SAP Policy

 

It is MCHP’s policy to enforce the Federal rules surrounding SAP as defined by the following rules and procedures.

 

Consistent Application of Policy – MCHP’s SAP policy provides for consistent application of standards to all students within categories of students, e.g., full-time, part-time, undergraduate, and educational programs established by the school.

 

MCHP’s Registrar is instrumental in working with the Financial Aid Office to ensure that consistent standards are applied to all students within the categories noted above by identifying the students by category upon request by the aid office.

 

Frequency of SAP ReviewMCHP reviews SAP after each payment period based on pace and grade point average for each student. All students receiving financial aid must complete a given number of credits in comparison to those attempted, as noted under Pace. The scale varies depending on the status of student – full-time, part-time or three-quarter time – and the educational program in which the student is enrolled.

 

Each semester, the MCHP’s Registrar provides a report to the Financial Aid Office that verifies that students listed on the official roster have achieved satisfactory progress as defined in the components of that policy listed below.

 

Reinstatement of Eligibility: Financial aid eligibility may be regained by eliminating all SAP deficiencies (at the student’s expense) until the requirements of the SAP policy are met, or by the student successfully appealing their SAP status. Students who do not enroll for a semester, or pay for school at their own expense, do not automatically qualify to receive financial aid in a subsequent semester.

 

Timeframe – The maximum allowable timeframe for receiving financial aid is equal to 150% of the published length of the academic program.

 

Example: If the program requires 70 credit hours for graduation, a student would reach the maximum timeframe at three years of enrollment.

 

Pace – A student must complete 67% of credit hours attempted each semester to remain compliant with the SAP policy. The pace is calculated by dividing the cumulative number of hours a student has successfully completed by the cumulative number of hours the student has attempted.  MCHP does not include remedial courses in the Pace calculation. Transfer credit hours from another institution that are accepted toward a student’s educational program are counted as both attempted and completed hours. Course incompletes and withdrawals are included in both the Pace and GPA calculations; students do receive Title IV student aid for repeating a course.

 

Example: Successfully completed credit hours (12) are divided by the attempted credit hours (16) to calculate pace (75%). The pace must be at least 67% in order to meet eligibility requirements.

 

Completed Hours ÷ Attempted Hours = Pace

 

Completed Credit Hours = All credit hours with a passing grade on

a student’s academic record, according to the Registrar (A, A-, B+,

B, B-, C+, C, P, TR) and all transfer credit hours.

 

Attempted Credit Hours = All completed credit hours listed above, and all credit hours with a non-passing grade (C-, D+, D, D-, F, WF, WP) on a student’s academic record, according to the Registrar.

 

 

Enrollment In Program

Full-time= 12+ Credits ¾ Time =

9-11 Credits

½ Time = 6 Credits
Maximum # Academic Years to Complete Program  

3 Years

 

4.5 Years

 

6 Years

 

 

GPA – Title IV aid recipients at MCHP must maintain at least a 2.0 Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) to remain eligible to receive Federal student aid.

 

If a student is enrolled at MCHP more than 2 academic years, the student must have a “C” or its equivalent, or have academic standing consistent with the college’s requirements for graduation. The Office of the Registrar calculates the student’s grade point average using MCHP’s academic standards. Students with insufficient grade point averages are notified of their status by the Financial Aid Office. Upon notification of the academic action, the Financial Aid Office will take the appropriate action.

 

Students not maintaining SAP will receive a letter from the Financial Aid Office indicating they have been places on Financial Aid Warning, the actions required to resume meeting SAP, and the time in which these actions must be completed. Students receiving such letter should see an academic counselor as soon as possible.

 

Financial Aid Warning – is a status assigned to a student that is not making SAP at the end of the semester/payment period.  A student on financial aid warning may continue to receive assistance under the Title IV, HEA programs for one semester/payment period despite a determination that the student is not making SAP.  A Financial Aid Warning status may be assigned without an appeal or other action by the student.  At the end of the Financial Aid Warning semester, the student must successfully meet SAP.  If the student does not meet SAP, the student will be suspended from receiving further financial aid.  The student may appeal this decision – see the Appeal Process below.

 

Financial Aid Probation – is a status assigned to a student that appeals a financial aid suspension and the appeal is granted.  While on “SAP Probation” status, the student can continue to receive financial aid.  A student placed on Financial Probation is a student that MCHP determined should be able to meet the school’s SAP standards by the end of the subsequent payment period, or meet the condition of an academic plan for the student to follow to ensure that the student is able to meet MCHP’s SAP standards by a specific point in time.  If at the end of the probation period, the student does not meet MCHP’s SAP standards or the terms of the academic plan condition, the student will be ineligible for all financial aid.

 

To remain eligible for financial aid, the student must meet MCHP’s SAP standards or the terms of the academic plan condition.  The student is then required to notify the Financial Aid Office in writing that the conditions of eligibility have been met. The student will be required to observe all normal application procedures and deadlines for financial aid consideration. The Financial Aid Office will verify eligibility with the Registrar and will notify the student, in writing, that the student is eligible for Title IV financial aid.

 

Appeal Process – Students who wish to request an appeal due to death of a relative, injury or illness of the student or other extenuating circumstances must submit the request to the Financial Aid Specialist.  As a part of the appeal, the student must detail the circumstances that impacted his/her performance, as well as what has changed to make rectification possible at the next point of evaluation.

 

The Financial Aid Office will review the appeal and notify the student in writing of the decision, within 10 business days of the date the appeal is received. The student may then appeal that decision in writing to the Dean of their program or President of the College. A response will be given to the student within 10 business days from the date that the appeal is received.