Satisfactory Progress Policy
Federal regulations require the SUU Financial Aid Office to monitor the academic progress of all students funding any part of their education through federal funds. This includes Pell Grants, Supplement Education Opportunity Grants (SEOG), Work Study, Perkins Loans, and Stafford Loans.
Regulations state that students must successfully complete a minimum 70% of their program each term, and cumulatively.
In compliance with this regulation, you will be allowed to add and drop classes without penalty during the first week of each semester. Your aid will be adjusted up and down according to the number of credits in which you are enrolled at the end of each day. After the first week, your aid will “freeze” and you will be required to complete the credits for which you have enrolled at close of business on Friday of the first week of the regular semester.
If you fail to complete these credits, you will be placed on Financial Aid Probation, and you will be required to either repay the amount of aid for which you were not eligible, or you will be required to make them up at your expense in the subsequent term. If you fail to repay the aid or make up the credits, you will be suspended from federal financial aid until you have done so. Please note that the repayment option is only valid for the academic year during which ineligibility was established.
Please also note that if your refund from classes dropped does not repay the amount of eligibility lost, you will be required to make up that difference.
For example: John Q Student starts the semester with 12 credits. On the second day of classes, he decides to drop one class. His Pell grant will decrease to match the eligibility established with 9 credits. Because the amount of Pell grant he must repay is greater than the amount of his refund, he must repay a portion of his Pell grant at his expense. On the third day of classes, he finds another class to replace the one he dropped. His Pell grant automatically increases back to the full-time allotment. Two weeks later, he decides he doesn't need that class after all, so he drops it. At this point, the Pell does not go up or down, but because John has not completed the credits for which he was paid, he is informed that he must either make up the credits he dropped or repay the amount for which he was not eligible.
Because 12 credits is considered “full time” for the purposes of federal aid, John is not penalized at all if he begins the semester with more credits than are required for full time and drops, but still maintains full-time eligibility.
The SUU Financial Aid Office recognizes that federal regulations are not always easy to understand, so we recommend that prior to making any adjustments to your registration, you visit our office in the Sharwan Smith Student Center, Room 167, or at 435-586-7735.