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Satisfactory Academic Progress

All students receiving federal Title IV financial aid monies (Pell Grant, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), Federal Direct Student Loan, and College Work Study program) and all State of Michigan programs (Michigan Competitive Scholarship, and Tuition Incentive Program) must meet the following academic standards in order to qualify for continued aid eligibility.

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) will be measured at the end of each semester and a student must meet all three (3) of the following requirements to remain eligible for financial aid:

1. Grade Point Average (GPA). The following is the cumulative GPA requirements:

Hours Completed	G.P.A.
0-15	1.7
16-30	1.8
31-45	1.9
46-60	2.0
61-90	2.0

2. Pace of Completion. All students must maintain a minimum pace of completion of 67%. Pace of completion is calculated by dividing the cumulative credit hours successfully completed by the cumulative number of attempted credit hours.
3. Maximum Timeframe.
   A student in an associate degree may not exceed 90 attempted credit hours.
   A student in a certificate program may not exceed 45 attempted credit hours.

A student not meeting any one of the 3 requirements above is not meeting SAP. A student who fails to meet SAP at the end of a semester will lose their financial aid eligibility for their next semester of attendance. Exceptions are granted, on a semester basis, to students who are placed on either financial aid warning or financial aid probation.

A student meeting all 3 requirements of SAP at the start of a semester, and at the end of the same semester is not meeting either SAP requirements 1 or 2 will be placed on financial aid warning for their next semester of attendance. While on financial aid warning a student will continue to be eligible to receive financial aid. A student will not be placed on financial aid warning when they exceed the maximum timeframe.

Note: A first semester student at Alpena Community College is considered to be meeting requirements 1 and 2.

A student who is not meeting SAP, and not placed on financial aid warning may submit a financial aid appeal to the Financial Aid Office and if the appeal is approved the student will be placed on financial aid probation. While on financial aid probation a student will continue to be eligible to receive financial aid for a duration of only one semester. At the completion of the semester of financial aid probation the student must meet all 3 requirements of SAP or lose their financial aid eligibility until the requirements are met.

Definitions:
Attempted credit hours - The number of credit hours a student is enrolled in after the ‘last day to drop with a full tuition refund’ date for the semester.

Audited course – Audited course credits do not count as attempted or successfully completed credit hours and are not calculated into the GPA.

Incomplete grade (I) – Incomplete grades are counted as attempted credits, but not successfully completed credit hours, and are not included in GPA calculations.

NG grade – A temporary grade assigned when a final grade has not been received by the grading deadline. Grade of NG are counted as attempted hours but not as successfully completed credit hours. NG grades are not included in the GPA.

Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory – A grading option which allows coursework to be taken for credit but not included in the GPA. A grade of S (satisfactory work) is included in the attempted and successfully completed credit hours. A grade of U (unsatisfactory work) is included in the attempted credit hours only.

Remedial course – Courses numbered below 100. Credits will be included in attempted and successfully completed if appropriate as determined by the grade received. Remedial course grades are included in the GPA.

Repeated course - The same course, or direct equivalent, taken in a subsequent semester. Each semester the attempted credit hours are counted, but only the best grade will be included in the GPA calculation, (a 4-credit hour course taken twice will total 8 attempted credit hours, a maximum of 4 credit hours successfully completed and the GPA will include only the best grade of A through F). Note: Students may repeat a successfully completed course only one time utilizing financial aid.

Successfully completed credit hours - Credit hours that have been earned and have a grade value of A through D- or S.

W grades – Grade given when a student drops a course after the second week of the semester or withdraws completely from the college after the official add/drop period, resulting in a W grade being assigned for all dropped courses. W grades are counted as attempted, but are not successfully completed, credit hours. W grades are not included in the GPA.

Students with Transfer Credit
Transfer credits accepted by Alpena Community College for your degree program are counted as both attempted and successfully completed credit hours for measuring pace of completion and maximum timeframe. Alpena Community College does not transfer in the GPA from another institution, and it is not figured into the GPA for this policy.

Appeals and Reinstatements
Students not meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) are able to reinstate their eligibility for financial aid by taking coursework in subsequent semester(s) and meeting all 3 SAP requirements again. The student re-establishes their financial aid eligibility, when at the start of the semester all 3 SAP requirements are met. If completion of temporary grades (I, or MNG, or X) or other transcript changes (e.g. grade changes) warrant reinstatement, the student should notify the Financial Aid Office at the time such changes occur.

 Students not meeting the satisfactory progress requirements because of mitigating or extenuating circumstances (i.e. death of a relative, illness or injury of student, etc.) may request reinstatement of financial aid by submitting a Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal Form along with the specified documentation described on the form. This form can be obtained from the Financial Aid Office or downloaded from the Financial Aid Office website at: http://www.alpenacc.edu/services/financialaid/financialaid.htm.

 Appeals should be submitted to the Financial Aid Office no later than the first day of class of the semester the student wishes to be considered for financial aid probation. If a student’s appeal is approved, they will be placed on Financial Aid Probation and be eligible for financial aid for that semester. The Financial Aid Appeal Committee’s decision is final and no further appeals can be made for that semester.

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