Satisfactory Academic Progress for Federal Financial Aid & Cal Grant Aid

Undergraduate Students

JPCatholic is required by federal and state law to establish specific standards for measuring Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) for students receiving financial aid from those sources.

Financial aid recipients are expected to make reasonable and timely academic progress toward their declared program objective each quarter. Reasonable progress is measured by the following standards:

  1. The GPA Standard
    • Meet the minimum cumulative grade point average required (2.4).
  2. The Pace Standard
    • The minimum pace required for a student to maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress is 67%. This means that students must complete at least 67% of the credits attempted.
  3. The Maximum Time Frame Standard
    • Maximum timeframe for completion of the Undergraduate degrees while receiving Title IV (Federal Financial Aid) funds is 270 credit hours.

The Registrar will check undergraduate grades and credits at the end of each quarter to determine satisfactory progress of each student. The Registrar will keep a master document each quarter indicating whether students have maintained, lost, or reestablished their satisfactory progress. If a student’s eligibility is impacted, they will be notified by letter and a copy will be placed in their file.

Maximum timeframe for completion of the Undergraduate degrees while receiving Title IV (Federal Financial Aid) funds is 270 credit hours. At the time of each determination, each student’s GPA must be 2.4 or higher. The minimum pace required for a student to maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress is 67%. This means that students must complete at least 67% of the credits attempted. If students do not meet the GPA and/or Pace requirements, they are not maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress and will be placed on Financial Aid Warning for one quarter. If, at the end of that quarter the student still has not met the GPA and pace standards outlined above, they will lose all eligibility for Title IV & Cal Grant aid unless they had extenuating circumstances and successfully appeal.

If a student has not reached the maximum timeframe for completion but has not met the GPA and/or Pace requirement for the second term, and they had serious extenuating circumstances for the most recent term that was completed, they can submit a SAP Appeal to the Financial Aid Office. A committee (typically comprised of representatives from the Financial Aid Office, Registrar’s Office, Retention Office, and with input from the Academic Dean) will determine if there is sufficient indication that the circumstances causing the failure to make SAP has been resolved and determine if the appeal should be granted. If the appeal is granted, the student will be placed on SAP Probation (typically for a single quarter) and, if applicable, a SAP academic plan. Students may receive Title IV & Cal Grant aid while on Financial Aid (SAP) Probation.

A student is not limited to a particular number of quarters on Financial Aid Warning and/or Probation, and may regain eligibility multiple times. Determination of status (Eligible, Warning, Probation, or Suspension) is based on the sequencing/number of consecutive quarters in which the SAP pace or GPA standards are not met. For example:

  • End of Quarter 1: Student doesn't meet the GPA & pace standards, is placed on Financial Aid Warning for the following term.
  • End of Quarter 2: Student doesn’t meet the GPA & pace standards for a second time, but submits a successful appeal due to extenuating circumstances; is placed on Financial Aid Probation for the following term.
  • End of Quarter 3: Student doesn’t meet the GPA & pace standards for a third time, so are placed on Financial Aid Suspension and will not receive any Title IV or Cal Grant Aid for the following term.
  • End of Quarter 4: Student meets the GPA & pace standards as well as maximum timeframe, regains ordinary eligibility under SAP.
  • End of Quarters 5 & 6: Student continues to meet the SAP standards.
  • End of Quarter 7: Student doesn’t meet the GPA or pace standard, is placed on Financial Warning for the Quarter 8, etc.

Any student that has lost eligibility they may reestablish their SAP at the end of their next quarter by increasing their GPA and pace to meet the minimum standards listed above.

Note: Academic and Financial Aid Policies are Different

Be aware that ACADEMIC policy is different from FINANCIAL AID policy. There are instances where students are eligible to attend school, but not eligible for financial aid. Contact the Financial Aid office if you have questions regarding Financial Aid eligibility. Students receiving institutional financial assistance should refer to information in the Financial Aid section of this catalog; unique scholarship eligibility requirements must be met.