Satisfactory Academic Progress for Financial Aid

PAU has academic standards, detailed below, for students who receive federal student aid. These standards require students to enroll in an eligible program and courses to receive Federal Title IV aid. Students must make reasonable and timely advancement toward the completion of their degree. This is known as Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP).

SAP is measured both on the number of credits a student has earned in a year and the grades obtained for those credits. SAP is evaluated beginning with the first classes attended by a matriculated student at PAU, regardless of whether or not the student received aid for these classes. SAP is reviewed at the end of each quarter (fall, winter, spring, and summer). In order to be considered making Satisfactory Academic Progress, all financial aid applicants and recipients must meet the following criteria:

Cumulative PAU grade point average (GPA)

Undergraduate: All undergraduate students are required to maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.0. The GPA is based on the classes taken at PAU and does not include GPA from transfer courses.
Graduate: All graduate students are required to maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0.

Cumulative Pace of Completion

At minimum, students must successfully complete 67% of the credits attempted and maintain a 67% cumulative completion rate. This calculation is performed by dividing the total number of successfully completed PAU credits by the total number of attempted credits. Transfer credits will be used in this calculation.
Maximum Time Frame for Degree Completion: Students must complete their degree requirements within 150% of the published length of their academic program. This includes both PAU credits attempted and those accepted in transfer. For example, a program that requires 180 units to earn a degree must be completed within a maximum of 270 units.

Definitions of Course Completion

In the undergraduate and graduate programs, completed credits include A, B, C, and D grades.
Grades of F, NC, W, I, or Audit do not count toward total units completed.
An incomplete grade will count as attempted credits and credits not earned. Once the grade changes to a passing grade (A, B, C, D), it will be counted in both attempted credits and credits earned, and the cumulative completion rate will be recalculated.
If a student is permitted to repeat a course, both the original and the repeat course will be noted on the student’s transcript. However, only unit credit and grade points earned for the higher grade are counted in computing the grade point average. Both the repeat course and the original course will be counted as attempted units.

Grade Changes

Any time a grade change occurs, the Office of Financial Aid (OFA) is notified by the Registrar. Upon receipt of change, the OFA will reevaluate the student’s SAP standing for the current quarter. If the grade change causes a change in SAP status, the status will be updated for that current quarter. For example, a student is on Financail Aid SAP Warning for the Winter Quarter due to not meeting the GPA minimum requirement measurement. During the first week of the Winter Quarter the OFA receives a grade change for a previous quarter. OFA will reevaluate the student’s GPA with the updated grade to determine if the student meets the SAP standards. If so, the student’s financial aid warning will be removed and they will be placed back in good standing.