Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) for Undergraduate Students:
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) for Undergraduate Students
Federal regulations require the Office of Student Financial Aid to monitor the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) of undergraduate and graduate students. SAP is a Federal financial aid policy, and SAP policies may be different than your College’s academic warning or probation policy.
The SAP policy includes the following components
GPA
Undergraduate students must maintain a 2.0 or higher cumulative GPA at Iowa State University.
Failing grades
Undergraduate students must not fail all of their semester credit hours attempted. Failing grades include F grades, Non-Passing (NP) grades, and Incomplete (I) grades.
Pace of Progression
Undergraduate students must pass at least 67% of the credit hours they attempt. The pace of progression is calculated by taking the number of credit hours completed, divided by the number of credit hours attempted.
- Completed credit hours include all credit hours that count towards the primary program of study and are passed with a grade of D- or higher
- Attempted credit hours include all credit hours that count towards the primary program of study and are passed with a grade of D- or higher, failed, satisfactory (S), non-passing (NP), dropped, withdrawn, or incomplete
Maximum Timeframe
Undergraduate students must graduate before reaching 150% of their primary program of study published length to degree, as measured in attempted credit hours. The maximum timeframe is calculated by taking the student’s published program length times 150%.
Students returning for another bachelor’s degree after having already obtained one or more bachelor’s degrees will be limited to no more than 90 credit hours towards their primary program of study or 270 attempted credit hours between the previous undergraduate degree earned and second bachelor’s degree. The student will exceed their maximum timeframe once they have attempted 90 credit hours towards their next bachelor’s degree or have attempted more than 270 credit hours towards all degrees.
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements
Undergraduate students not meeting one or more of the requirements below will be SAP status of Warning in Workday:
- Earn less than a 2.0 cumulative GPA
- Earn less than 67% cumulative pace of progression
- Withdraw
- Approach the maximum timeframe to complete their degree
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Warning
Students are placed on SAP Warning for one semester if one or more SAP requirements are not met during the most recently completed semester and will be notified via Workday. Students will receive financial aid during the warning semester but must still check with their scholarship donors on eligibility requirements as those may be different from the SAP eligibility requirements. At the end of the warning semester, SAP requirements will be checked again. If the SAP issue is resolved, the student is no longer on SAP Warning but should still check with their scholarship donors on eligibility requirements.
If the student does not resolve the SAP issue at the end of the warning semester, they will fail SAP and must appeal for financial aid reinstatement.
Undergraduate students not meeting one or more of the requirements below will be SAP status of Failed in Workday:
- Earn less than a 2.0 cumulative GPA at the end of the SAP warning semester
- Earn less than 67% cumulative pace of progression at the end of the warning semester
- Withdraw during the warning semester
- Exceed the maximum timeframe to complete their degree
- Earn all failing, Non-Passing (NP), or Incomplete (I) grades at the end of any semester
- Did not meet plan requirements of previously approved SAP appeal
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Failed status
Students who fail SAP must appeal for the reinstatement of their financial aid. Appeal approval is not guaranteed. Students will be notified to appeal via email and on their Workday account.