I have transferred from a private, 4-year college to a community college because of personal reasons. Fall semester of '14, I did not do well and my GPA went under a 2.0; however, after going through a workshop and doing well with my classes for Spring semester, I passed with a 3.2 GPA. Now, the question, the financial aid office at my college is saying I have denied because non-complacency. I did everything they told me to do in the workshop, and this was my first warning, but I don’t understand how I don’t qualify for financial aid for next term. I called the financial aid office and a lady told me I had to take a 3 credit course over the summer and pass it in order to get my financial aid. Is this accurate? Are schools allowed to tell you to do this?
Read your school policy on Satisfactory Academic Progress, you can often google and find it online. It seems the lady was answering what you wanted to know, how to get back within SAP. If you didn’t want to know how, then why did you ask. I am guessing that your school averages the two semesters to see if you meet SAP and you didn’t and the one class will put you back within. That would be a lucky break because some students have to self pay a whole semester or year to get back in guidelines. But really you have to read and understand the guidelines to determine exactly what your status is. If you find you think you are in compliance then you have something to argue from a point of knowledge.
complacency means feeling content with status quo or low standards, so I don’t know what that is about. non compliance maybe?
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Are schools allowed to tell you to do this?
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Of course they are. The FA people are officers of FA. She’s telling you what you need to do, so do it.
You should make an appointment and tell them you don’t understand your FA options and loans. Some questions might be:
Can you explain SAP
Can you explain how taking a summer class will bring me into compliance
Is there another option
Am I in danger of running out of FA
How much are my total loans now and after the summer
You need to understand your FA before taking out more loans.
The FA office needs to say you are making academic progress - they may have institutional guidelines for that.
By taking the 3 credit course this summer, they can see the SP and SU terms meeting/exceeding their requirements for making academic progress.
Please listen and adhere!