-- How to Apply for Aid --
Step 4: Maintain Your Eligibility

To be eligible to receive financial aid, Federal regulations require that you must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) toward an approved, eligible academic program.

What's on this page?

• About SAP
• SAP Criteria
• Financial Aid Probation
• Financial Aid Suspension
• Academic Suspension
• Exclusions
• Additional SAP Requirements
• Right to Appeal

About Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

Three components of your academic record determine whether you are maintaining satisfactory academic progress: course completion, grade point average (GPA) and maximum eligibility. The requirements in each area vary according to your status as an undergraduate, graduate or professional student, your school/college of enrollment, and your enrollment status (full-time, half-time, or less than-half-time). This federal policy affects your eligibility for assistance from the following aid programs:

• Federal: Federal Work-Study, Federal Pell Grant, Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Direct PLUS Loan (parent loan), Federal Supplemental educational Opportunity Grant, Federal Family Education Loan Program, Federal Direct Loan Program, Nursing Student Loans and Health Professions Loans and Grants
   
• State: D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant, LEAP, Alternate Loan Programs, Student Educational Loan Fund, and all eligible state programs
   
• Private Loans: MBA Loans, LAW Loans, and all other loans requiring the University's certification

SAP Criteria

Completion Ratio

Your enrollment status is reviewed at the end of each academic year to verify that you have earned the required minimum number of credits during fall and spring semesters. You are required to complete at least 70% of all attempted hours of coursework each academic year.

Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA)

As an undergraduate student, your cumulative grade point average (GPA) will be reviewed at the end of each academic year of attendance. You will be placed on Financial Aid Probation if your cumulative GPA is less than a 2.00 following the completion of your first academic year (fall and spring). After your second academic year (fourth semester of attendance), you must have achieved a 2.00 cumulative GPA or your financial aid eligibility will be suspended. Undergraduate students are also required to maintain a 2.00 GPA each academic year of attendance, thereafter. Graduate and professional students are required to maintain the GPA as required by their chosen program of study.

Maximum Eligibility

You will maintain financial aid eligibility for a specified period of time. Undergraduate and graduate students must complete their chosen academic program within 150 percent of the number of credit hours required for graduation or successful completion. (For example, an undergraduate student may attempt a maximum of 191 credit hours for a program requiring 127 hours for graduation.)

Undergraduate students will be notified when they are within 24 credit hours, and graduate students within 18 credit hours of reaching the expiration of their financial aid eligibility. You must continue your studies at your own expense when you have reached your maximum eligibility.

Because of the special nature and delivery format of the professional education programs, professional program students will maintain financial aid eligibility for a period not to exceed the following:

Financial Aid Probation

Financial aid probation will occur for your next academic year of attendance if you fail to earn the minimum number of credits and/or the GPA required. You may continue to receive financial aid while on financial aid probation.

Financial Aid Suspension

Your financial aid eligibility will be suspended if you fail to earn the required overall cumulative credits or achieve the required GPA while on financial aid probation. You will no longer be eligible to receive financial aid to attend Howard University. To reinstate your financial aid eligibility, you must enroll and successfully complete, at your own expense, a semester at the University as a matriculating student.

Academic Suspension

You are not eligible to receive financial aid if you have been de-matriculated (academically suspended) from the University. When you have been readmitted by the University, you must complete the SAP appeal process. Your financial aid eligibility status will be determined based on the SAP criteria, through a review of your academic transcript.

Exclusions

The following types of registration and grades cannot be used to fulfill probation, suspension or re-matriculation requirements: credits by special exam, Advanced Placement or CLEP exams, distance education or correspondence courses for which you have not obtained prior approval, audit, withdrawal, incomplete and zero credit courses.

Appeal Process

You may appeal a financial aid probation or suspension status by submitting a completed appeal form to the Office of Financial Aid, Scholarships and Student Employment within 21 calendar days from the date of your notification.

You can obtain a form from the Office of Financial Aid, Scholarships and Student Employment or by visiting the Financial Aid Forms, Worksheets & Links page.

If you failed to achieve SAP because of mitigating circumstances, you must submit the appeal form with a letter of explanation with any supporting documentation attached. Mitigating circumstances would include extreme illness or injury, family crisis, or death of immediate relative. The circumstance must be documented.

You may appeal to have your SAP status reviewed if, by attending a summer session, you increased your GPA or earned credits that caused you to meet the minimum number of credits required for the academic year.

Send your appeal with any required documentation to:

Office of Student Financial Services 
Financial Aid, Scholarships & Student Employment 
Howard University 
2400 6th Street, NW Suite # 205 
Washington, DC 20059  
Attention: Appeals Committee

You may also fax your documents to (202) 806-2818 Attn: Appeals Committe

The committee will review your request and make a decision within 10 business days from the receipt of your appeal. You will receive written notification of the committee's decision. Note that all SAP appeal decisions are final and the submission of a SAP appeal does not guarantee reinstatement of aid eligibility.

Additional SAP Requirements

• If you are listed as being SUSPENDED FROM THE UNIVERSITY, the appeal process is two-fold. You must appeal to your school/college as well as the Office of Financial Aid. It is your responsibility to stay abreast of deadlines. Stipulation letters do not ensure financial aid reinstatement and one is not contingent upon the other. For further inquiries please contact the Office of Financial Aid at http://www.howard.edu/financialaid/contacts/staff-finaid.htm
• Although you may not be receiving financial aid, you will be evaluated for financial aid eligibility on the same basis as students who receive federal and state aid. Should you apply for aid, your eligibility will be based on your prior academic performance at Howard University.
• If you are enrolled in a dual degree program, you may appeal for an extension of the maximum time frame provision of this policy.
• If you are an undergraduate student pursuing a second degree, you may attempt an additional 48 credit hours to complete your second degree program, including prerequisite courses. Graduate/professional students may attempt an additional 24 credit hours.
• If you are a transfer student, your maximum eligibility will be reduced by the number of transfer credits accepted by Howard University.
• Credits you have earned at foreign institutions will be included in your SAP evaluation provided they are applicable to the degree/program sought.
• Courses in which you receive a grade of ‘I’(incomplete) companied by a letter grade will be considered when evaluating your completion ratio, and will influence your term and cumulative GPA. All attempted and earned credits are considered in maximum eligibility determination.
• Courses in which you receive a grade of ‘W’ (withdrawal) do not earn credits or affect your GPA, but they will be considered when evaluating your maximum eligibility. You may retake courses from which you withdraw and those credits will count toward determining your enrollment status and completion ratio, provided you have not earned credit for the same course.
• If you are enrolled in undergraduate remedial courses, credits attempted/earned will count toward determining your enrollment status, minimum credits earned and maximum eligibility.
• If you take undergraduate courses while you are a graduate student, courses that are satisfactorily completed do not earn graduate credit or influence your graduate GPA, nor will they count toward determining your enrollment status or minimum credits earned at the graduate level.
• All undergraduate and prerequisite courses are evaluated in SAP Maximum Eligibility.
• If you are taking courses to earn professional licensure, you must be admitted to a degree program in order to receive financial aid. Students completing licensure courses and are not seeking a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree are not eligible for financial aid.
• The credits earned from repeated courses will count toward the determining your enrollment status and maximum eligibility. However, for purposes of financial aid satisfactory academic progress, only credits adding to the cumulative credits earned will be acceptable toward the required minimum number of credits earned per year.
• If you attend a summer session and wish those credits/grades to be considered with your fall and spring total, you must complete the appeal process at the end of the summer term. Summer credits will count toward determining your maximum eligibility.