Maintain My Eligibility
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Maintain My Eligibility
Revised Rules - Effective July 1, 2011
In order to receive financial aid, you must meet the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements. SAP denotes a student’s successful completion of coursework that is applied to an eligible certificate or degree-seeking program. Regulations require that all students who receive the benefit of Federal Title IV assistance must maintain SAP. Texas State applies the SAP standards to all federal, state and institutional financial assistance programs. The only exceptions are for the TEXAS Grant and B-On-Time, which have separate Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements as defined by applicable law. To view the program-specific SAP requirements (for example, TEXAS Grant SAP, B-On-Time Loan SAP), click the appropriate link on the vertical (left) menu bar.
Evaluation Point
SAP Terms: Financial Aid Suspension | Reinstatement | Appeal Process | Appeal Deadlines
At the end of each evaluation period (end of spring semester), you must have achieved at least a minimum cumulative Texas State GPA in order to remain eligible for financial aid. The GPA requirements are indicated in the below table
| Minimum Cumulative Texas State GPA Requirements | |
| Degree or Certificate | Minimum Cumulative Texas State GPA |
| 1st Bachelor’s | 2.0 |
| 2nd Bachelor’s | 2.5 |
| Certification | 3.0 |
| Master’s | 3.0 |
| Doctoral | 3.0 |
Minimum Completion Rate (Pace of Completion)
In order for you to receive financial aid, you must complete 70% of your attempted coursework for your program (i.e., bachelor’s, certificate, master’s and doctorate). Attempted coursework includes transfer hours and courses for which you received no financial aid. To calculate your completion rate, just take the total of your completed program hours and divide that figure by your attempted program hours. Attempted hours include all registered hours whether or not you earned a grade or received credit.
- F grades for undergraduate and certificate students
- D or F grades for master's students
- C, D or F grades for doctoral students
- PR (progress) for undergraduate and certificate students
- W (withdrawal)
- I (incomplete)
- Repeats excluded from the GPA
- A through D grades for undergraduate students
- A through C grades for master's students
- A through B grades for doctoral students
- PR (progress) for graduate thesis or dissertation hours
- CR (credit)
- Repeats included in the GPA
- If you complete 75 of 100 attempted hours while working on your baccalaureate, your completion rate of 75% (75/100 = .75) would exceed the minimum completion rate requirement.
- If you complete 20 of 30 attempted hours while working on your master's, your completion rate of 66% (20/30 = .67) would not meet the minimum completion rate requirement.
The number of credit hours you attempt may not exceed 150% of the number of credit hours required for graduation in your program of study. Attempted hours include any hours you attempted at any institution, regardless of whether you received financial aid for those hours. To remain eligible for financial aid, you must not exceed the maximum hours limit as indicated in the below table.
| Maximum Hours Limit Requirements | |
| Degree or Certificate | Maximum Hours |
| 1st Bachelor’s | 180 |
| 2nd Bachelor’s | 45 |
| Certification | 31 |
| Master’s | 104 |
| Doctoral | 113 |
If you do not meet the SAP requirements by the end of the spring semester, you will be placed on financial aid suspension. Once you are on financial aid suspension, you are not eligible to receive financial aid until you meet the SAP requirements.
Notification of Financial Aid Suspension Status
You will be notified via your Texas State email account in the event you are placed on financial aid suspension. The email will direct you to Texas State Self-Service for more details.
If you are on financial aid suspension, you may have your aid reinstated in one of the following manners:
- Continue to attend Texas State without financial aid and meet the SAP requirements. If at the next evaluation period (end of spring semester) you are meeting the SAP requirements, you will be eligible to receive future financial aid as long as you continue to meet the SAP requirements.
- File an appeal demonstrating special circumstances and be approved for an exemption to the SAP requirements.
If you are on financial aid suspension and subsequently meet the SAP requirements prior to the standard evaluation period at the end of spring, you may file an appeal with Financial Aid and Scholarships.
FA Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal Form
In the event you have been placed on financial aid suspension, you may file an appeal. Appeals will only be approved in the case of special circumstances. There is no guarantee of approval. Special circumstances may include, but are not limited to, a death in the family, illness of the student or any undue hardship that prohibits the successful completion of coursework. Circumstances will be evaluated by the reviewer of the appeal.
An appeal must include the following:
- Your name, Texas State ID number and email address
- A written description that addresses why you failed to meet SAP
- A written description of what has changed in your situation to enable you to demonstrate SAP at the next evaluation point
- Documentation to support any claims
- If appealing because you have exceeded the maximum timeframe or because of a change in major, a degree plan must be submitted showing the number of hours remaining until graduation.
- Your signature
If your appeal meets all the above requirements, Financial Aid and Scholarships will request from your academic advisor documentation confirming that you can within a single semester regain SAP eligibility or an academic plan that demonstrates you can meet SAP by a specified and reasonable point in time with measurable milestones for each semester.
Note: Appeals submitted without documentation will be denied.
If you wish to appeal the loss of your financial aid, you must do so through the following appeals process.
- Level 1 Appeal - Financial Aid Counselor
- Level 2 Appeal - Supervisor, Assistant Director or Associate Director
- Level 3 Appeal - Director
- Level 4 Appeal - Financial Aid Advisory, Appeals and Scholarship Awards Committee (final appeal level)
Once you are notified of not being eligible for financial aid (financial aid suspension), you have (10) working days to submit an appeal. If your appeal is denied at any level (with the exception of a level 4 appeal) and you wish to appeal to the next level, you must submit a written notice of appeal to the next level within ten (10) working days after receiving a verbal or written notice of the decision at the previous level.
An appeal must be filed by the appropriate deadline in order to be considered for a particular semester. The deadlines are as follows:
- Fall semester - November 10
- Spring semester - April 10
- Summer semester - July 10
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