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Federal regulations require Rockford College to establish Standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress in the following three areas: completion rate, cumulative GPA, and maximum time frame. The Rockford College Financial Aid Office is responsible for ensuring that all students who receive federal, state, and institutional financial aid are meeting these standards.

The standards of satisfactory academic progress apply for all financial assistance programs including Federal Pell Grant, Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Work-study (FWS), Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), the Federal Family Education Loans (Stafford and PLUS), assistance from the State of Illinois and Rockford College.
   
Rockford College has established the following criteria in compliance with federal regulations published on October 6, 1993, Federal Register Part 668.16 and in the Higher Education Amendments of 1986.

Undergraduate Standards
1. Completion Rate
Each semester, a student's progress will be measured by comparing the number of attempted credit hours with the credit hours earned. This includes any course for which the student has remained enrolled past the Drop/Add period. Audited courses are not considered credits attempted. A student must complete 70% of credits attempted to maintain satisfactory academic progress.

To complete a bachelor's degree at Rockford College, a student must complete a minimum of 124 semester hours. This can be achieved by averaging 31 semester hours per year.

2. Cumulative GPA
Financial aid recipients are governed by the academic performance standards of Rockford College. In order to retain financial aid eligibility the student must maintain a cumulative grade point average of:

• 1.8 for 0-29 hours completed.
• 1.9 for 30-59 hours completed.
• 2.0 for 60+ hours completed.

3. Maximum Time Frame
You will not be eligible to receive financial aid once you have attempted more than 150% of the normal credits required for your degree or certificate program. At Rockford College, this means that students in programs requiring 124 hours for graduation will be eligible for financial aid during the first 186 attempted hours as an undergraduate. All attempted hours are counted, including transfer hours, whether or not financial aid was received, or the course work was successfully completed.

4. Semester SAP Reviews
Academic progress will be reviewed at the end of each semester. Those students not meeting the requirements stated above will be placed on Financial Aid Probation during the next semester of enrollment and will receive a letter of probation.

Probation
The student may continue to receive financial assistance during the probationary period. At the end of the probationary period the student will:

• Be removed from probationary status because both cumulative GPA and cumulative completion rate are met. OR
• Remain on probation if term GPA is above the cumulative requirement and completes 100% of classes attempted. OR
• Be SUSPENDED assistance from federal, state, and institutional sources and will receive a Financial Aid Suspended letter.

Suspension
If you do not meet both of items one and two (above) you are no longer eligible for financial aid until you have taken classes, using your own funding, and have raised your cumulative GPA and completion rate to meet the above standards.

5. Appeal Procedure
To appeal the financial aid suspension, a student must, within 15 calendar days of notification, submit to the Financial Aid Office a signed and dated letter of appeal explaining why he/she should not be suspended.

A student may appeal for emergency condition (i.e. health, family, catastrophe, etc.) Documentation verifying the situation may be requested.

The Financial Aid committee will consider the appeal and render a decision, which the Director of Financial Aid will convey in writing to the student.

6. Reinstatement
You can raise your Rockford College GPA and/or satisfy credit deficiencies by taking additional course work at Rockford College without receiving financial aid. You can eliminate credit deficiencies, but not GPA deficiencies, by successfully completing course work at another institution without receiving aid at that institution; course work must be transferable to Rockford College. Transfer credits used to satisfy credit deficiencies cannot be credits that were earned prior to the term in which you incurred the deficiencies. You can also submit a copy of your Rockford College transcript and an appeal form to verify grade changes, including the removal of incompletes, if this will result in the removal of your deficiencies.

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