Graduate Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy

This policy provides the framework for monitoring academic progress and eligibility determination for all federal, scholarship, campus budget work study and other aid programs. All students receiving any type of Federal/State Financial aid, or Scholarships from UNO must abide by this policy, as well as any specific requirements for scholarships/exemptions as applicable. This policy applies to all new, transfer, re-entry, re-admit with transfer work, and continuing students at UNO.

General Guidelines

Students must be in enrolled in an eligible curriculum as a degree-seeking student. Students must also maintain a Cumulative and UNO GPA, as well as, total earned hours/attempted hours ratio in accordance within the Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy, in order to retain their financial aid eligibility. Students cannot receive Federal Student Aid for hours that are not required to complete the pursued degree.

Maximum Attempted Hours for a Master's Degree, Certification, and Ph.D. Programs

To establish a quantitative measure, a time frame is set for students to finish a program of study within an allotted number of attempted hours.

Students enrolled in an eligible Master's or Certificate Program may receive financial aid up to a total of 150% of the total number of attempted hours required to complete his/her minimum requirements. For the purpose of Federal Student Aid, once a student has attempted 6-credit hours of research, Federal Student Aid will not be awarded to a student for additional research hours.

Students enrolled in an eligible PhD Program may receive aid for up to 30 credit hours beyond their published maximum credit hours. For example, if the degree requires 60 credit hours beyond a Baccalaureate degree, then the student's maximum number of attempted hours for aid purposes would be 90 credit hours.

Federal regulations require that if a SAP review determines a student cannot graduate within the allotted attempted hours, eligibility must be suspended immediately regardless of how many hours the student has pursued during their academic career. Attempted hours include all hours as they appear on the transcript, including those with "W," "P," "S," "U," "I," "U/W," "X/F," research and audit credit hours. Attempted hours also include any suspended, non-credit remedial, repeated, transfer, and undergraduate course work attempted while a graduate student. Graduate level course work attempted while an undergraduate student will count in the maximum hours allotment and the required completion ratio. All hours are counted regardless if aid was received for them or how long ago the credits were attempted.

If a student switches majors while pursuing a graduate degree, all prior course work will be counted towards the limit of allotted hours for the new degree attempt. For example, if a student pursues a MA in English, attempting 15 credit hours, then switches to a MBA program, the prior 15 credit hours will be counted towards the 50 attempted hours limitation for the MBA Program.

A graduate student seeking a second Master's Degree or Certification may continue to receive eligible Federal Student Aid for up to 90 credit hours. All hours attempted/strong> as a graduate student will be counted in this maximum attempted hours limit, including those hours attempted from the first Master's Degree or Certification. However, a student who will exceed the limit before completing the second Master's Degree or Certification may submit a SAP Appeal for eligibility consideration. The appeal must be submitted within the set deadline dates. No further Federal Student Assistance will be granted for any additional degrees or certifications after the second Master's Degree or Certification.

A Doctorate is considered a terminal degree. As a result, no further Federal Student Aid will be allowed for an additional degree or certification once a student earns a Doctorate Degree.

Pace and GPA Standard for Graduate Students

The Federal Dept. of Education requires that students continue to progress throughout their academic program to ensure that they graduate before reaching the maximum allowable attempted hours. Pace is calculated by dividing the hours earned by the cumulative hours attempted throughout the student's academic history.

• Students must successfully complete 70% of all course work attempted throughout their academic history as a graduate student. We do not round up ratio percentages to qualify a student for Federal Student Aid.
• All hours attempted as a graduate student will be counted in the completion ratio regardless of the matriculation level of the course work attempted. Undergraduate hours pursued as a Graduate student will not be used to calculate PACE for a Post Baccalaureate degree attempt.
• Students may receive aid for research hours only if the research hours will be used to complete the minimum credit requirements for the degree attempt. Refer to the Graduate Student Handbook or speak to your academic advisor to see how many research hours may be used to complete your degree attempt. For example, if your degree only allows you to apply 6-credit hours of research to complete your minimum degree requirement, you will be able to receive eligible aid for only 6-credit hours of research.
• Students must maintain both a UNO and Cumulative GPA of at least a 3.0. If either the UNO or Cumulative GPA is below a 3.0, the student is not meeting the qualitative requirement. We do not round up GPAs to qualify students for Federal Student Aid.
• Students cannot be on academic probation.

Below is an example of Pace a student should keep each semester in order to graduate before reaching the maximum allowable attempted hours for a degree that requires a minimum of 30 credit hours.

Att. Hrs.	1-3	4	5	6-7	8	9-10	11	12	13-14	15
Min. Hrs. Earned	All	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11

Example of total hours attempted and the approaching percentage nearing limit:

8 hours attempted	15 hours attempted	23 hours attempted	30 hours attempted	38 hours attempted	45 hours attempted
25 percent attempted	50 percent attempted	75 percent attempted	100 percent attempted	125 percent attempted	150 percent attempted

Graduate Petition Form

Graduate students who are required to take undergraduate course work prior to taking graduate level courses may submit a Graduate Petition Form to consider undergraduate hours in the enrollment hours needed to qualify for Federal Student Aid. Documentation is required from the College stating that the credit hours are required before the student may be allowed to enroll in graduate course work. If the student has enrolled in prior graduate level courses, he/she cannot qualify for the petition form.

If approved, the graduate student may receive his/her eligible Federal Student Aid for two consecutive semesters only as long as the student continues to meet all other eligibility requirements, including SAP. Additional undergraduate course work after the second semester will not qualify for Federal Student Aid.

Incompletes with Credit Hours

In order for our office to complete the required Federal SAP eligibility review for the purpose of Federal Aid, an "I" grade will be considered as an "F." Students who continue to meet the minimum SAP requirements will continue to receive their eligible funds. Students who do not meet the minimum SAP requirements will be given an opportunity to submit a SAP Appeal through the allowed published deadline dates.

If a student resolves the incomplete grade and the grade is posted on WEBSTAR, the student must submit a SAP Re-Calculation Review Form to our office to request a second review. The request must be received by all applicable financial aid processing deadline dates. A second SAP review request is manually processed and may take up to 7-10 business days to complete. The review request will be processed in the date order received by our office.

Scholastic Drop

A student who is Scholastically Dropped from UNO is not making satisfactory academic progress. A student who is dropped by UNO or by his/her previously attended school will have to submit a Federal Student Aid Appeal to have his/her eligibility considered for reinstatement even if the student is re-admitted to UNO on academic probation for the semester he/she was dropped. A student can only regain his/her eligibility through an approved appeal or by meeting the SAP requirements; sitting out for a period of time will not allow a student to regain eligibility for Federal Student Aid.

A student who is Scholastically Dropped from UNO is not making satisfactory academic progress. A student who is dropped by UNO or by his/her previously attended school will have to submit a Federal Student Aid Appeal to have his/her eligibility considered for reinstatement even if the student is re-admitted to UNO on academic probation for the semester he/she was dropped. A student can only regain his/her eligibility through an approved appeal or by meeting the SAP requirements; sitting out for a period of time will not allow a student to regain eligibility for Federal Student Aid.

Transfer Students

Transfer students must enroll at UNO with at least a 3.0 GPA to qualify for Federal Financial Aid. A transfer student is one who has not attended UNO prior to transferring into the University. If a graduate student is admitted to UNO on academic probation without prior graduate course work, then the student may receive his/her eligible Federal Student Aid for one semester in order to establish a SAP History. If the student fails to meet the SAP eligibility requirements after his/her first semester, the student will immediately lose eligibility for further Federal Student Aid until they meet the eligibility requirements.

If a graduate student is admitted to UNO on probation with prior graduate course work, then the student must submit a Federal SAP Appeal to have his/her eligibility reviewed for reinstatement.

Re-entry (Returning) Students

Returning UNO students will be evaluated for SAP eligibility upon re-admission to the university and upon the receipt of the current year's FAFSA. If the student is returning to UNO with additional attempted hours from another school, the student will have to meet the 3.0 UNO and cumulative GPA, and the 70% completion ratio requirement on UNO work and those hours attempted at the other school(s), without exceeding the limit of attempted hours for his/her degree attempt. Official transcripts for all schools attended must be received and processed by the Admissions office before a SAP evaluation can be completed on a student returning with additional credit hours. Students who do not meet the requirements upon returning to UNO will not qualify for Federal Student Aid.

Evaluation Period

A student's academic progress will be evaluated at the end of each semester prior to the next payment period to determine a student's eligibility. Continually enrolled students are also reviewed each semester for academic probation/warning, and Return of Title IV (resignation). Students who do not meet the SAP requirements will lose their eligibility effective the following semester and any pending Federal Student Aid or College/Budget Work Study will be cancelled. All incompletes given for prior semester course work must be resolved before an evaluation can be completed on a student. A SAP Recalculation Request Form must be submitted to our office by the student once the grade is posted on WEBSTAR.

Appeal Procedures

Students who have extenuating circumstances that affected their academic pursuits may submit an appeal in the fall or spring semesters to explain and document the circumstances. Only graduating students may submit an appeal in the summer sessions and must provide documentation that they will be graduating during the summer. All appeals must be accompanied with supporting documentation and examples are given on the appeal form. An appeal will be denied if sufficient documentation is not submitted with the appeal or if the appeal does not reflect the student's entire academic history. The student must address each semester he/she did not make progress and state what action he/she has taken to resolve the issue(s). Appeal forms are available on our website at www.uno.edu/finaid/forms and at our Financial Aid Help Desk. All directions and appeal deadline dates are given on the appeal form. Students cannot submit an appeal after the published final deadline dates has passed for the semester and appeals are approved for current or subsequent semesters only; appeals cannot be for prior semesters.

Students are limited to a maximum of two financial aid appeals for their degree attempt. The Committee members are anonymous and their decision on each appeal is final. If the student has any questions about the appeals process, they should contact the SAP Committee Chairperson in the Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships. Students cannot submit an appeal to receive aid for course work or research credit hours that are not required to complete the degree.

Academic Plan

If a student is granted an approved appeal, he/she must complete an Academic Plan prior to any award being generated for the student. This requires the student to complete an in-house counseling session with the SAP Chairperson in the Financial Aid Office.

• If the student is below the requirement for one or both of the GPAs, or if he/she is on academic probation/warning, the student must receive academic counseling from his/her academic advisor in his/her College and provide documentation to the Financial Aid Office that the requirement has been completed. A letter will need to be submitted from the academic advisor stating what courses will be taken and the grades required to bring the GPA(s) up to the minimum requirement and if needed, to be removed from academic probation/warning.
• If the student is below the completion ratio requirement, the student will visit the SAP Coordinator to go over his/her status and what it will take to bring the ratio up before meeting maximum attempted hours for his program, if possible. All students with approved appeals must participate in SAP in-house counseling and sign for their appeal notification letters.