Delaware County Community College

Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy For DCCC And Federal Financial Assistance

United States Department of Education (USDE) regulations require that all students meet minimal quantitative and qualitative standards of academic progress toward a degree in order to continue to receive federal financial assistance. Federal Student Financial Aid funds are: the Federal Pell Grant, the Federal SEOG Program, the Federal Work/Study Program, and the Federal Family Education Loan Programs (the FFELP includes the Subsidized Stafford Loan Program, the Unsubsidized Stafford Loan Program and the Parent's Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) Program). Delaware County Community College (DCCC) has adopted the following standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) to comply with this requirement. These standards are for financial aid purposes only and neither replaces nor overrides any of the College's other academic policies.

1. A student is required to complete, with a passing grade, sixty seven percent (67%) of all credits attempted at DCCC. This quantitative standard is calculated as "number of credits successfully completed" divided by the "number of credits attempted". For example, if a student attempted 30 credits in an academic year and successfully completed 24 of them, that student's completion rate would be: 24 divided by 30 = 80%. This student would be able to continue to receive federal funds in subsequent terms. However, if a student attempted 30 credits in an academic year and successfully completed 15 credits, that student's completion rate would be: 15 divided by 30 = 50%. A 50% completion rate is below 67% and that student would not be eligible to receive federal financial aid in any subsequent enrollment period until, funded by their own resources, they successfully completed enough credits to achieve a 67% completion rate. Successful completion of a course is indicated by a grade of A, B, C, D, HP or P; unsuccessful completion is indicated by a grade of E, F, NR, IN, NP, IP, or W (any form of W is unsuccessful, including MW (Medical Withdrawal), IW (Instructor Withdrawal), SW (Student Withdrawal) or AW (Administrative Withdrawal). Audited classes are not considered in the "successful completion rate calculation" nor are course completed at another institution and transferred into DCCC.
2. A student also must attain a specific minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) at minimum after attempting a specific number of credits. This qualitative requirement is set as follows:
   • 15 credits or less attempted = 1.50 required minimum GPA
   • 16 credits to 30 credits attempted = 1.75 required minimum GPA
   • 31 credits to 45 credits attempted = 1.90 required minimum GPA
   • 46 credits to 90 credits attempted = 2.00 required minimum GPA
3. Federal regulations also state that a student is not eligible to receive federal financial aid after having attempted 150% of the required credits for their degree program as listed in the catalogue. A typical Associate Degree requires completing 60 credits; therefore, a student cannot receive federal financial assistance after having attempted 90 credits regardless of the student's completion rate (number 1 above) or GPA (see 2 above). Students switching major and student's taking several ESL of Developmental courses must be careful. They will not receive additional attempted credits.

Re-establishing Satisfactory Academic Progress

A student who has not met either requirement 1 or 2 listed above may reestablish his/her eligibility to receive federal financial assistance by enrolling at DCCC at his/her own expense and completing a sufficient number of courses at a sufficiently high GPA to bring their cumulative completion rate and their cumulative GPA to the required standards.

Right to Appeal

A student who has been determined to be ineligible to receive federal financial aid for failure to meet the above SAP standards may submit an appeal in writing to the DCCC Financial Aid Office. Appeals will be granted only where mitigating circumstances exist; such as were, in a single term, the student became very sick, was severely injured, or suffered the death of a parent, spouse or child. A waiver may also be granted if there has been a gap of four years or more between a prior DCCC enrollment and the term for which financial aid is sought. Appeals will only be granted if it is still possible to complete a 60-credit curriculum in 90 credits, e.g. if a student already has 30 unsuccessfully attempted credits their appeal will not be approved.