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 RC, 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.