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If you receive federal and/or state financial aid, then you must maintain satisfactory academic progress (SAP) toward the completion of an eligible program of study. Your entire academic history is evaluated at the end of each semester to determine your financial aid academic progress, even if you were not a prior recipient of financial aid. Note: Financial Aid calculations for academic progress may differ from the calculations done by Admissions and Records.

The SAP policy applies to both Title IV and non-Title IV financial aid, which includes the following forms of financial aid:

  • Federal Pell Grant
  • Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
  • Federal Work-Study
  • Federal Direct Loans
  • California State Cal Grant
  • All State-funded programs

The SAP policy applies equally to all students, regardless of your level of enrollment or academic program – that is, full-time enrollment, part-time enrollment, and all educational programs offered through Los Rios.

If you fail to make SAP, then you will receive a notification in your eServices message center from the Financial Aid Office explaining which specific SAP requirement you did not meet. This can be qualitative (GPA), quantitative (Pace of Progression), and/or Maximum Time Frame.

Standards

At the end of each semester, students are evaluated based on the following standards:

Course Repetition and Academic Renewal

To determine your GPA, the most recent grade for a repeated course and all grades for academic renewal courses will be used. All units (both current and prior) from repeated and academic renewal courses are counted toward the 150% maximum timeframe of units you are permitted to attempt. You are not eligible to receive aid for more than one repetition of a course that has been previously passed.

The regulations allow you to repeat a passed course once and a failed course until it is passed. You can receive aid for repeating a course you previously failed, regardless of the number of attempts. For courses previously passed with a "D" or better, you can receive aid for repeating them only one additional time. As long as the units are repeated per federal regulations, they are counted as attempted units in the calculation of the progress percentage.

Warning

If you fail to meet SAP due to the GPA and/or pace requirements, then you may be placed on Financial Aid Warning for one semester. During the warning period, you may be eligible to receive financial aid. If you do not meet cumulative GPA and/or pace requirements during the warning semester, you will be denied financial aid for the following semester.

How to Regain Financial Aid

If you lose financial aid because you have not met SAP standards, then you can regain your financial aid in two ways: by meeting SAP standards based on your own actions or by completing the appeal process.

Meet SAP Standards Based on Your Own Actions

Meeting SAP standards based on your own actions means taking the initiative to correct SAP deficiencies and make sure you meet each of the SAP criteria. If you re-establish your financial aid eligibility by meeting SAP standards while you are on probation status, then you are no longer required to meet your probation requirements.

Appeal Process

You may appeal for financial aid consideration. The processing timeframe can take up to six weeks from the date of a completed submission; this includes submitting your SAP Appeal form and supporting documentation. If additional documentation is requested/required, the processing time starts over from the date of your newest submission.

Deadlines

Submit your appeal and supporting documentation together by the appeal form deadline (see financial aid deadlines). Please include all required supporting documentation that corresponds to your appeal statement to ensure timely processing of your appeal.

Appeal Outcomes

Approved Appeals and Probation Status

If you are approved on an appeal, you will be placed on probation and your academic performance will be reviewed at the end of each term. If you fail to meet the requirements of your probation, you will be denied aid and will need to appeal again the following term.

Probation Requirements
  1. You successfully complete at least 66.67% of all courses attempted in each term following the appeal approval.
  2. You complete all coursework with a term GPA of 2.0 or higher in each term following the appeal approval.

If you meet all cumulative SAP standards by the end of the semester, you will be considered in good standing, and your probation will be lifted. If you are not meeting cumulative SAP standards by the end of the semester, you must meet the above probation requirements the following term.

Denied Appeals

If your appeal is denied, you may request a second review. Please notify American River College's Financial Aid Office regarding your request for a second review.

Financial aid eligibility is determined in compliance with federal and state regulations as well as institutional policies and does not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, age, disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, or other legally protected basis. If you wish to file a grievance, then you should follow the directions outlined in your college's catalog.