Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) |
| We believe in you. And we believe in your ability to understand and proactively respond to the expectations that we have of you as a financial aid recipient. The Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) basics are outlined here as well as in the university catalogs and in other literature that we have sent to you. We look forward to hearing from you if you have questions. |
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| Why Do You Need To Know This? |
When you receive financial aid funding from federal or state resources,there are "a few strings attached" in order to maintain eligibility. Basically, there are three aspects to Satisfactory Academic Progress:
Hours Completed
Your Grades
Degree Completion Time Frame
You must satisfy all aspects in order to continue to receive federal or state financial aid.
Hours Completed: You must complete at least 75% of the course hours for which you were funded each semester.
Your Grades: You must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average
Degree Completion Time Frame: You must complete your degree within the stated number of credit hours, outlined in the 'Degree Completion-The Details' section below.
Also on this page, you can find out how to regain good standing after suspension.
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| Hours to Complete |
The NAU Office of Student Financial Aid awards financial aid based on what you reported on your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and monitors how many credit hours you complete each semester, accordingly. If you indicated that you planned to attend full-time, you would have to enroll in full-time hours before your funds would disburse (for an undergraduate student, this would be 12 hours). We hope you will successfully complete all of these hours; however, you are required to complete at least 75% in order to remain in good financial aid standing
While 12 credit hours per semester is considered to be full-time enrollment for an undergraduate student, we recommend that undergraduate students take at least 15 hours per semester in order to graduate within 4 years.
If you are receiving funding from tribal and other scholarship/tuition award sources, confirm eligibility requirements with the tribe or scholarship office/donor as these may differ from source to source.
How Will My Hours Be Evaluated?
Evaluation will occur at the end of each semester for all students. Satisfactory Academic Progress standing will be set at the end of each summer for the upcoming aid year. However, students who are not maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress by the end of Spring semester will not receive financial aid for the Summer semester. Summer will be considered the term in which students may make up deficiencies and regain eligibility.
Good Standing: If you complete an accumulative of 75% or more of the hours for which you were funded for the aid year.
Probation: If you fail to complete 75% but are successful in completing at least 25%, you will be put on probation the following academic year. If you earn at least 75% of your hours during your probation year, you will begin the following academic year with a 'clean slate'. If, however, you fail to earn 75% of your funded hours during this probationary academic year, you will be suspended from financial aid during the August evaluation at the end of your probation year and the suspension will be effective in the Fall.
Suspension: If you earn less than an accumulative of 25% of your fundable hours for the aid year, you will be suspended during the August evaluation for the upcoming aid year. |
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| Regaining Good Standing After Suspension |
If you've been suspended from financial aid, whether for failing to earn at least 25% of your fundable hours or for not meeting your probationary requirements, you must earn nine (9) hours in one semester to regain fundable status. These can be earned at another institution as long as they are transferable and you can receive aid at that institution while making up the hours.
Students attending another institution must contact the NAU Registrar's Office to determine which courses are transferable, arrange to have an official academic transcript sent to the NAU Registrar's Office for evaluation and placement in the student's file (may take two to four weeks processing time) and notify the NAU Office of Student Financial Aid when those hours have been evaluated.
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| Your Grades |
The Director of Academic Retention monitors your cumulative grade point average. If your cumulative grade point average (GPA) falls below the published standards, you are placed on Academic Probation and must earn a 2.0 GPA during your Academic Probation semester or you will automatically be placed on Academic Suspension. Students on Academic Suspension are also considered to be on Financial Aid Suspension.
The minimum grade point averages are: |
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Cumulative Hours GPA |
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| Hours |
GPA |
| 1-14 |
1.8 |
| 15-29 |
1.9 |
| 30+ |
2.0 |
| For additional information, contact the NAU Director of Academic Retention at (928) 523-4821. |
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| Degree Completion |
The maximum time frame for the completion of a degree is limited by federal regulations to 150% of the published length of the degree program and includes transfer credits and all attempted credit hours including completed credits, audits, incompletes, withdrawals and repeated or failed classes.
The NAU Office of Student Financial Aid monitors your number of credit hours at the end of every semester. Once you exceed this maximum time frame for your program, you will no longer be eligible for federal or state financial aid for any future semester.
As NAU automatically allows the maximum credits as specified by federal regulations, an appeal for an extension will only be considered for extraordinary circumstances.
The limits are as follows:
Undergraduate and Post-Degree Undergraduate Students are eligible for financial aid up to 150% of their degree requirements, based on what is published in the NAU Undergraduate catalog. This includes transfer hours.
Post-Degree Teacher Certification Students are eligible for financial aid up to 90 hours, including transfer hours.
Graduate Students are eligible for financial aid up to 75 hours, including transfer hours. |
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Additional Information |
Audited courses are ineligible for financial aid funding and do not count toward the total number of earned credit hours for that semester; however, they DO count toward your maximum cumulative credit hours.
College Level Examination Program (CLEP) credits are not eligible for financial aid funding.
REPEAT courses are counted in the total number of credits for that semester and may only be funded twice with state and/or federal financial aid. Students receiving tribal scholarships should confirm acceptance of 'repeat classes' for tribal scholarship eligibility.
"X" courses taken through NAU are not counted toward cumulative hours earned, but will be considered for financial aid funding and in determining successful completion of funded hours.
Credit hours removed from the total cumulative hours due to Academic Renewal or repeated classes will be added back into the total for the purpose of Maximum Cumulative Hour Extension Appeal consideration.
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| *While we expect you to be aware of your own progress as it relates to this policy, we will attempt to notify you of any 'deficiencies' at the end of each semester in a courtesy email to your NAU student DANA account. For this reason, it is imperative that you regularly check your DANA e-mail account and keep all of your address information current with the university via LOUIE at www.nau.edu/louie. When you are in your main student page, you will see notification of any holds on the right side of the screen. |
The awarding of financial aid is at the discretion of the Director of the Office of Student Financial Aid. |
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| If you would like more information regarding SAP: |
NAU Office of Student Financial Aid - Main Office
Gammage Building #1
PO Box 4108, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-4108
Telephone: (928) 523-4951
E-mail: financial.aid@nau.edu
Fax: (928) 523-1551
NAU-Paradise Valley Financial Aid Office
Phoenix Office of Student Financial Aid
15601 N. 28th Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85053
(602) 728-9506
NAU-Tucson Financial Aid Office
401 N. Bonita Ave.
(520) 879-7910
NAU-Yuma Financial Aid Office
9500 South Ave., (AWC) #8E
(928) 317-6400 |
