<p>I received financial aid last summer (2011). I took 2 classes, one I received a B and the other I got an F. This of course dropped my GPA below the 2.0 requirement. I got an email at the time letting me know that I was on Warning status (as expected). 2 days later, however I received an email from the financial aid office saying I was disqualified. I spent a lot of time on the phone trying to figure out what happened, all I got out of the people in the office was "someone decided that you're disqualified"... and that's it. Eventually it got so frustrating that I just gave up. That Fall semester I really just gave up, discouraged and angry that I got disqualified for no apparent reason. (Btw, that Spring semester before the summer I made all A's & B's)</p>
<p>Now I applied for financial aid again but I'm still on that disqualification status... is there any way I can appeal this since I was wrongly disqualified?</p>
<p>Financial aid disqualification is usually because you don’t meet the school’s satisfactory academic progress requirements. SAP is usually based on meeting a minimum GPA, a minimum % of credits attempted (including any withdrawals) successfully completed, and not exceeding a maximum number of credits for your program. Each school is required to have a SAP policy. </p>
<p>You need to arrange a meeting with a financial aid officer at your school (an actual officer, not a student helper). Find out which SAP requirement you fail to meet and ask about the appeals process. Usually an appeal involves writing a letter explaining why you failed to meet SAP and explaining what you plan to do differently in the future, but your school will have their own requirements. Don’t go in with the attitude that you were wrongly disqualified. If you don’t meet SAP, a school can and will disqualify you. They are required to by federal requirements. </p>
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<p>Are you saying you did badly again the fall following your disqualification? That won’t help your case in an appeal, but if your appeal is granted, then you may be given aid on a probationary basis for a semester. It is vital to meet all the requirements of the granted appeal or you will lose aid again and probably be unable to appeal it.</p>
<p>If your appeal is not granted, you will have to return to school on your own dime and get your GPA or credit status back up to where you meet SAP.</p>
<p>Yes that’s what I meant, I did badly that Fall. I figured that would make it harder… But do you think there’s really a chance that I can appeal it for this semester despite doing poorly that Fall?</p>
<p>Ok, so I just got off the phone with someone from the financial aid office that was able to help me out a <em>little</em> more… She said the reason I didn’t get a probation semester is because the summer was technically a probation in itself? I don’t really understand how that works…</p>
<p>I’m not sure what it means either. Only the school can really tell you.</p>
<p>My initial thought would be that you did not meet SAP at the end of the spring semester, making summer probationary. But you said you had all As and Bs the prior semester? At the end of the spring semester, did you meet all SAP requirements? In other words::
Did you meet the cumulative GPA requirement?
Out of all the credits you have ever attempted (including any withdrawals), did you successfully complete the required % (on average this seems to be be around 75% depending on the school). If you had any prior withdrawals, those and the F could drop you below the required %. For instance, if you signed up for 12 hours in the Spring and dropped 3, then signed up for 6 hours in the summer and failed 3, that would take your successful completion to 66.667% which may be below your schools SAP requirement.
Have you exceeded the maximum number of attempted credits allowed?</p>
<p>Does your summer semester have separate terms within it? If you got the F first and then the B, that might be why summer was the probationary period, if they have probationary terms instead of semesters.</p>
<p>Your school has to have a clearly spelled out SAP policy available for all to see. Ask for it, then see how your situation fits. Remember, they do NOT have to make exceptions … so if your situation is such that you do not meet the strict definition of satisfactory academic progress, that is why you lost your aid. You will have to pay for school without federal or institutional aid … and meet the requirements of the SAP policy … before you will again be eligible for federal aid. The feds have really tightened up on SAP regulations, and schools have no choice but to comply.</p>
<p>kelsmom I’ve looked over the SAP policy but I can’t fiind anything that states why I would have lost eligibility. At first I thought maybe the policy had change that semester… but nope.</p>
<p>There are 3 stated reasons on the website why I would be disqualified without a warning period:</p>
<p>If I cannot mathematically:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Complete declared academic program by the 150% unit limit - I only failed 1 class at that point</p></li>
<li><p>Raise my cumulative GPA to a 2.0 by the next semester I was enrolled - My first semester, the spring, I had a 3.33. That summer I got a 1.5 bringing my average to a 2.4</p></li>
<li><p>Meet the 67% pace requirement by the next semester - like I mentioned I only got one F</p></li>
</ol>
<h1>1 applies to students who have a ton of credits, not to you.</h1>
<h1>2 seems to be met, according to your comments.</h1>
<h1>3 is the issue. You did not meet the pace requirement. It appears that SAP at your school includes fall, spring, and summer sessions. SAP is run for that time period, and if you do not meet the 67% requirement during that time, you do not meet the pace requirement. You took two classes and failed one. Assuming that the classes were worth an equal number of credits, you passed 50% of your classes.</h1>
<p>Even though I didn’t meet it for that semester I could still meet it by next semester, right? And I should just be placed on warning period? Or am I misunderstanding this?</p>
<p>Sorry, I thought summer was your first term. Rereading your posts, though, it seems that spring was your first term. I can’t really tell from your posts exactly what happened. If you spent a semester without aid, and if you met SAP requirements after the end of that term, you might be able to successfully appeal. The GPA is cumulative, though, not just for the term. </p>
<p>Sorry, but I am a little confused about exactly what happened. It might help if you post the following:
<ol>
<li>Spring 2011 (first semester): 15 units enrolled, 0 dropped, 15 completed, 3.33 gpa</li>
<li>Summer 2011: 6 units enrolled, 0 dropped, 3 completed, 1.5 term gpa, 2.81 cumulative</li>
</ol>
<p>I was then placed on warning status since my gpa dropped below a 2.0, then 4 days later received notice that I was disqualified. </p>
<ol>
<li>Fall 2011: 13 units enrolled, 0 dropped, only 3 completed, 0.69 term gpa, 2.0 cumulative</li>
</ol>
<p>This fall semester is my first one back. I can appeal for my horrible performance in fall 2011 based on medical reasons, but I don’t know how much good that would do anyways… The lady I spoke to today mentioned that they might want to wait until my grades for this semester come out (I’m getting straight A’s now) but I wasn’t clear on whether or not that would be to receive aid for this semester, or for next like you mentioned. I’m pretty much expecting to start receiving aid again in the spring since my grades will be much better, but it would just really, really help me out a lot to get it this semester already lol</p>
<p>Your school seems to have a more stringent SAP policy than I am used to seeing. It appears they are using the semester GPA, rather than the cumulative GPA … and they are doing it every semester. If you PM me your school name, I would love to snoop around their website to see their written SAP policy.</p>
<p>If you appeal to try to get aid for this semester, you can’t wait until grades are out … once the semester is over, you can’t get aid for the current term. If you want to try to appeal, it is your right to do so. You might get approved. If not, though, you will not have aid for the current term. It is possible that a good GPA this term might get you off probation automatically, and you wouldn’t even have to appeal next term … but that depends on your school’s policy & whether or not you’d automatically meet SAP after this term.</p>
<p>I’m at Palomar College in San Marcos, CA… from my investigation it seems they have they same SAP policies as most places but something went wrong in my situation lol… if you can uncover something I didn’t that would be great!</p>
<p>Your first warning status appears to be an error, at least according to the info you posted and the SAP policy. Your CUMULATIVE gpa did not drop below 2.0; therefore, you were not in violation of the SAP policy for gpa, which states that your cum gpa must be above 2.0. If this is correct, you should not have been placed on warning status that term. </p>
<p>If you should not have been placed on warning for summer, then you would have received your first warning status at the end of fall semester (meaning you would be on warning now rather than actually losing aid for the current term). You would not be subject to automatic disqualification without warning, because it is mathematically possible for you to achieve the 67% requirement by the end of the current term (21 earned + 12 possible = 33; 34 attempted + 12 fall = 46; 33/46=71.7%) … and because your gpa is currently 2.0, it is mathematically possible that you will have a cumulative gpa of at least 2.0 at the end of the current term.</p>
<p>If you have remedial classes, it is possible that those are skewing things … they may not count & thus will throw things off. You might actually have been ineligible if any of your earned credits were remedial classes.</p>
<p>I would sit down with an aid advisor and ask to be shown exactly what happened, when, and why … and at each step, ask to see what part of the SAP policy it violated. Best of luck to you.</p>