Quick Question about Satisfactory Academic Progress

Paying for College
1

<p>My school's requirement for making Satisfactory Academic Progress is graduating within the maximum time frame (five years) - From the financial aid pamphlet: "At the University of Washington, undergraduate students may be eligible for aid for up to the equivalent of five full-time years of total enrollment."</p>

<p>Here is the website: <a href="http://www.washington.edu/students/osfa/sapleaf.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.washington.edu/students/osfa/sapleaf.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>However, I am a transfer student and I am considering double majoring in biology and anthropology. I will need about 100 more credits to complete my biology degree and about 45 more to complete my anthropology degree.</p>

<p>I have read the financial aid website carefully but I still have a couple of questions.</p>

<p>All together, I have about 102 credits that I am transferring - 82 are college credits from a community college while 20 are AP credits. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>I understand that the 82 college credits are counted in the maximum time frame, but what about my 20 AP credits?</p></li>
<li><p>Does "five years" refer to five years as in 225 credits, or to actual years as in passage of time? </p></li>
</ol>

<p>What I mean is, overall I will be taking about 245 credits, which equals about five and a half years of credits (taking classes only in fall/winter/spring), making me ineligible for financial aid for that last half of a year. </p>

<p>But could I get around this by taking classes in the summer, therefore making my actual graduation time within the five year period, even though I would be taking more than 225 credits?</p>

<p>Hopefully my questions make sense. Thanks in advance for any help.</p>

2

<p>If I were in your shoes, I would select one of those majors for an undergrad degree and perhaps pursue the other as a graduate.</p>

3

<p>Usually it’s measured not in calendar years, but in semesters or quarters that you recieve aid. You will need to talk to your financial aid office directly about this. I suspect that you will need to appeal for the last quarter/semester of aid, or two.</p>

4

<p>

Actually it varies from school to school. At the 2 schools I know of it is based on credit hours not time periods. They both have the credit hour limit set at 150% of the number of credit hours your particular degree takes. So if your degree requires 130 credit hours then the limit for SAP would be 195 hours. This includes all hours attempted so any dropped classes would be included in the 195 hours. I don’t know about AP hours. There is an appeals process where they may override the max hours if they consider the circumstances to justify it. </p>

<p>You really would need to talk to someone in your financial aid office to find an answer for your particular school. Schools set their own SAP rules to a certain extent so no one else can really tell you for sure.</p>

5

<p>Our is based on credit hours. Students are able to request exceptions from the review committee, although there is no guarantee the request will be granted. </p>

<p>My suggestion is to contact your school’s SAP coordinator. Email is best — that way, you will have a written record of the response.</p>