Satisfactory Academic Progress

Wednesday, April 17, 201310:30 – 11:30 am

Session # 663

Speakers: Susan E. Nelson – University RegistrarUniversity of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey

Julie E. Ferguson – Assistant Dean for Student Affairs/Registrar UMDNJ – New Jersey Medical School

Who is in the audience this morning?

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1. Admissions folks2. Registrar types3. Academic/Student

Affairs peeps4. AACRAO spies

Discussion Topics

• Dept of Education Program Integrity Rules* – Released July 2011– Effective for 2011-12 AY

• SAP Policy Template• SAP review flowcharts

Do you have an SAP policy at your institution?

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1. Yes2. No

If you have an SAP policy, is it -

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1. a stand-alone policy?

2. embedded in your academic rules and regulations?

3. known only by members of a secret society on campus?

Department of Education Program Integrity Rules

– Calculation of ‘pace’ : credits attempted v. credits earned

– Graduate students : explicitly mentioned for first time

– Transfer credits : must be addressed for impact on SAP

– Actions– Financial Aid Warning– Financial Aid Probation– Ineligibility for Title IV Aid– Academic Plan

– Frequency of SAP reviews

The updated Dept of Education regulations:

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1. have been incorporated into our policy.

2. have been reviewed but not yet incorporated into our policy.

3. are sitting on someone’s desk.

Who is responsible for SAP review at your institution?

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1. the Financial Aid Office

2. the Registrar’s Office

3. the Student Affairs Office

4. Don’t know; don’t care!

How often do you review students for SAP compliance?

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1. At the end of each academic year2. At the end of each academic term or payment

period3. Approx. two weeks before the auditor arrives!

Why SAP attention at UMDNJ?

• UMDNJ Academic Audit project:– Ensure record-keeping is accurate– Ensure policies and procedures reflect current practice

• Department of Education Negotiated Rulemaking

• Role of the Registrars– Opportunity to be educated about current DOE requirements

and work together to achieve compliance

SAP Policy Template• Purpose – measure performance, compliance

• Accountability – Dean, Asst Deans, Registrar, Financial Aid

• Applicability – *Graduate, FT, PT, degree, non-degree, Fin Aid or not• Standards

– Qualitative – GPA or other measure of “C or better”(P/F, WD, IC, Repeats/Remediation, *Transfer)

» Academic Amnesty– Quantitative –

» Maximum Time Frame (Terms, Years, Credits)» *Pace (Completion Rate)

– Increment for Review (Annual or Payment Period)

SAP Policy Template• Consequences of

Non-Satisfactory Academic Progress– *Financial Aid Warning– Financial Aid Probation– Ineligibility for Aid– *Academic Plan

• Appeal – how, when, to whom, mitigation • Notification – to students, financial aid, administrators• Dismissal/Withdrawal – equal non-SAP?• Documentation – where, by whom, historical data, periodic

review• Dissemination

– publication to applicants/students– presentation to advisors/faculty

Conclusions• Ongoing collaboration and communication between

varied administrative offices is a crucial component of successful policy implementation and ongoing review

• Reviewing DOE policy updates is educational process for all, even if your policy does not need to change

• Your careful review may result in the need to modify your academic policies or procedures that are not directly related to SAP

Resources

• Monographhttp://www.nasfaa.org/redesign/webinarcenter/10_07_2009/monograph14.pdf

• DOE Regulations

34 CFR 668.16(e), 34 CFR 668.32(f), 34 CFR 668.34

• Glossary• UMDNJ policies –

www.umdnj.edu/studentfinancialaid

After hearing this SAP information, I feel…

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1. Confident that my institution is compliant with SAP regulations.

2. Certain that my institution needs to review our SAP policy.

3. Ready to find another line of work!

Glossary• *Academic Amnesty – Practice of allowing students to begin a program over by calculating a new

Grade Point Average (GPA) while preserving the record of courses taken, credits and grades earned.

• Completion Rate – The rate of progress expected of students toward the completion of degree requirements.

• Documentation – Record of all Satisfactory Academic Progress assessments, notices to students, appeals, resolutions of appeals, actions taken, and statistics on student performance.

• Evaluation Period – Equal parts of the maximum time frame at the end of which students will be evaluated, minimally once a year.

• Financial Aid Warning – Status for one payment period while not making satisfactory academic progress in which a student may receive financial aid.

• Financial Aid Probation – Period of time in which a student is not making satisfactory academic progress but continues to receive financial aid while addressing deficiencies according to an pre-determined academic plan.

• *Flex Curriculum (Lightened Load) – The opportunity to personalize scheduling of courses to accommodate students with special

circumstances. It can be structured to permit the pursuit of other academic, research, employment or family interests. It also facilitates the scheduling of combined degree programs: MD/JD, MD/MBA, MD/MPH, etc.

• Leave of absence – Period of time during which a matriculated student is not enrolled but is expected to return after completion of leave, either voluntarily by student’s choice or involuntarily by actions of school personnel; each school may set its own time limit for return.

• *Maintaining Matriculation – Student enrolled as a matriculated student who is approved to complete unfinished work required for courses from previous semesters, but is not involved in an academic enhancement outside their usual curriculum. This is a student who is actively involved in his/her current program and for whom the codes of Withdrawal or Leave of Absence are not appropriate.

• Maximum Time Frame – Maximum amount of time that a student has to complete degree requirements.

• Mitigating Circumstances – Circumstances under which a student may be granted an adjustment

to the standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress such as: death in the family, serious illness, financial or interpersonal difficulties.

• Qualitative Standard – Measure of how well a student is doing in the completion of degree requirements, typically the GPA or other similar standard. Federal regulations require at least a “C” average or its equivalent.

• Quantitative Standard – Measure of how much of the degree program a student has completed, typically the number of credits or courses, against the normal completion rate. Minimum amount expected to completed must be stated.

• Remediation – Opportunity to correct past deficiencies by retaking an exam, repeating a course(s) or part of course(s).

• Satisfactory Academic Progress – Successful completion of degree requirements according to published increments that lead to degree completion within published time limits.

• *Suspension – Situation in which a student is barred from enrollment for a specified period of time due to failure to meet academic standards or violation of school/university policies. There may be requirements placed upon the student for activities that must be undertaken during the suspension in order to be eligible for reinstatement/readmission.

• *Withdrawal – Situation in which a matriculated student’s enrollment is officially terminated (either voluntarily through approved application by the student or by the school’s administrative action as a result of student’s failure to re-enroll, or involuntarily due to decision by school personnel); readmission may only occur following formal re-application.

Notes:• * - UMDNJ definitions• All other definitions derived from NASFAA Monograph 14

Thank you for coming! Any questions?

Your feedback is important! Please fill out your session evaluation form for Session # 663 using the AACRAO Mobile App or the paper form provided in

your conference bag.

Contact:Susan Nelson – nelsonsu@umdnj.eduJulie Ferguson – fergusje@umdnj.edu