Standards of Academic Progress
It’s important for you to understand and meet the requirements of Standards of Academic Progress (SAP). SAP is a series of standards required to maintain eligibility for federal student aid. Requirements include completion of credit hours, grade point average (GPA) and completion of your degree program or certificate within the allotted time.
Attendance
To ensure the commitment to student success, attendance must be taken in all classes, regardless of modality, starting with the first day of the class.
Title IV Refund
The Financial Aid Office is required by federal statute to recalculate federal financial aid eligibility for students who completely withdraw, stop attending, or take a medical leave prior to completing 60% of a payment period or term.
Freeze date (date enrollment is determined)
The amount of your financial aid award is determined by your enrollment at the end of the 6th day of the semester. This is known as the ‘freeze date’.
If you add or drop classes before the freeze date, your aid will be adjusted based on the number of credit hours you are enrolled.
If you add or drop classes after the freeze date in any given semester, your aid will not be adjusted for that term, but you could be in violation of the Standards of Academic Progress policy.
Please contact the Financial Aid Office for more information on the freeze date and how it will impact your financial aid.
Repeat Coursework Policy
Students may receive financial aid for repeating courses. However, if retaking a previously passed course, financial aid can only be used for one repeat of that course. Any course that is repeated will be used in the calculation of a student’s Satisfactory Academic Progress status.
Midterm Policy
Midterm grades will be entered for each student in every class in which they are enrolled. Students will be notified after all midterm grades have been posted. Students earning an F and failing to attend after the initial never attend deadline will be assessed a midterm grade of an F with the last date of attendance and will be administratively withdrawn.
Developmental courses
A student is limited to 30 attempted developmental credit hours while receiving federal financial aid. Federal financial aid programs will not cover any developmental courses taken after reaching the maximum 30 hours.
Learn more and to view developmental course listing
Course Program of Study
The U.S. Department of Education requires that institutions ensure financial aid funds are only used to pay for courses that apply to a student’s program of study (major/minor). Course Program of Study (CPOS) is a Federal regulation that requires that only courses that count directly toward your program of study (major/minor) can be counted toward your enrollment level, which is used to determine your Federal financial aid eligibility.
At Stark State, this isn’t just about financial aid, but rather about ensuring our students are enrolled in the correct classes needed to graduate and make progress towards degree completion.