TEXARKANA COLLEGE
Satisfactory Academic Progress

Federal and TC regulations require that a student must be making satisfactory academic progress in a certificate, degree or transfer program leading to a bachelor's degree in order to be eligible to receive funding from any federal or institutional aid or entitlement program (this includes veterans educational benefits). Satisfactory academic progress (SAP) will be evaluated at the end of each semester.

Minimum standards of satisfactory academic progress are:

  1. GPA REQUIREMENT:
    1. All financial aid recipients must have a cumulative grade point average of 1.5 cumulative with 29 semester hours or less and 2.00 cumulative with 30 or more semester hours. The financial aid office at Texarkana College will consider all college transcripts to arrive at the cumulative grade point average.

  2. COMPLETION REQUIREMENTS:
    1. For financial aid purposes only, grades of 'I', or 'NC' on any college transcript will be counted as hours attempted, with no grade points.
    2. A student who received aid for 12 credit hours or more must complete a minimum of 9 credit hours.
    3. A student who received aid for 9-11 or 6-8 credit hours must complete a minimum of 6 credit hours.
    4. A student who received aid for 5 credit hours or less must complete all hours.
    5. A student who received aid for a Vocational Program full-time or half-time must complete all hours.
    6. The financial aid office at Texarkana College will consider all transcripts from other institutions to determine completion.

  3. MAXIMUM TIME FRAME:

    4. The regulation set by the Department of Education specifies that for an undergraduate program, the maximum time frame may not exceed 150% of the published length of the program. Texarkana College uses its longest program, 71 semester credits, as a basis for determining the 150% amount for all programs. Therefore, students enrolled at Texarkana College will be allowed a maximum of 106 semester hours attempted, or the equivalent thereof, to reach his/her degree/certificate objective. This total includes credit attempted at other institutions.

  4. FAILURE TO MEET SATISFACTORY ACADEMIC PROGRESS

    5. One semester of non-compliance with the SAP Policy will result in the student being placed on financial aid probation. Students placed on probation will continue to receive financial aid. Students that completely withdraw, receive grades of all Fs, or a combination of Fs and Ws will be placed on financial aid suspension. The second consecutive semester a student fails to meet the standards of academic progress he/she will be placed on financial aid suspension. Students placed on financial aid suspension will not be eligible for financial aid until the following criteria is met:

    1. Hour Requirement - Complete the required minimum number of hours as indicated in Section II Completion Requirement with no financial aid being extended during this period of enrollment.
    2. GPA Requirement - Complete a period of enrollment (non-minimum hour requirement) with satisfactory grade point average as indicated in Section I., with no financial aid being extended during this period of enrollment.

Note: Any student who wishes to appeal the loss of financial aid for failure to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress may do so through the Financial Aid Office.

In the event a student fails a course that he/she was funded for, he/she can receive financial aid to repeat the course only one additional time.

Financial aid does not cover courses successfully completed.

Credit by exam, CLEP, and other credits not requiring contact hours do not meet the requirements for SAP. Therefore, hours earned by exam will be included in hours earned only and not calculated in with hours attempted, SAP hours, or grade points. Financial assistance is not available for tests by exam.

As of Fall, 1999 all vocational and academic transcripts from Texarkana College will be combined to determine SAP. (In prior years, the hours were calculated separately.)

TRANSFER STUDENTS ON FINANCIAL AID

Any student who has been denied financial aid at another post secondary institution because of default on a student loan will be denied at this school until the applicable situation has been corrected. Students must meet TC's GPA requirements.

Any student having a debt of any nature at a previous post secondary institution will be denied financial aid at TC until the debt situation has been corrected.


Any student on academic probation or academic suspension from TC or any other previously attended post secondary institution will not be eligible for financial aid until probation or suspension is satisfied.

SATISFACTORY ACADEMIC PROGRESS MEMO

Students who do not meet SAP due to completion of hours or grade point average will automatically be issued a SAP memo.

A student who is issued a SAP memo will be notified in writing by the financial aid office as soon as possible. However, notice of financial aid warning may be retroactively incurred based on an evaluation of the student's previous academic record.

ACADEMIC BANKRUPTCY

Bankrupted hours count toward the 150% completion rule.

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