Home » Students » Financial Aid » Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Policy
The U.S. Department of Education requires the Coast Community College District – Coastline, GWC, and OCC - to establish and apply standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) for eligible students to receive financial aid under the programs authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act.
SAP is determined at the end of every term once grades are posted. Students are required to make satisfactory academic progress toward the completion of an associate degree, an eligible vocational certificate and/or transfer to a four-year college/university.
The SAP Policy covers all federal programs, including the Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Work-Study (FWS), and Direct Loans. SAP also applies to the state Cal Grant, Full Time Student Success Grant, and Completion Grant programs. A separate academic progress policy applies to the California College Promise Grant (Formerly BOG Fee Waiver).
The following are the Standards that students must meet to maintain satisfactory academic progress for financial aid:
A student must maintain a cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.00 or higher. The GPA includes units within the Coast Community College District and those from other regionally accredited colleges and universities that have been evaluated by the Admissions and Records Office at either OCC, GWC, or CCC, and applied to the student's academic record. GPA units are those with grades of A, B, C, D, or F. Academic renewal is not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and will not remove such grades from this calculation.
A student must complete at least 67% of the total number of units that they attempt - all completed units divided by all attempted units. All courses with grades of A, B, C, D, or F as well as P, W, I, IP, NP, NC, and repeated courses will be counted towards the total attempted units. All courses with grades of A, B, C, D and P will be counted toward total completed units. Units from other regionally accredited colleges and universities that have been evaluated by one of our Admissions and Records Offices and applied to the student's official academic record will also be counted. Academic renewal is not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and will not remove such units from this calculation.
The total number of units attempted, including those from **outside transcripts that have been applied to the student's academic record, will be limited to 150% of the units required to complete the student's program of study. For an AA/AS Degree and/or transfer to a four-year college/university, students may be paid financial aid for up to 90 units before losing eligibility to receive further financial aid. If pursuing an eligible certificate, the same 150% limit is applied. For example, if the Certificate requires 30 units to complete, then aid could be paid up to 45 units.
If a student has received an AA/AS and/or BA/BS degree, you will be considered to have exceeded the Maximum time frame for further aid and must submit an appeal if you wish to receive aid for a new program of study.
**Outside/incoming transcripts from other colleges, the SAP calculation will only include those units that count toward the student’s current Program of Study (POS). Furthermore, all remedial coursework will be excluded from the maximum time frame SAP calculation.
A student may receive financial aid only one time for repeating a course in which the student has already received a passing grade. A student may receive financial aid more than once for retaking a course that the student has never passed. However, CCCD Colleges have a policy that only allows a student to take the same class three (3) times when attempting to receive a passing grade—one initial attempt and two retakes. Therefore, only the first three attempts to pass a class will be eligible for financial aid.
Per AB 705 and subsequently AB 1705, Coast District Colleges no longer offer remedial courses in English and Math.
Students must be enrolled in an eligible program of study to be eligible for financial aid. ESL courses are not considered to be an eligible program. However, students may receive financial aid for ESL courses if necessary to help them succeed in courses that are part of an eligible program.
A student may receive financial aid for a maximum of 30 units of ESL coursework. These units will not count toward a student's maximum timeframe but will be counted in GPA and pace completion ratio calculations.
Students who have attempted 30 units of ESL classes and continue to enroll in ESL courses must show evidence of being enrolled in an eligible program. From this point forward, to be eligible for financial aid, students must adhere to the following:
Failure to meet these conditions will result in the student being considered ineligible to receive student financial aid, as they will not be deemed to be pursuing an eligible degree or certificate.
For outside/incoming transcripts from other colleges, only units that count toward the student’s current program of study (POS) will be included in the maximum time frame SAP calculation. However, all accepted units from these transcripts, as evaluated by the Admissions and Records Office, will count toward the GPA/completion ratio.
If the student is selected for Unusual Enrollment History (UEH) by the U.S. Department of Education, and transcripts from other colleges are reviewed by the Financial Aid Office for this purpose without prior evaluation by Admissions and Records, the Financial Aid Office may choose to evaluate the transcripts for satisfactory academic progress determination at that time—before they are reviewed by the Admissions and Records Office.
For students new to the Coast Community College District, if official transcripts are evaluated upon or soon after entry and show that the student was not making satisfactory academic progress, the student will be automatically disqualified from financial aid (without a warning semester) for any of the following reasons:
Courses taken in a study abroad program that is approved by Coast Community College District for academic credit toward a student's vocational certificate, degree, or transfer are counted in the SAP calculations.
Students must have one of the following as their Educational Goal: AA/AS Degree w/transfer or without, transfer to a 4-year institution or an eligible certificate approved for financial aid by the U.S. Department of Education. The program in which the student is enrolled must be an approved Program of Study offered at the institution where they are receiving financial aid. Students are encouraged to review the catalog at their attending college for available approved Programs of Study. Note that not all programs in the catalog are eligible for financial aid.
Satisfactory Academic Progress is calculated at the end of each term. All terms of enrollment within the Coast Community College District and outside transcripts applied to the student's record are included when determining a student's satisfactory academic progress, even if the student did not receive financial aid in the past.
Once SAP has been calculated at the end of each term, these are the SAP status outcomes:
Good: A student who has met all satisfactory academic progress requirements and will continue to be eligible for federal and state financial aid grants and loans as long as all other financial aid requirements are met.
Warning: A student who does not meet all satisfactory academic progress requirements is placed on "Warning" for one semester. During this “Warning” period, the student will continue to receive financial aid as long as all other financial aid requirements are met.
Note: Students have the current term in which they are on "Warning" to meet all cumulative conditions of satisfactory academic progress. If they do not meet these conditions by the end of the term, they will be disqualified from receiving financial aid for the following term.
Disqualified: A student will be considered disqualified if they:
Probation: If a student is disqualified due to the GPA/Pace of Unit Completion Ratio, they may appeal for further financial aid. An appeal committee will review the appeal and make a decision. If the appeal committee grants the appeal for a GPA or Pace of Unit Completion disqualification, the student will receive one additional semester of financial aid and be placed on "probation" status. If the student meets the cumulative GPA/Pace of Unit Completion Ratio requirements after the probationary term grades are posted, they will return to "good" status (unless the student has hit the maximum time frame). If not, they will lose financial aid eligibility and move to "disqualified" status.
Educational Plan: If a student is disqualified due to exceeding the Maximum Time Frame, they may appeal for additional financial aid. The appeal committee will review the appeal and make a decision. If the appeal committee approves the appeal for the Maximum Time Frame disqualification, the student will be placed on an Educational Plan. The student will continue receiving financial aid if they follow the educational plan and meet all conditions specified in the appeal approval.
Students who have been disqualified due to not meeting the minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA requirement and/or the minimum 67% completion ratio requirement may re-establish their eligibility for financial aid by either:
Students who are disqualified may appeal if they have extenuating circumstances.
Acceptable circumstances for appeal include:
Appeal submission requirements:
Students will be notified of the outcome via their student email. If an appeal is denied, the student may request a second review by submitting a written request and attaching additional documents to the Financial Aid Office for review by the Financial Aid Director/Designee. The student will be notified of the decision via their student email.
References:
California Student Aid Commission Institutional Participation Agreement Article IV, B 15 9CEC 69433.5(a).
Federal Student Aid Regulations: 34 CFR 668.42(c)(2)
Updated: 8/5/2024
