The United States Department of Education requires every postsecondary institution receiving Title IV federal funds to have a standards of academic progress policy that is used to determine eligibility for and continued receipt of federal funds.
Although this policy must apply to all students whether or not they are receiving financial aid, the receipt of financial aid is a privilege that creates both rights and obligations for the student. The SAP policy has three components:
Title IV federal funds affected by this policy at PCOM include the Federal Direct Stafford Loan, Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan, Federal Perkins Loan and Federal Work Study program. Although not required by the federal government, all institutional funds are also governed by the SAP policy.
A review of SAP will be conducted at the end of every spring term regardless of when a student enrolls. Failure to meet any component of SAP at the end of the spring term will result in the loss of eligibility for federal and PCOM financial aid for the next academic year. The Office of Financial Aid will notify the student if the student has failed to meet the standards of SAP and has lost eligibility for financial aid. If financial aid has already been awarded for the subsequent academic year, the offer of aid will be rescinded.
A student may appeal the loss of eligibility of financial aid and seek to be placed on a Financial Aid Academic Action Plan for one term. This appeal must be based upon on either the death of a relative, a serious personal illness/injury or other extenuating circumstance. The student must be able to demonstrate that the illness/injury or extenuating circumstance had a direct impact on the student's academic performance. To do this, the student must:
After the student’s SAP Appeal Form has been submitted to the Financial Aid SAP Committee, the SAP Committee will then review and notify the student of the approval or denial of the appeal within 5-7 business days.
If the student’s appeal is approved, the student is granted Financial Aid Academic Progress Probation and the student will regain eligibility for financial aid for one term. At the end of the term, the student’s academic record will be reviewed. If the student is now meeting the terms of the SAP, the student will regain eligibility for financial aid for subsequent terms. If the student has still not met the terms of the SAP, but has fulfilled the terms of the Financial Aid Academic Action Plan, then the student’s Financial Aid Academic Progress Probation will be renewed for an additional term and the student will be awarded aid for that term. If the student has not fulfilled the terms of the Financial Aid Academic Action Plan, then the student will lose eligibility for federal and institutional financial aid.
Students who are dismissed or withdrawn from the school are not deemed to be making SAP and are not eligible to receive financial aid. The SAP policy will be disseminated to all newly matriculated students. All students will be notified yearly of the SAP policy which will be published on this webpage.
Students must complete the appropriate percent of all courses attempted to maintain a good academic standing. The completion percentage is calculated by dividing total hours earned by total hours attempted.
If a student changes degree programs, then the SAP status will be based on the academic record of the new program. Students may only change degree programs one time in order to establish a new SAP status.
It is also important to understand how specific grades and/or course types count toward the completion ratio. The following grades count as attempted but not completed courses:
All students at PCOM are required to maintain a 67% completion of coursework. Transfer credits will count towards a student’s attempted and completed credit hours.
Students may not exceed the maximum timeframe for a program as defined as 150% of the total amount of credit hours required to complete the degree as detailed in the course catalog.
In addition, those seeking the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree must complete their degree requirements within 6 calendar years from the date of their initial matriculation.
All time enrolled counts towards the maximum timeframe regardless of whether or not the student receives federal financial aid. Attempted credits include: remedial, repeated, withdrawn, transfer and incomplete credits. Time spent in a leave of absence does not count towards the maximum timeframe when considering funds eligibility.
For academic maximum timeframe, students should refer to their program handbook.
If you have any questions regarding these SAP policies and procedures, please contact:
Grace Taylor
Associate Director
215-871-6176
graceta@pcom.edu
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