<p>My daughter just found out her financial aid has been suspended due to her GPA and because she has earned less than the required 67% of all attempted hours . </p>
<p>Her freshman year she took on more than she could handle and failed one class. She retook the class and passed. Just barely. She has changed her major and has taken a course load that she can handle. She has met with her academic adviser several times and never was a possible f/a suspension mentioned. </p>
<p>She just got this suspension letter today and has been attending classes for a week already and bought all her books. </p>
<p>I was wondering if anyone knows what are her chances of an appeal?</p>
<p>I know that I have written a letter for a student for a financial aid appeal. She should go to the FA office and find out the process.</p>
<p>She went today and got the appeal process form and she is going to if her adviser can help her with this. </p>
<p>Did the student get the appeal approved? Was it similar circumstances?</p>
<p>Every school has their own process for appealing SAP (satisfactory academic progress) financial aid issues. Knowing happened with other students at different schools is only marginally helpful.Have your daughter complete the paper work for the appeal. She should not try to gloss over this or make excuses. She needs to tell what she did and how she is changing to rectify the situation. Good luck to her. I hope it works out.</p>
<p>Tremul, thumper is right about every school and every situation being different. Look at it this way: if they have a form for appeals, it is a common occurrence. </p>
<p>I do not know what happened with my student. The population at a community college, where I work, is pretty transient.</p>
<p>At the university where I work, appeals are fairly common and are often granted. They want to know what caused the Satisfactory Academic Progress issue, and how the issue will be addressed/what will be different this time. They don’t want students to take on additional debt and/or take away aid from others if they aren’t succeeding.</p>
<p>Also, there are usually different rules about academics and financial aid. Sometimes they are the same (low GPA, for example). But dropping a class usually doesn’t hurt you academically but can impact Financial Aid – there’s a formula for the number of hours attempted vs earned. At our school they “freeze” your attempted credit hours at a certain point in the term (if you are receiving federal financial aid) and then if you drop after that it can be an issue. Students must complete 75% of courses attempted in a term, and overall (cumulative) must be completing 67% or higher of courses attempted. So dropping courses after the hours are frozen can really impact the completion rate.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your replies! My daughter was pre-pharm her freshman year and she just was not academically equipped for the course load. She had tutoring and help from study groups but just was not grasping it. I really hope for her sake they give her a second chance.</p>
<p>It seems that most times they do give a second chance. The important thing in the appeal is for her to explain why she failed to meet SAP and what she will be doing differently in the future. If the appeal is granted, she will probably be on probationary FA for at least the semester. It is essential that she meet any conditions set out if the appeal is granted.</p>
<p>
This is not unusual. FA and academic advising are 2 completely different departments with 2 different types of expertise. An academic adviser will not know FA rules any more than an FA officer will know the details individual degree programs. Unfortunately most students are unaware of the existence of SAP policies and how important it is to check with the FA department when making decisions about dropping classes, going less than full time etc etc. It is probably something that should be communicated more clearly to students.</p>
<p>I have to say, you would think they could have let her know about the FA suspension a little earlier than this stage of the semester. My daughter’s FA department has been very proactive this summer and had sent her about 6 letters warning her she is no longer eligible for FA as she has exceeded the max credits for her degree (she took a minor and an additional certification). But she is not too worried as she has already graduated!</p>
<p>Hi Treemul:</p>
<p>As all have stated, every University’s SAP process is different. I understand how troubling this must be for you and your daughter, and one would hope and believe that the University is mostly interested in knowing how your daughter plans to rectify and reestablish her financial aide eligibility. Encourage her to present a concise and passionate response to the University, which should include her solution for academic success this semester. What courses is she currently taking this semester?* Mention how carefully she selected her current schedule. Has she discussed this year’s academic course load with her Academic Advisor? *If so, have her mention in her SAP when she last met with her Advisor and how this year (after further academic advisement) she is more confident this year in her course selections. Pre-pharm is a difficult major, so I would think that it would not hurt to mention in her appeal (for example) how well she performed in science/math courses in High School, and how she had unrealistic academic expectations as an in-coming Freshman, navigating collegiate level science and mathematics courses versus that of courses she‘d previously taken at the High School level. </p>
<p>I also believe that it would be prudent to mention in her SAP statement, that she did meet with a Tutor last year (<em>mention the Tutor(s) name(s), and how many hours per week/number of weeks she attended), and that she did willingly participate in group study tutorial sessions (</em>name the group/ times/ dates they met). If possible, ask her to get a letter of support from her Tutor(s) last year, and attach said correspondence to her SAP package. (This will show that she was aggressively proactive in attempting to understand the material as best she could). What is also extremely important, is that she is confident in this year’s schedule so that once her SAP is approved, she will not face an identical situation next semester. Is it too late to ADD/DROP courses this fall? If not, she should meet with her Academic Advisor right away (now that she has been in classes for a week) and discuss with him/her, any concerns that she may have about this year’s schedule. Advise her to adjust her academic schedule as needed, in an attempt to try and guarantee (with some degree of certainty) that her GPA will be much improved by year’s end. </p>
<p>Tell you daughter to keep her chin up (and PLEASE, I want you to do the same). As a parent, I would love to tell you that I do not know what this feels like to know your child is in this predicament, and yet that would be the farthest statement from truth! Further, I must share that I also have friends whose children also suffered a poor grade Freshman year (balanced with multiple-average-average grading weight/percentages) concluding in similar results. At the end of the day, this is only ONE class that has harmed her Financial Aid status, and the University is clearly aware of that fact! She needs to present her best SAP package. Illustrate all of the previous attempts she has made in an effort to try and maintain her eligibility, and have her discuss what she is doing this semester that will guarantee a much improved result and restored eligibility. </p>
<p>God Bless to you both. I wish your daughter nothing less than 100% success!</p>
<p>Thank you Lilmamma! She has met with her adviser several times before summer break and they came up with a better fit for her. She is focusing on occupational therapy now and seems to think her grades will greatly improve. This is just so very stressful and it hard to help her when I am 100 miles away. Thanks again.</p>