Financial Aid & Scholarships

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

Satisfactory Academic Progress is defined as the normal length of time for a student to achieve an educational objective. To receive financial aid, your educational objective must be an Associate’s Degree, Certificate, or Transfer to a four year university. When you apply for financial aid, we must review your entire academic record and evaluate whether you have made satisfactory progress. The following will outline what we monitor for normal academic progress that will help you understand your responsibilities.

SAP-General

You will be expected to complete your educational objective by the time you have completed 71 units or attempted 90 units, whichever comes first. This includes changes in majors and all units completed at all institutions. Generally, this unit maximum is sufficient to fund one educational objective rather than multiple objectives. Students who have a goal of transfer to a four year institution and a goal of an Associates degree generally will be unable to meet both objectives within the unit limit.

You must complete the following number of units based on the number of units attempted each semester.

Full-time (12+ units) students must complete a minimum of 9 units each semester.

Three-quarter-time (9-11.5 units) students must complete a minimum of 7 units each semester.

Half-time (6-8.5 units) students must complete a minimum of 5 units each semester.

Less than half-time (0.5-5.5 units) students must complete a minimum of ½ (one-half) a unit each semester.

You must maintain a semester and an overall grade point average (GPA) of 2.0.

Review Policy-General

The following will be considered as units completed:

"A" through "D" grades.
"CR" passing with credit.

The following marks will not be considered as units completed:

"F" grade
"W" - withdrawal
"I" - incomplete
"NC" - no credit

Courses that are repeated in which you previously received a grade of "C" or better, a "CR" Credit grade or an Incomplete are not acceptable for financial aid purposes.

The following will be considered as units attempted:

"W" - withdrawal
"I" - incomplete
"NC" - no credit
"CR" - credit
All repeated classes
All courses listed under "Academic Renewal"

Review Policy-Not on Aid

If you were not on financial aid during the previous academic year, we will review your entire academic record at Grossmont College as well as work transferred in from other colleges.

Satisfactory progress will not be assessed until you have attempted 12 units. This includes coursework transferred into Grossmont College.

The overall number of units completed will be compared to the overall number of units attempted. If you are deficient by 12 or more units, you will be required to petition for lack of progress.

If your overall GPA is less than 2.0, you must petition because of a low GPA.

Review Policy-On Aid
 

Your GPA and number of units completed will be checked at the end of each semester.

Full-time students who pass at least seven (7) units in the Fall, but less than the required number of units based on their enrollment status, will be placed on Financial Aid Probation for the Spring semester.

¾-time students who pass at least five (5) units in the Fall, but less than the required number of units based on their enrollment status, will be placed on Financial Aid Probation for the Spring semester.

Students on probation are required to make up the deficient units from the Fall semester in addition to the required number of units for the Spring semester to make Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) for the year.

All other students who do not make SAP, do not meet the Financial Aid Probation standards detailed above or who do not meet the minimum 2.0 semester GPA requirement will be disqualified for the Spring semester.

Students who were disqualified because of a GPA below 2.0 for Fall and subsequently are approved for Spring aid must have a 2.0 GPA in the Spring or they will be disqualified for the next academic year.  These students will not be penalized by the Fall semester GPA when SAP is determined at the end of the year because the low GPA in Fall has already been forgiven through the Petition process.  All other students will have the Fall GPA added to the Spring GPA to arrive at an overall GPA for the academic year.  This must be at least 2.0 for continued eligibility for financial aid.

Students who do not make satisfactory progress in the Fall and/or Spring semesters will be ineligible for financial aid in the Summer.

Summer session may be used to make-up deficient units for the prior Fall and/or Spring semester.  However, if you receive financial aid in the summer session, you must complete all units attempted with a minimum 2.0 GPA to meet satisfactory academic progress for the summer session.

For ACG continued eligibility only – Your GPA and units will be checked at the end of the current academic year to determine your continued eligibility for an ACG award for the upcoming academic year.  For the year, you must successfully complete a full-time course load in your ACG eligible program with a minimum 3.0 GPA to maintain eligibility for the upcoming academic year.  If you do not meet these requirements, you will not be eligible for the ACG for the following academic year.  There is no petition process to regain ACG eligibility.

Petition Procedures

If there are extenuating circumstances, you may submit a petition to the Financial Aid Office indicating:

1. Why you did not complete the minimum number of units, maintain a 2.0 GPA, or why you have exceeded the 71 units completed or 90 units attempted limit.

2. What steps you will take to improve your academic status (only for petitions for lack of completed units and/or low GPA).

You must support the petition with appropriate documentation.
 

If you received Financial Aid and you did not complete your required number of units and/or did not maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA for that semester, you must also attend the PDC 095 (Academic /Financial Planning) course if you have not already done so.

You will receive written notification of the decision.

Students who must petition because of lack of satisfactory progress are not eligible for retroactive awards if the petition is approved.

Conditions for Reinstatement After Petition Has Been Disapproved for Lack of Progress

If your petition is denied, you have the right to submit an appeal to the Grossmont College Financial Aid Appeals Committee or you may regain eligibility for financial aid after disqualification and denial of a petition/appeal by:

1. Completing all your deficient units with a 2.0 GPA, or

2. Completing a minimum number of units with a 2.0 GPA as established by the petitions committee without receiving financial aid.

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