Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy Effective After Fall 2024

For financial aid eligibility, you must complete 67% of your cumulative attempted credits.  If the pace percentage drops below 67%, the student will be placed on warning for one quarter. If the pace percentage remains below 67% after a subsequent warning quarter, the student will be placed on suspension and will have an opportunity to appeal to regain eligibility if they have experience unusual or extenuating circumstances that prevented them from being successful.

Transfer credits are included in your cumulative credits for pace calculations.  

The following grades do not indicate successful completion of academic credit: F, Z, U, NP, K, W, I, X, NX, SW, audited classes, or absence of a grade.

Students with a corrected grade must first confirm that the Registrar's Office has made the grade change and then notify the Financial Aid Department of the change in writing. Incomplete grades of "K" that are updated to a passing grade are not considered a grade correction. Satisfactory Academic Progress will not be re-calculated until the next evaluation period. Correspondence courses must be completed within the term for which they were registered to count toward completed credits. 

For Fairhaven students, credits attempted but not completed will be recorded in the student’s Academic History with an NX.  The college does not assign a K grade (incomplete) to Fairhaven students, but instead does not award credit until a class is completed. Courses assigned an NX that are updated to a passing grade are not considered a grade correction.

Credits earned for repeated coursework may count toward current quarter academic progress requirements in some cases. Contact the Financial Aid Department if you plan to repeat a course. In general, you may receive aid for repeating a previously passed course once and receive aid for repeating a failed course that fulfills degree requirements until it has been passed.

Grades that do not indicate successful completion will be considered attempted but not completed with regards to the pace calculation.  Repeat credits for which you have previously passed the course will be considered attempted but not completed in accordance with the Registrar’s Repeat Course Policy.

Students who appeal for reinstatement and are required to address pace will need to submit a Pace Plan using the financial aid pace calculator along with their appeal.  If the appeal is approved, the student must follow their plan until they achieve a pace of 67% or better.

Students appealing for pace should pay careful attention to the information to the Special Considerations about Appealing for Pace on the pace calculator.

Students receiving aid are allowed to attempt up to 150% of the credits in order to complete their declared degree or certificate program. As soon as the financial aid department determines that a student will not complete their program within this number of attempted credits, the student becomes ineligible for financial aid.

Attempted credits are defined as all credits that appear on the academic history record which include repeat, incomplete or failed courses, withdrawals, and accepted transfer credits. 

Financial aid monitors students who are nearing Maximum Attempted Credits to determine remaining eligibility based on official university records.  Students should be familiar with the Information for Graduating Students regarding fundable enrollment, loan proration and second bachelor’s degree programs, etc. 

Some aid programs are further limited by cumulative maximums for the lifetime of the student. It is important to try and complete your degree program before you reach the cumulative aggregate maximums for federal loans, the lifetime limit of the Federal Pell Grant, and the 18 fulltime quarters/12 semesters/or the equivalent for Washington College Grant, College Bound Scholarship (CBS) and Passport to Careers (PTC) programs.