and supporting documentation will need to be filed by the appeal processing priority deadline which is 7 business days prior to the term add/drop date. The priority deadline is established to ensure the appeal committee can process the appeal in time for the student to withdraw from classes without financial penalty if the appeal is denied. If the appeal is submitted after the priority deadline or the appeal is denied and the student does not drop by the add/drop date, the student will be responsible for the term charges.

The Office of Financial Aid will review all appeals and notify students by email or through their Student Financial Planning Student Portal of their financial aid eligibility. Although documentation may be required, the reinstatement of financial aid is never guaranteed even if documentation is submitted with the appeal.

If a student's financial aid is reinstated from an appeal, the student will be placed on Financial Aid Probation. The Office of Financial Aid will monitor the student's academic progress at the conclusion of each term. After the reinstatement of aid, if the student fails to meet the minimum satisfactory academic progress and/or conditions outlined by the Office of Financial Aid, the student will be placed on Financial Aid Suspension.

Students whose appeals are denied by the Office of Financial Aid must continue to enroll at William Carey University on at least a half-time basis until they have removed the deficiency that caused their aid to be suspended. However, neither paying for one's classes nor sitting out a term affects a student's Satisfactory Academic Progress standing, so neither is sufficient to re-establish the student's financial aid eligibility.

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