Financial Aid Appeals
A student may appeal the suspension status and termination of financial aid by completing an appeal request. In some cases, a student’s failure to be in compliance with one or more areas of SAP is due to events beyond the student’s control. If such mitigating circumstances can be documented for the specific semester(s) when the deficiencies occurred, the student may submit a Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal Request, along with supporting documentation. Submission of an appeal does not guarantee approval.
Each appeal is reviewed by the Financial Aid Committee, comprised of staff and faculty, and will be considered on its merit. Federal law gives some examples where allowances might be made for mitigating circumstances. Reasons may include, for example, personal illness or injury, or serious illness or death of an immediate family member.
Students may not appeal for the same reason more than one time.
The Financial Aid Committee determines if justifiable evidence or extenuating circumstances exist and whether the student may receive financial aid for a specified probationary semester. Satisfactory Academic Progress must be demonstrated by the end of the specified probationary semester before further aid can be awarded, unless the student has been assigned an academic plan by the College. Students must successfully follow and meet the requirements of an academic plan to continue on probation status. Students placed on a probation status will have progress reviewed at the end of each semester for compliance until Satisfactory Academic Progress is achieved. Students with approved appeals must be in compliance with the following academic plan:
- Term GPA at least 2.5
- 75% successful completion rate for the term
- Meet Satisfactory Academic Progress by the end of the number of terms the probationary status was approved.