Academic Progress

Terms are Subject to Revision

Satisfactory Academic Progress.

Vincennes University is required under Title IV of the Higher Education Act to define and administer standards of satisfactory academic progress for students receiving federal financial aid.  Recipients must maintain sufficient progress to assure successful completion of their educational objectives as measured by qualitative and quantitative standards.

Qualitative and Quantitative Measures.

Non-developmental courses assigned a letter grade of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, D, WF, WN, or F contribute to the grade point average (GPA) that determines the qualitative measure.  All courses assigned a letter grade of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, D, F, I, DE, RD, P, CR, W, WF, or WN count in the quantitative measure, as do transfer credits accepted toward degree programs and any repeated courses.  Attempted credit hours are those hours in which students are enrolled at the end of the first week of each semester (add/drop week).  Quality hours are credit hours associated with non-developmental courses.

• After attempting 12 credit hours, students must earn a cumulative GPA of at least 1.8 and complete at least 60% of their cumulative attempted credit hours with passing grades.
• After attempting 30 quality hours, students must earn a cumulative GPA of at least 1.9 and complete at least 63% of their cumulative attempted credit hours with passing grades.
• After attempting 45 quality hours, students must earn a cumulative GPA of at least 2.0 and complete at least 66% of their cumulative attempted credit hours with passing grades.

Students who do not meet these conditions will be placed on financial aid warning.

Financial Aid Warning.

During their next semester of enrollment, students on warning status for the qualitative (GPA) standard must raise their cumulative GPA to at least the minimum relevant to the number of credits attempted, and students on warning status for the quantitative (completion rate) standard must raise their completion rate to at least the minimum relevant to the number or credits attempted.  If they do not achieve these standards, students will be placed on financial aid suspension.  Students on warning status must sign a contract in which they acknowledge that they understand their status and what they must do to avoid suspension of their financial aid.  After they sign this contract, they will receive the financial aid for which they are eligible.  Thus, there is no appeal of warning status.

Students will be removed from warning status after they achieve at least the  minimum GPA and at least the minimum completion rate relevant to the number of hours they have attempted.

Financial Aid Suspension.

Students who, while on financial aid warning status, do not raise their cumulative GPA to at least  the relevant required minimum or do not raise their cumulative completion rate to at least the relevant required minimum will have their financial aid suspended.  Since this means they will not receive the financial aid for which they would otherwise be eligible, they may appeal their suspension.

To appeal financial aid suspension, students must be able to cite and document significant extenuating circumstances that prevented them from meeting the minimum requirements for satisfactory progress.  Significant extenuating circumstances include but are not limited to extended illness, a death in the family, or some other serious personal or familial situation.  Examples of acceptable documentation include a death certificate or obituary along with a signed statement indicating relation of the deceased to the student, a diagnostic statement or treatment plan from a health professional, and written statements from a professional third party who is not a relative and who is familiar with the situation.  Appeals will not be granted unless significant extenuating circumstances can be documented.

If the appeal is granted, students must agree to an academic plan that will show how they can meet at least the minimum standards of satisfactory academic progress, normally, within two semesters.  Students whose appeal has been granted and who sign off on an academic plan  will receive the financial aid for which they are eligible, as long as they meet the conditions of their academic plan in succeeding semesters.  Since the checking of satisfactory academic progress is an automated process, students on an academic plan who have not yet achieved the relevant minimum standards after a subsequent semester will receive a letter of suspension.  Their appeal of this suspension can consist of either showing that they have met the interim requirements of their academic plan or citing and documenting significant extenuating circumstances that prevented them from doing so.

If grades of I or RD during a semester of warning are the only reason students have been placed on financial aid suspension, after they submit proof that they have completed the courses with a grade other than F, W, WN, or WF, their financial aid will be reinstated as long as the changed grades enables them to meet the relevant minimum cumulative GPA.

Maximum Time Frame.

U.S. Department of Education rules allow colleges and universities to provide federal financial aid for a maximum of up to 150% of the credits needed to complete an academic program.  For example, students working toward a degree that requires 64 credits, may receive federal financial aid for attempting up to 96 credits (64+32), and students working toward a certificate of completion that requires 30 credits may receive federal financial aid for attempting up to 45 credits (30+15).  Once students have surpassed these limits at the completion of a semester or summer term, they will be on financial aid suspension and will no longer be allowed to receive federal financial aid unless they submit an appeal that is subsequently approved.  Approvable appeals will cite significant extenuating circumstances as described above, show that  the student has two academic programs in progress, or request examination of the student’s transcript for acceptable exclusions.

Exclusions that might make it possible for students who reach the 150% standard to continue receiving federal financial aid for additional credits include the following:

• Up to 30 credits of developmental courses completed or attempted
• Transfer credits that do not meet any requirements for the degree or certificate toward which a student is working at Vincennes University
• Credits that are unique to the first degree or certificate already earned from Vincennes University
• Credits attempted or earned longer than five years ago from the time of initial appeal that do not count toward the current degree or program

Notice that we must count credits attempted and not just credits successfully earned.  We must count the credits for courses in which students receive a grade of F, W, WF, WN, DE, RD, or I.  Except for the exclusions noted above, we must also count the credits for all courses attempted at Vincennes University whether the courses meet current degree requirements or not.  We do not exclude any credits attempted or earned by students who simply change major academic programs.

Students whose appeals on the 150% standard are approved must sign a document in which they acknoweledge their understanding of the number of credits of eligibility they have remaining toward their current program(s).  Only after they have signed the document or otherwise acknowledged their understanding will their financial aid be released.

Developmental Courses.

Students may receive financial aid for up to 30 credits of developmental courses.  The first 30 credit hours are excluded in determining the maximum time frame.  Developmental courses are counted toward the first 12 attempted credit hours that require at least the 60% completion rate with passing grades as described above under “Qualitative and Quantitative Measures.”  All remedial course credits after the 30 credit hours will be included in the quantitative measure and the maximum time frame.

Appeals Procedure.

The formal process of appealing financial aid suspension is initiated by the student submit-ting an appeal form and a written letter of appeal to the Financial Aid Office.  Letters written by a parent, relative or guardian may not be accepted as the appeal letter, but will be considered along with the formal letter of appeal submitted by the student.

The letter of appeal will be read by members of the financial aid staff.  After the formal appeal review, the student will be notified of the decision.  If the appeal is approved, as noted above, the student must meet with an academic advisor to formulate an academic plan that will show how at least the minimum standards of satisfactory academic progress can be met, normally, within two semesters.  If the student fails to comply with the academic plan, financial aid will be suspended for the next semester of attendance, and the deficiencies must be reconciled before aid eligibility can be reinstated.  The decision of the financial aid staff is final unless the student can cite and document additional circumstances that may not have been considered in the intial appeal.

Withdrawal from Classes.

Since acceptance of the financial aid package indicates the student’s agreement to meet the minimum credit hour requirements for awards, withdrawing from one or more classes may jeopardize aid.  In other words, if a student drops below the minimum number of hours required for a certain award amount, U. S. Department of Education regulations might require the financial aid office to reduce the amount of the award. For example, if students who initially received a Federal Pell Grant based on full-time enrollment drop to less than full-time status before the fifth Monday of the semester, the financial aid office would be required to reduce the grant to the amount appropriate for the less than full-time level of enrollment.  Since withdrawing from courses affects a student’s completion rate, it might also affect a student’s compliance with the standards of satisfactory acacdemic progress detailed above.  For these reasons, before withdrawing from any courses, it would be wise to check with the financial aid office.

Federal regulations also require the financial aid office to recalculate the the amount of federal grants or loans allowed to be kept by students who either officially or unofficially withdraw from all courses of a semester.  This recalculation might require the university or the student to return all or part of grant or loan funds initially awarded the student back to the U. S. Department of Education.  In many cases in which such returns are required, the student will owe the university the amount of the returned funds that had been applied to the student’s account or to a refund of what had been aid in excess of the student’s bill.

Student/Parent Consumer Information

All enrolled and prospective students will be provided the following information in accordance with Federal Requirements:

• Rights under Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA);
• FFEL/Direct Loan deferments for Peace Corps or volunteer service;
• Vincennes University available financial aid assistance;
• Vincennes University institutional information;
• Completion/graduation rate and transfer-out rate;
• Campus Security Report;
• Report on athletic program participation rates and financial support data; and
• Policy on Return of Title IV funds.

For more information contact the Financial Aid Office, Vincennes University, 1002 North First St, Vincennes, IN  47591.  Toll Free Number: 1-800-742-9198