Satisfactory Academic Progress

When students apply for or receive financial aid, they are required to make satisfactory progress towards attaining a degree or certificate.  It is a requirement of both the federal and the state government.  The four standards of satisfactory academic progress are described below.

ITEM #1 – Minimum cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA)

Students must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA according to the following chart:

       Minimum Grade Point Average, cumulative (use the GPA Calculator):

Students must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA according to the following:

Board of Trustees Grant and Scholarship recipients must maintain a 2.0 minimum cumulative GPA at all times to continue receiving BOT awards.

ITEM #2 – Minimum Completion of Course Work

Students are expected to successfully complete the classes they register for each semester.  Successful completion is a passing grade, such as A, B, C, D, and S.  Grades such as U, F, X, AU or W are not successful completion.  A grade of "I " (Incomplete) is treated as an F until a final grade is recorded. Repeating classes can lower the completion rate.  Changing a class from credit to audit once the semester has begun can lower the completion rate.

The percentage of course work that must be successfully completed each semester is shown below:       

Your billed hours for developmental classes and English Language classes are included in the calculation of your semester completion rate.  For example, if you take six billed hours of developmental (noncredit) coursework during a semester, and only successfully complete three billed hours, your semester completion rate is 50%.  Financial aid will not pay for continuing education courses or any courses students register for as “Audit.”
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ITEM #3 – Maximum Time Frame

Students must complete their degree or certificate program at Montgomery College within a time frame that is no longer than 150% of the published length of the program.  The time frame includes all attempted credit course work at MC, as well as courses from other schools accepted for transfer at MC (regardless of any change in program or any prerequisite course work necessary for admission to a program).  The calculation does not include any developmental Math, English, Reading, or AELP courses, including SP102.  The appropriate time frame is calculated using the student’s current degree or certificate program, according to the Records and Registration Office.

For example, the General Studies A. A. degree program requires a maximum of 61 credit hours.  To maintain financial aid eligibility, students in this program may not attempt more than 92 credit hours.

ITEM #4 – Other Standards

A student cannot receive financial aid for more than the equivalent of one year of non-credit (developmental) courses (30 load hours).  The one-year limit does not include EL courses.
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Satisfactory Academic Progress Review Process

We review financial aid recipients for satisfactory academic progress when they apply for financial aid each year and at the end of the fall and spring semesters.  (We review summer semester grades at the end of the fall semester.)  Students who do not meet the requirements of Items #1 and #2 will be given a warning and placed on probation for one semester.  If they do not meet the standards by the end of the next registered semester, their financial aid eligibility will be terminated.  Students who do not meet the requirements of Item #3 will have their financial aid eligibility terminated.  Students whose eligibility is terminated are not eligible for financial aid until satisfactory academic progress is reestablished.

Appeal Process and Reinstatement of Financial Aid Eligibility

Students who are ineligible for financial aid or who are suspended from financial aid may appeal by submitting a written statement, with appropriate documentation, to the financial aid office.  Appeals are reviewed and students are notified of the results in writing.  Denied appeals may be submitted to the Campus Director.  The Financial Aid Professional Judgment Committee or the Director of Student Financial Aid reviews final appeals, if necessary.  Appeals are accepted for 30 days after the notification of financial aid suspension.

Reinstatement of aid eligibility after a financial aid suspension is not automatic when students improve their GPA or completion rate.  Students must request a review of their academic progress and aid eligibility.  To be considered for reinstatement, students must successfully complete a minimum of six billed hours during one semester with grades of A, B, C, or S in all hours taken.  Students must submit a written request containing proof of their academic progress to a campus Office of Student Financial Aid.
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Attendance

Students who receive financial aid must attend their classes.  Passing grades in classes are proof of attendance.  Students who withdraw from all of their classes or fail all of their classes, and do not have any passing mid-term grades, must submit proof of attendance to the Office of Student Financial Aid.  A written statement from all instructors that semester certifying attendance or copies of dated, graded class tests or papers are required.  If the financial aid office cannot document student attendance for the semester, all financial aid for that semester will be canceled and these students will owe a bill to the college.  Financial aid will be canceled within 60 days of the end of the semester unless attendance documentation is provided.  The canceled aid usually cannot be reinstated at a later date.