Graduate Academic Progress for Financial Aid

Satisfactory Academic Progress for Financial Aid Recipients

Wilmington University’s Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy for Financial Aid Recipients is comprised of two components:  A qualitative and a quantitative. The qualitative component is measured by the student’s GPA; whereas, the quantitative component is measured by the successful completion of credits. Both components are described in detail below.

Qualitative Measure - Grade Point Average

The Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy for Federal Financial Aid (Title IV) Recipients mirrors the University’s academic policy with regard to GPA. Graduate students must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0. GPA review occurs at the end of every semester. Students who do not meet the required minimum will be placed on financial aid warning and must sign a Financial Aid Warning Letter, which indicates students:

• are aware that they are not making satisfactory academic progress based on cumulative GPA
• understand that they are on financial aid warning
• understand the consequence of not improving their GPA

Graduate students who do not attain the required 3.0 minimum cumulative GPA by the end of the next term of attendance will immediately become ineligible for financial aid.

Quantitative Measure – Completion Rate/Pace

In addition to GPA standards, students must progress at a 67% completion rate. This also includes all withdraws and repeated classes, each one counts once. (Example: ENG 101 is taken and student withdraws, student takes the class again and fails; then the student takes the class and passes, for federal financial aid purposes, this equals attempted 9 credits and passed 3 credits). That is, on a cumulative basis, students must successfully complete 67% of the credits attempted. Successful completion is defined as earning an “A”, “B”, “C”, or “D” in a course.

Completion rate review occurs at the end of every semester. Students must attain and maintain a minimum completion rate of 67%. The policy for students who do not meet the minimum completion rate is as follows:

• A student placed on financial aid warning is given one semester to improve his/her completion rate. In addition, the student must sign a Financial Aid Warning Letter, which indicates students:
  • are aware that they are not making satisfactory academic progress based on completion rate
  • understand that they are on financial aid warning
  • understand the consequence of not improving their completion rate

Maximum Time Frame (Maximum Number of Attempted Credits Allowed)

In addition to completion rate standards, students are restricted to the maximum number of credits for which they can receive financial aid. All students are expected to complete degree requirements within 150% of the number of credits required by the program. For example, if a graduate program requires 36 credits, students must complete it within 54 credits (36 x 150% = 54).

• The 150% Maximum Time Frame is based on credits earned.
• All transfer credits are included in the calculation.
• Students who complete degree requirements are considered to have reached their Maximum Time Frames and are no longer eligible for financial aid.
• Students who complete degree requirements and apply for and are accepted into a subsequent undergraduate or graduate degree program will receive a “new” 150% calculation. However, all credits attempted at Wilmington University and all transfer credits that can be included in the new degree will be counted.

Treatment of W, I, F, FA and NA Grades, No Grade Reported and Repeated Coursework

• Course withdrawals (W grade) are not included in the GPA calculation, but are considered a non-completion of attempted coursework.
• Incomplete courses (I grades), unofficial withdrawals (FA and NA grades) are included in the GPA calculation as no credit earned (0 quality points earned towards the GPA) and are considered a non-completion of attempted coursework until the coursework is completed and graded with a permanent grade. 
• F grades are treated as attempted credits that were not earned and are included both in the calculation of GPA and completion rate.
• If no grade is reported or a grade of X, the coursework is not included in the GPA calculation but is considered a non-completion of attempted coursework until the coursework is completed and graded with a permanent grade.
• The highest grade earned in a course that is repeated will count in the GPA computation, but every repeated attempt will be included in the completion rate calculations.

Treatment of credits transferred into the university from other schools

All credits accepted for transfer to the student’s program of study by Wilmington University are taken into consideration under the quantitative measurement component of SAP as both attempted and earned credits. Grades earned at other institutions are not counted when computing the student's GPA.