The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended by Congress in 1986, mandates institutions of higher education to define, establish, and enforce minimum standards of satisfactory progress for students receiving financial assistance. These standards must include qualitative and quantitative measures for evaluating the progress of financial aid recipients towards their educational goals. An assessment of these efforts will be performed after each semester.

A. LENGTH OF TIME (Quantitative Standard)

Federal financial aid regulations provide for assistance up to 150 percent of the length of the program. All periods of enrollment and credits granted must be counted towards this maximum (whether or not financial aid assistance was received for all periods of enrollment). Students transferring into Crowder College must have all academic records from previously attended institution(s) on file before any possible aid awards can be determined. No aid will be given to those transfer students who are at or over the maximum hours allowed for their chosen program of study at Crowder College.

Students pursuing an associate’s degree may only accumulate a maximum of 96 credit hours. Students pursuing a certificate may only accumulate a maximum of 45 credit hours. Students who are accepted into the nursing or veterinary technology programs and have begun the nursing and veterinary technology curriculum may accumulate a maximum of 114 credit hours. Accumulated hours will be the total of: Crowder College hours, hours from previously attended accredited institutions, and any granted or non-traditionally earned hours.

In figuring the student aid award, based upon the number of credit hours enrolled each semester, the following will not be considered: audited courses, credits granted, credits earned non-traditionally, noncredit remedial courses, and withdrawals. Based upon the aid award, the student must complete a minimum number of credit hours per academic year. Full-time students must complete 21 credit hours in the academic year, three-quarter-time students must complete 15 credit hours, half-time students must complete 9 credit hours and less-than-half-time students must complete all the hours in which they were enrolled. In-completes, failed courses, and withdrawals will not be counted as completed credits.

No additional time will be allowed for program completion due to a change of major or program. The summer term is included in the maximum number of hours allowed for program completion.

B. GRADE POINT AVERAGE (Qualitative Standard)

Students receiving financial assistance must maintain a cumulative grade point average (GPA) as outlined below:

12-15 semester credits accumulated 1.50 cumulative g.p.a.
16-30 semester credits accumulated 1.75 cumulative g.p.a.
31-45 semester credits accumulated 1.90 cumulative g.p.a.
46 & above semester credits accumulated 2.00 cumulative g.p.a.

C. FINANCIAL AID PROBATION AND SUSPENSION

If at any time in the past you were given aid at Crowder College and you did not complete the hours for which you received aid (or your grade point average was unsatisfactory), you will have been placed on probation or suspension status. Anyone who does not complete probationary requirements is placed on aid suspension until after the requirements are met. Students completing suspension requirements during the affected semester do not regain financial aid eligibility until the first day of the next semester.

Do not assume that if aid papers are accepted from you in the Financial Aid Office as preliminary application that you will automatically qualify for payment. If you know or suspect that you have possible problems, you need to be certain that you make that clearly known to the financial aid staff so they will be able to pursue your situation.

Student progress must be evaluated each academic year. This is done at the end of the spring semester. However, if the student falls below the cumulative grade point average requirement or the standard hours of completion requirement in the fall semester, he or she will be placed on financial aid probation for the spring semester. Students may continue to receive aid in the probationary semester as long as they are otherwise eligible. At the end of the spring semester, the student must meet the grade point and credit hour requirements for the academic year or they will be placed on financial aid suspension. Students receiving financial assistance beginning with the spring or summer semester, must meet the progress standards in that semester - they will not be given a probationary semester.

Any student accepting financial aid and then totally withdrawing from, or failing, all classes will automatically be placed on FINANCIAL AID SUSPENSION.

Students who have reached the maximum number of accumulated hours allowed for their program of study, will be placed on financial aid suspension.

Students who had exhausted their financial aid resources at Crowder College previous to the policy change effective June 10, 1998, will already have been placed on financial aid suspension and may not receive additional financial aid assistance under this policy.

Financial aid suspension means that a student will receive no further aid until the minimum standards have been completed. Financial Aid includes Federal PELL Grant, Academic Competiveness Grant, Federal SEOG, Federal Work-Study, Federal Family Educational Loan Program, Missouri Access Grant, and the Marguerite Ross Barnett Memorial Scholarship Program.

Once the student has established the minimum standard requirement for grade point average and hours completed, he or she may apply for financial assistance, excluding those students on financial aid suspension due to having accumulated the maximum allowable credit hours for their program of study.

Students who attend Crowder College without financial assistance and then apply for assistance will have to meet the satisfactory academic progress standards as if they had received assistance from the beginning of their attendance at Crowder College. Transfer students must have fewer accumulated hours than the maximum allowed at Crowder College in order to receive financial assistance. Students transferring into Crowder with a cumulative g.p.a. that falls below the guidelines outlined previously, will be automatically placed on financial aid probation. If, at the end of that probationary semester, the cumulative g.p.a has not been raised to an acceptable level, the student will be placed on financial aid suspension until the guidelines have been met.

D. APPEALS PROCESS
Students placed on financial aid suspension may appeal in writing to the Director of Financial Aid. Students should explain any mitigating circumstances concerning their academic performance. Student’s who are suspended due to exceeding the maximum time frame, must provide documentation in accordance with the SAP Appeal Form available in the FA Office. The FA Director will review each appeal on a case-by-case basis and provide a written response to the appeal. If the Director denies the appeal, the student may then appeal to the Student Services Committee. The student must provide the committee with a written explanation of the special circumstances that the committee should take into consideration. The student will receive written notification of the committee’s decision. The decision of the committee will be final. A maximum of two appeal requests will be considered from an individual student

Financial Aid Office - located on the 2nd floor, Newton Hall 417-451-3223 Ext. 5434