Financial Aid

Financial Aid Standards of Satisfactory Progress

Students who withdraw from the college before the 60% point in a semester will have to repay a portion or all of their Federal Pell Grant, Federal SEOG grant, and Federal Perkins Loan funds to the United States Department of Education. Unearned portions of the Federal Family Education Loans (Stafford student loans) will be returned to the student’s lender.

The exact amount required to be returned will vary depending on the amount of grant and loan money the student received and at what point in time the student withdraws from the College.

In addition, the student will be liable for the balance owed the College for tuition, fees and if applicable, room and board. The student will receive a revised statement of account for the expenses incurred, which will include the reduction and/or loss of Federal Title IV funds.

Note: Federal Stafford Loan Programs (FFELP). If a student is in the first year of an undergraduate program, is a first-time borrower under the FFEL Program (Stafford Loan), and withdraws from the college prior to 30 days into the term, the student becomes ineligible for the Stafford Loan.

Students who choose to withdraw from the College must complete an official Withdrawal Form. This form must be signed and returned to the Registrar’s Office.

The Financial Aid Office is required by federal regulations to periodically review financial aid recipients to ensure that they are making academic progress towards the completion of their program of study. Satisfactory academic progress for financial aid recipients is measured by both qualitative and quantitative standards and is an assessment of a student’s cumulative academic record while in attendance at the institution.

In general, coursework that is taken while in attendance at this college and applies to your academic program is taken into account when reviewing your academic record for satisfactory academic progress. However, there are some exceptions. Please refer to the table below for a breakdown of how each type of course or credit is treated in the review.

What is a Consortium Agreement?

A Consortium Agreement allows a student who is receiving financial aid to benefit from federal and state funds while pursuing a degree, diploma, professional certificate or eligible certificate program at one of the NH Community Technical Colleges or Institute. A consortium agreement is a formal contract between the college you are attending and the home college. The college the student is enrolled in is considered the Home College. A student who wishes to take a course at a college other than the home college is required to complete a Consortium Agreement with the Home College. Courses taken must be transferable to the student’s program. Various financial aid forms and scholarship information are available on your specific college web site. Please contact the Financial Aid Office at your Home College for more information.

Qualitative Standard

Cumulative GPA Component: Must have earned the minimum published CGPA at the published intervals

A student must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average as noted below to be considered as making satisfactory academic progress.

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Quantitative Standard

Completion Rate Component: Must complete more than 2/3 of the credits attempted

Maximum Timeframe Component: Can receive financial aid for up to 150% of the number of credits

A student must successfully complete more than two-thirds (66.66%) of the total credits s/he attempts throughout his/her academic career at the college. All attempted credits resulting in either an academic grade or administrative transcript notation will be included in the quantitative calculation.

For example, a student who has enrolled in 36 credits throughout his/her academic career at the college must pass more than 24 credits in order to be making satisfactory academic progress.

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Maximum Timeframe Component

A student may receive student federal aid for any attempted credits towards his/her program of study as long as those credits do not exceed 150% of the published length of the student’s program of study.

For example, a student enrolled in an eligible 24 credit certificate program can receive financial aid for up to 36 credits attempted. Likewise, a student enrolled in a program of study that requires 64 credits to earn the degree can receive student federal aid for a maximum of 96 credits attempted.

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Academic Periods Included in the Review

The qualitative and quantitative standards of the Satisfactory Academic Progress policy will be used to review the academic progress for all periods of the student’s enrollment. Even periods in which the student did not receive Federal Student Aid (FSA) funds will be included in the review. Additionally, periods for which the student was granted academic amnesty will be included in the review.

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Satisfactory Academic Progress Review Process (SAP)

The qualitative and quantitative components of the SAP policy will be reviewed at the end of each semester within the regular academic year of the student’s program of study.

Students who meet SAP standards will be coded as making satisfactory academic progress and will retain eligibility for Student Federal Aid for the following semester.

Students who do not meet SAP standards will be placed on SAP probation for one semester. Students placed on SAP probation will retain their eligibility for Student Federal Aid for the following semester.

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Students Placed on SAP Probation

At the end of the probationary period, SAP standards will be reviewed. If the student meets SAP standards, s/he will once again be coded as making satisfactory academic progress and will retain eligibility for Student Federal Aid for the following semester.

If the student is still unable to meet SAP standards, s/he may be placed on SAP final probation unless otherwise determined by the Financial Aid Office. Students placed on SAP final probation will retain their eligibility for Student Federal Aid for the following semester.

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Students Placed on SAP Final Probation

At the end of the final probationary period, SAP standards will be reviewed again. If the student meets SAP standards, s/he will once again be coded as making satisfactory academic progress and will retain eligibility for Student Federal Aid for the following semester.

If the student is still unable to meet the standards for SAP, s/he will no longer be eligible to receive FSA at the institution until such time that s/he is able to meet the standards of SAP.

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Appeal Process

A student who becomes ineligible for federal student aid due to not meeting the financial aid standards of satisfactory academic progress may appeal for a review of that determination. A student who believes s/he has extenuating circumstances that affected his or her ability to progress satisfactorily should appeal in writing within 30 days of the date of the letter indicating a loss of financial aid eligibility. The letter should be addressed to the Financial Aid Appeals Committee and be submitted to the Financial Aid Office. A successful appeal may preserve the student’s eligibility for federal student aid in the following semester.

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Academic Amnesty

Students who are granted academic amnesty should be aware that previous grades will be used to evaluate Satisfactory Academic Progress (Quantitative and Qualitative) for financial aid purposes even though they are not included in the new academic grade point average.

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Audit a Course

Financial Aid does not cover any courses a student audits. Further, audit courses are not included for any of the calculated components.

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Change of Program

A student who changes his/her academic program may request an appeal in that determination if s/he has changed programs while enrolled at his/her current college. If this appeal is taken up, then only those courses applicable to the new program will be evaluated for the Completion Rate and cumulative GPA components. However, all courses attempted will be evaluated for the Maximum Timeframe component. If, under these circumstances, the student is making satisfactory academic progress, the student will regain eligibility for student aid. If, under these circumstances, the student is not making satisfactory academic progress, the student will not regain eligibility for student aid at that time.

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Consortium Credits

All courses taken at an institution other than the home institution through an official consortium are included in the calculation for completion rate and maximum timeframe components, but are excluded from the student’s cumulative GPA component.

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Course Withdrawal

Course withdrawal may affect a student's eligibility for financial aid.

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Credit by Examination

Financial Aid does not cover courses in which a student earns credit through Credit by Examination. Credit by Examinations count toward the maximum time frame component, but are excluded from the student’s cumulative GPA component and completion rate components.

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Developmental/Remedial Courses/ESOL Courses

Credits from these courses will be included in the calculations for all three components of the satisfactory academic progress review. Students are only eligible for federal financial aid for up to 24 credit hours of this type of coursework.

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Experiential Learning Credits

Financial Aid does not cover courses in which a student earns credit through Experiential Learning. Experiential Learning Credits count toward the maximum time frame (quantitative) but do not count in qualitative measure (GPA).

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Incompletes

All incompletes must be resolved by the end of the third week of the semester following the receipt of the incomplete grade. If not resolved, the grade is either automatically changed to an “F” or is considered to be an “F” for all components of the satisfactory academic progress review. Financial Aid can be withheld until Incompletes are resolved.

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No Pass Grades (Return of Title IV Funds)

Students in the following situation in a given semester will have the unearned portion of that semester’s financial aid returned to the federal government:

• are receiving Financial Aid; and
• all grades issued for a given semester are a combination of “no passing grades”; and
• do not have a last date of attendance documented after the 60% period of the semester.

The Return of Title IV calculation will use the “last date of attendance” or the 50% period of that semester. Students in this situation may be required to repay a percentage of their financial aid.

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Repeat Courses

Only the most recent grade for a course that has been repeated will count towards a student’s cumulative GPA. Therefore, grades from prior attempts will be excluded from the student’s cumulative GPA. However, all attempts including the most current will be included in the calculation for the completion rate and maximum timeframe components. Financial Aid will cover a repeated course only when it is repeated to replace an unacceptable grade as determined by a specific course and/or major.

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Transfer Credits:

Credits that are transferred in from another institution and apply to the most current major will be excluded from the student's cumulative GPA. However, they will be included in the calculation for the maximum timeframe component and the completion rate components.

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Withdrawal

The following policies and procedures are used to determine the withdrawal date for any student who withdraws, officially or unofficially, from all classes during a semester.

1. Withdrawal from the College through Official Notification by the Student
   • The Registrar's Office is the official authority within the college designated to accept withdrawal notification. If a student communicates to a staff person in the Registrar's office while that person is acting in an official capacity, that communication in whatever form (verbal or written), is considered official notification. Students are urged to submit a signed withdrawal form and/or Add/Drop form to the Registrar's Office to show their intent to withdraw. The date the form is submitted to the Registrar is the withdrawal date and the date of notification to the school. Students may also withdraw from the college by phone, fax or mail. For a phone withdrawal, the Registrar's Office will fill out the appropriate form and date stamp it with a notation that is was a phone withdrawal; for a fax or mail withdrawal, the Registrar's Office will fill out the appropriate form and date stamp it with the mail/fax attached.
2. Withdrawal from the College or a Course through Official Notification by the Faculty
   • A faculty member may process a withdrawal from the college or a course on behalf of a student who is unable to do so him/herself because of circumstances beyond the student's control (e.g. hospitalization, military transfer, accident). The faculty member will submit the appropriate course/college withdrawal form to the Registrar's office with all information filled out on the student's behalf. If not indicated on the form, a brief explanation must accompany the form indicating why the student is unable to complete the withdrawal him/herself. The date the form is submitted to the Registrar is the withdrawal date and the date of notification to the college.
3. Withdrawal from the College without Notification to the College (Dropout)
   • If a student ceases attendance without providing official notification, the withdrawal date will be the midpoint of the semester, unless the Registrar is notified otherwise (see below). Students who stop attending class after the add/drop period will receive an AF from the instructor at the end of the semester. An AF grade is computed into the student GPA as an F. However, an instructor may also give an AF grade at any point during the semester for violation of the instructor's individual attendance policy, for disruptive classroom behavior, or for unsafe clinical practice (see AF grade definition). In this instance the instructor will submit the AF grade to the Registrar on a designated form. The date the form is submitted will be the date of notification.

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Revised February 1, 2008