Federal regulations require the Office of Student Financial Aid to monitor the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) of graduate students who are offered the Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan, Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan, some private education loans, and some ISU-specific scholarships.
SAP for Graduate Students
Note: The Iowa State Graduate College may have more different academic standards than the Federal Satisfactory Academic Progress policy. Some scholarship donors may also have more strict eligibility and renewal requirements.
The SAP policy includes the following components:
GPA
Graduate students must maintain a 3.0 or higher cumulative GPA at Iowa State University.
Failing grades
Graduate 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
Graduate 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program of study and are passed with a grade of D- or higher, failed, satisfactory (S), non-passing (NP), dropped, withdrawn, or incomplete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
Graduate 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%.
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Requirements
Graduate students not meeting one or more of the requirements below will be SAP status of Warning in Workday:
- Earn less than a 3.0 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.
Graduate students not meeting one or more of the requirements below will be SAP status of Failed in Workday:
- Earn less than a 3.0 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 a previously approved SAP appeal
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Suspension
Students who fail SAP must appeal for the reinstatement of their financial aid. Approval of the appeal is not guaranteed. Students will be notified to appeal via email and on their Workday account.
Additionally, graduate students may meet their aggregate Federal Direct Loan borrowing limit while obtaining their degree. Approval of a SAP appeal does not reinstate Federal Direct Loans for students who have met the aggregate borrowing limit.