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Student Performance



Poor academic performance and weak attendance can have an enormous impact on a student's financial aid eligibility.

 

A student can avoid the stress of financial aid pitfalls by examining these guidelines concerning attendance, satisfactory academic progress, and unearned Title IV funds.

Attendance:

A student cannot received financial aid for a course he or she did not attend. Therefore, SCC's Financial Aid Office will verify a student's attendance with his or her instructor during the first two weeks of courses. If a student does not show up for class during the first two weeks, he or she will have their financial aid reduced and/or eliminated. If a student is reported as never attending a course and he or she feels the report was made in error, it is the responsibility of the student to insure that his her instructor provides notification to the Financial Aid Office that the student did in fact attend.

If a student unofficially withdrawals (stops attending without completing the official withdrawal process) he or she's last date of attendance may be verified with his or her instructors.

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP):

Students who receive financial assistance from Title IV, state or institutional funds must make "satisfactory academic progress" as described below to remain eligible to receive financial aid. Students who receive financial aid will have their records reviewed at the end of each award period (semester) to determine if "satisfactory progress" is being maintained. The student's total academic history is monitored regardless of whether he/she has previously received financial aid. Programs affected by "Standard Requirements" are:

  • Federal Pell
  • Iowa Grant
  • Federal SEOG
  • Iowa Vocational Technical Grant
  • Federal ACG
  • All Iowa Opportunity Scholarship
  • Federal Stafford Loan
  • Iowa Foster Care Grant
  • Federal PLUS Loan
  • Iowa National Guard Tuition Program
  • Federal Work Study
  • Iowa Work Study
  • Designated SCC Foundation Scholarships


If the standards listed below are not met, students will be declared ineligible for financial aid.

You must maintain satisfactory academic progress to continue receiving financial aid. Satisfactory academic progress for financial aid includes maintaining the requirements as listed below:

  1. Successfully complete 67% of enrolled credit hours. This will be measured on a cumulative basis. Example: If the student enrolls for a total of 24 credit hours their first academic year, the student must satisfactorily complete 16 credit hours. (Example: 24 credit hours x .67 (67%) = 16 credit hours)
  2. Completion of the academic program in 150% of the published length of the program. Example: Associate in Arts degree = 62 credit hours. Maximum enrolled credit hours permitted to complete this program would be 93. (Example: 62 credit hours x 1.5 (150%) = 93 credit hours.
  3. Minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average. During the entirety of a student's program, the student must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.00.

 
Additional Standards:

1. Credit/no credit, course repeats, withdrawals, incompletes, and developmental courses shall be included as a part of the student's cumulative credit hours enrolled for maximum time frame purposes.

2. Courses taken for audit, hours via Institutional Proficiency Exams, Advanced Placement, and hours via the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) will not be included as part of a student's cumulative credit hours for maximum time frame purposes.

3. Transfer students who apply for financial aid may also be evaluated for satisfactory progress if the student has never attempted credits at SCC (new transfer students). If a student received student loans at another college (according to the National Student Loan Data System) prior to attending SCC, the Financial Aid Office may request transcripts from the student for each college attended in order to complete the evaluation of academic progress.

ATTENTION STUDENTS! The first term a student fails to meet these standards, the student will be placed on Financial Aid Warning. Any student on Financial Aid Warning will have one semester to bring their coursework up to minimum standards.  However, a student failing to earn any credit hours during a term of enrollment will be placed directly on "Financial Aid Dismissal." There is no warning period for students failing to earn any credit hours during a term.  A student failing to attain these standards by the end of the warning semester will be terminated from receiving further financial aid by being placed on "Dismissal". This termination includes student loans.

There are two options a student may pursue in order to regain eligibility for financial aid:

  1. Complete the number of credit hours necessary to achieve the 67% requirement and/or minimum cumulative grade point average need for their grade level. This will be at the student's own expense. When these hours have been complete, the Financial Aid Office must be notified by the student so that eligibility for aid can be reinstated. Financial Aid eligibility does not automatically become reinstated.
  2. If special circumstances exits, the student may submit a letter of appeal to the Financial Aid Office stating the reasons the standards requirements noted above were not met. If the appeal is approved by a review committee, eligibility for financial aid will be reinstated on a probationary level.  The student must also submit and agree to the terms of an Academic Plan. The "Financial Aid Appeal and Academic Plan" form is available on this website under "Financial Aid Forms."

Unearned Title IV Funds:

By federal law, unearned Title IV funds (Pell, Stafford loans, SEOG) must be returned to the federal government for a student who totally withdraws (official/unofficial) on or before the 60% point of the enrollment period. The amount of return is determined by the following:

  1. Determine percentage of enrollment period student completed.
  2. Earned aid = total awarded Title IV aid multiplied by same percentage.
  3. Unearned aid = earned aid subtracted from total disbursable aid.
  4. Southeastern returns: the total institutional charges incurred by the student multiplied by the unearned percentage of Title IV aid.
  5. Student returns: unearned aid - Southeastern's return; If a student received grants, the student's return will be multiplied by 50% after being reduced by the amount of loan funds the student is required to return. This amount is then subtracted from the initial amount of grant funds due from the student.

SCC or the student is required to return unearned financial aid assistance in a particular order when a student officially or unofficially withdrawal: 

  1. Unsubsidized Federal Direct Stafford Loans
  2. Subsidized Federal Direct Stafford Loans
  3. Direct PLUS Loans
  4. Federal Pell Grant
  5. Academic Competitiveness Grant
  6. Federal SEOG

Students who are required to return unearned funds to the federal government are given 45 days to make that payment to SCC. 

Examples of these refund policies are available upon request at the SCC Financial Aid Office.

 

 

 


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