Satisfactory Academic Progress

Satisfactory academic progress standards, therefore, apply to students receiving financial assistance from such program as: Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), State of Kansas Scholarship, Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Stafford Loan, Federal Direct Loan, Federal Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS), Health Professions Student Loan, and College Work-Study. The only programs not covered by Kansas State University's satisfactory academic progress policy are athletic grants-in-aid and non-federally funded forms of assistance.

To measure satisfactory academic progress, K-State has established a framework for evaluating a student's successful progression toward a degree. This policy has two components: quantitative and qualitative. Students are monitored for satisfactory academic progress beginning with their first semester for which federal financial assistance is received.

Quantitative measure
Two measurements make up the quantitative portion of K-State's satisfactory academic progress policy.

1. Successful completion of courses
A student must successfully complete a minimum number of his/her scheduled courses for which federal financial assistance has been received. For example, if an undergraduate student's financial assistance is calculated on a full-time basis (12 or more hours) for one semester, that student must, at a minimum, successfully complete at least 9 hours for that semester. See the chart below for further details.

Undergraduate requirements per semester
Hours for which Minimum hours to be
aid was received successfully completed
12 hours scheduled (full-time aid) 9 hours
 9 hours scheduled (3/4-time aid) 7 hours
 6 hours scheduled (1/2-time aid) 4 hours

Graduate requirements per semester
Hours for which Minimum hours to be
aid was received successfully completed
9 hours scheduled (full time) 7 hours
7 hours scheduled (3/4-time) 5 hours
5 hours scheduled (1/2-time) 4 hours

Hours successfully completed in excess of the minimum requirement will result in the student earning "credits." Such credits are carried forward to subsequent semester(s) as part of the student's satisfactory academic progress record.

Alternatively, failure to meet the noted minimum requirements will result in the accumulation of "deficiencies," which are also carried forward to subsequent semesters. Courses for which a grade of F, incomplete (I), (IX), withdrawn (WD), no grade recorded (NR), or no credit received (NC) is recorded are not considered to have been successfully completed.

Note: Graduate students will receive "credits" for any incompletes associated with research conducted as part of the published degree requirements, elective or required course work, or as part of developmental studies once credit has been posted.

2. Maximum timeframe
Federal regulations have also established a maximum timeframe in which a student is expected to have completed a program. At K-State, a student may not receive financial assistance if he/she has exceeded the following number of earned credit hours:

Doctoral students: 120 graduate hours

Qualitative measure
In addition to the quantitative component for satisfactory academic progress, federal regulations also require that a student must, at a minimum, maintain a 2.0 cumulative grade point average after having completed 60 hours. K-State's satisfactory academic progress policy requires that all students classified as juniors and above maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher in order to receive financial assistance.

Financial assistance warning
Students who have accumulated any "deficiencies" (quantitative component) and/or who have failed to meet the minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA (qualitative component) within a given award year will be placed onto a "financial assistance warning" status for one academic year by K-State's Office of Student Financial Assistance.

A student will be removed from the warning status if he or she successfully removes any deficiencies and/or raises his or her cumulative GPA to a 2.0. during the academic year.

Failure to remedy either one of the noted components within one academic year will result in the student being placed onto a "financial assistance exclusion" status.

Financial assistance exclusion
Students who have reached the maximum allowable hours for which financial assistance may be received and/or who have failed to remove themselves from the "financial assistance warning" status will be placed onto "financial assistance exclusion." Students on financial assistance exclusion will be denied financial assistance until they meet the above noted qualifications for satisfactory academic progress.

Students may appeal their exclusion status by filing a satisfactory academic progress appeal. Appeal forms may be obtained at K-State's Office of Student Financial Assistance. The appeal requires statements from both the student and the student's academic advisor to be considered complete.

An appeal may be either approved or denied. If approved, financial assistance may be awarded to the student subject to its availability for the semester in question. Decisions regarding satisfactory academic progress appeals are final and not subject to further review.

Transfer students
If a transfer student meets established federal guidelines for student aid eligibility, he or she may receive financial assistance at K-State. The first evaluation of a transfer student's academic progress at K-State occurs at the same time as the scheduled review of all financial aid recipients at the end of the spring semester. Credit hours earned by a student at another institution will only be included in satisfactory academic calculations after K-State's Office of Admissions has formally accepted the transfer credits.

Topics within Student Financial Assistance:
	Programs		Satisfactory Academic Progress