Appealing Financial Aid Suspension
- Undergraduate students on Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Suspension must submit an appeal to the Office of Student Financial Aid if extenuating circumstances prevented them from meeting the SAP requirements.
- The semester appeal deadline will be included in the AccessPlus targeted message notification with the reason for the SAP Suspension.
SAP Appeal Process
- Login to AccessPlus and select the “Student” Tab
- Select “Grades&Transcripts” from the left-hand menu
- Click on “Acad Intrv Slf-Asmnt” from the menu
- Submit the self-assessment
- Meet with you Academic Advisor after submitting the self-assessment
Basis for SAP Appeal
A student may appeal SAP suspension if there are extenuating circumstances that prevented the student from meeting SAP requirements. The following mitigating circumstances can be reviewed on an appeal: academic, personal, health, major, career, financial, employment, family, social, and/or other circumstances not listed that can be documented. Appeal approval is not guaranteed.
The student must document extenuating circumstances on the appeal that prevented them from meeting SAP requirements and include proactive action plans to address the obstacles. The student must include the following on their appeal: anticipated graduation date, courses they plan to take in the next 1-2 semesters, obstacles that affected their ability to meet satisfactory academic progress requirements, action plan(s) to overcome obstacles, and campus resources the student has used to date. Upon submission of the appeal, the student must also meet with their academic advisor to review their obstacles and ensure support is in place for any action plans cited. The appeal will be reviewed by a Financial Aid Advisor after it is submitted by the student and their Academic Advisor. The Financial Aid Advisor will review the submitted appeal, as well as any of the following when the appeal is reviewed:
- Prior appeal submissions, if applicable
- All academic history, including classes attempted away from ISU
- Degree audit
- Notes from the Academic Advisor
- History of degree changes
Appeal Approval
If the financial aid appeal is approved, the student and their Academic Advisor will receive an email from a Financial Aid Advisor with details about the requirements the student must meet as a result of an approved appeal. These requirements may be different from the College’s Academic Warning and Probation policy. The academic plan is customized to the student and can last for up to 12 months. Academic plan requirements may include any or all of the following:
- Obtain a 2.0 or higher semester GPA until the academic plan expires
- Earn 67% or higher semester pace of progression until the academic plan expires
- Graduate, if the student has exceeded their maximum timeframe and is scheduled to graduate within 12 months
The student will receive financial aid if the appeal is approved but the student is still responsible for checking with their scholarship donor(s) as scholarships may have more strict eligibility requirements for scholarships to be disturbed.
If plan requirements are not met, the student will be placed back on SAP suspension at the end of their next enrolled semester and must appeal again. At the end of the academic plan, the student must be meeting all cumulative SAP requirements or they will be placed back on SAP suspension.
Appeal Denial
If the Financial Aid Advisor reviewing the financial aid appeals feel it should be denied, the appeal must be reviewed by a committee. The committee must reach a unanimous decision to deny an appeal. The appeal decision is final, and the student cannot appeal the denial.
If an appeal is denied, the student and their Academic Advisor will receive an email stating that the appeal has been denied. The email will include a list of private education lenders that do not require that SAP requirements are met. The student will not receive any Federal student or parent loans, grants, ISU financial aid, or state-based financial aid when an appeal is denied. The student is responsible for checking with their scholarship donor(s) to find out if they are still eligible to retain scholarships earned by academic merit.
An appeal for financial aid reinstatement may be denied for the following reasons:
- Insufficient academic improvement at ISU or another institution
- Appealing more than once and citing the same or similar obstacles
- Failure to document extenuating circumstances
- Number of appeals submitted for the same suspension reason
- Lack of effort on the appeal
- Exceeding the length to degree by changing majors multiple times, having one or more withdrawn semesters, and/or exceeding the allowed drop limit
- Professional determination that is mathematically impossible for the student to meet SAP requirements within one year of the appeal submission date
Paying out of pocket, paying with a private loan, and/or sitting out of ISU with no academic credit earned due to a non-extenuating circumstance are not grounds for appeal approval and will not be taken into consideration when the appeal is reviewed.
Returning to ISU on SAP Suspension
Students who leave ISU while on SAP Suspension are required to appeal for the reinstatement of their aid upon re-entry by submitting the Academic Intervention Self-Assessment and providing supplemental documentation. Paying out of pocket, paying with a private loan, or failure to earn academic credit away from ISU due to a non-extenuating circumstance are not grounds for appeal approval. Appeals must include the following documentation for approval consideration:
- Academic transcript(s) while away from ISU that show significant, sustained improvement. The rigor of the courses taken, grades earned, and number of credit hours attempted away from ISU will be taken into consideration when the appeal is reviewed.
AND/OR
- Official documentation to support extenuating circumstances that prevented the student from attempting coursework away from ISU (i.e.: medical emergency, death of a family member, serving as the primary caregiver for a family member, etc.).
Documentation to support the Academic Intervention Self-Assessment for re-entry students should be emailed to financialaid@iastate.edu.
Please note: Per Federal financial aid regulations, appeals are not automatically approved and may be denied based on failure to maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements set forth at Iowa State University.
Graduate Student Appeal
- Graduate students on Financial Aid Suspension may submit an appeal to the Office of Student Financial Aid if extenuating circumstances prevented them from meeting the SAP requirements.
- The deadline to appeal for the reinstatement of aid will be included on the targeted message in AccessPlus.
Basis for SAP Appeal
A student may appeal SAP suspension if there are extenuating circumstances that prevented the student from meeting SAP requirements. The following mitigating circumstances can be reviewed on an appeal: academic, personal, health, major, career, financial, employment, family, social, and/or other circumstances not listed that can be documented. The student must include the following on their appeal: anticipated graduation date, courses they plan to take in the next 1-2 semesters, obstacles that affected their ability to meet satisfactory academic progress requirements, action plan(s) to overcome obstacles and campus resources the student has used to date. Upon submission of the appeal, the student must also meet with their major professor to review their obstacles and ensure support is in place for any action plans cited. Additional documentation to support circumstances reported on the appeal may be emailed to financialaid@iastate.edu.