Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Policy for 2007-08

Federal regulations require schools to establish, publish, and apply reasonable standards for determining whether students are eligible to receive Federal financial aid.  This evaluation determines whether the student is maintaining satisfactory academic progress in their educational program.  In order to adhere to these regulations, BYU-Hawaii has implemented the following satisfactory academic progress (SAP) policy. This measurement occurs annually at the end of each school year after summer grades are released, and determines eligibility for the next academic year.
                                    
SAP is evaluated in three areas: cumulative grade point average (CGPA), rate of progress toward a degree, and cumulative credit hours.

CUMULATIVE GPA
This qualitative component requires that a student maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or above at the end of each academic year.  If the student was not enrolled during the prior year, the CGPA of the most recent prior enrollment period is used, regardless of whether the student received aid in prior terms.

If at the time of measurement, a student’s cumulative GPA is less than 2.0, the student is not performing satisfactorily. If this is the first SAP deficiency at the time of measurement, the student is placed on SAP PROBATION.  The student may receive federal aid while on SAP Probation.  If at the time of measurement, the student was already on SAP probation for any reason, and is still not meeting SAP requirements, then the student’s status is changed to NOT ELIGIBLE.

When a student is not eligible due to this component, in order to re-establish eligibility the cumulative GPA must be raised to 2.0 or above at the end of a subsequent grading period.  Once this occurs, and if he is meeting all other SAP requirements, he is eligible for aid during the next enrollment period.

RATE OF PROGRESS
This quantitative component requires a student to successfully complete 70 percent of the credits that were attempted.  This involves dividing the cumulative completed credits by the cumulative attempted credits at the end of each academic year.  For purposes of this SAP component, the following grades are counted as non-progress grades: F, UW, W, I, T, and NP.

If at the time of measurement, a student’s rate of progress is less than 70 percent, the student is not progressing sufficiently.   If this is the first SAP deficiency at the time of measurement, the student is placed on SAP PROBATION.  The student may receive federal aid while on SAP Probation.  If at the time of measurement, the student was already on SAP probation for any reason, and is still not meeting SAP requirements, the student is NOT ELIGIBLE.

When a student is not eligible due to this component, in order to re-establish eligibility he must improve his completion rate to 70 percent or higher at the end of a subsequent grading period.  Once this occurs, and if he is meeting all other SAP requirements, he is eligible for aid during the next enrollment period.

CUMULATIVE HOURS
The maximum number of credit hours an undergraduate student may attempt before becoming ineligible for federal aid is 180 credits.  If at the end of an academic year the student has already attempted more than 150 credit hours, he is placed on SAP PROBATION.  The student should strive to complete his program prior to reaching 180 attempted credits.  Upon attempting 180 or more credits, the student is no longer eligible for federal aid. This component does not apply to 5th year graduates working on a teaching certificate.

It is mathematically impossible for an undergraduate student to complete a program within 180 credits once he has 60 or more non-progress credits.  When a student has 40 or more non-progress credits at the time of SAP measurement, the student is placed on SAP PROBATION.  When a student obtains 60 or more non-progress credits, he is immediately NOT ELIGIBLE for any federal aid.

Undergraduate students who are not eligible for aid due to reaching the maximum cumulative attempted credit hours may petition for consideration of excluding attempted and transfer credits that do not apply toward their current program.  Credits that count toward general education requirements may not be excluded.

APPEALS
Students wishing to appeal for an exception to any portion of this policy must submit a petition for Satisfactory Academic Progress to the Financial Aid office.  Petition forms are available on the Financial Aid website at: http://w2.byuh.edu/services/fa/finaid/petitions.html

Financial Aid Office
55-220 Kulanui St. #1980
Laie, HI 96762-1294
(808) 675-3530
(808) 675-3349 fax

Last Updated: November 28, 2007