Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
As a student, you must be making progress toward your degree to continue receiving financial aid.
We monitor this through a process called Satisfactory Academic Progress. At the end of each semester, we evaluate your cumulative grade point average (GPA), the number of credits you've attempted, and the rate at which you're successfully completing credits to determine if you're eligible for financial aid the following semester.
UND's SAP Policy and Procedure
SAP Requirements
Please be aware that many private loan lenders may also require students to be meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP).
Minimum GPA
- Undergraduate and law students must maintain a cumulative 2.0 GPA.
- Graduate students must maintain a cumulative 3.0 GPA.
Completion Rates
All undergraduate, graduate, and professional students must complete 66.667% of attempted credits.
You can find your completion rate by dividing the number of your successfully completed credits by the number of your attempted credits.
Maximum Credit Limit
Students must complete their degrees within 150% of the credits required for the degree. For example, if your degree requires 120 credits to graduate, you must complete it within 180 attempted credits (includes transfer credits). Example: 120 credits x 150% = 180 credits
All credits enrolled in as of the last day to add or drop a course for the semester count as attempted. Credits completed at other institutions that are recorded as transfer credits by UND will be included.
Generally, the following is the maximum timeframe for most programs:
- Undergraduate students* = 180 attempted credits
- Graduate students = 135 attempted credits
- Law students = 135 attempted credits
- Medical students = 264 attempted credits
*Undergraduate students - this number is for undergraduate programs with a required number of 120 credits to graduate. If your program requires more than 120 credits, your maximum timeframe will be higher.
Not Meeting SAP Requirements?
If you are not meeting the SAP requirements, you will receive an email indicating why you are not meeting satisfactory progress. If you think you have received this message in error, it is your responsibility to check on your financial aid eligibility.
SAP Holds
If you fail to meet SAP, you'll receive an email to your UND email account and a negative service indicator will be placed on your account, indicating that you have a SAP hold.
There are three different types of SAP holds:
- Financial Aid Disqualification: You don't meet one or more of the conditions of SAP and are ineligible for all aid that requires SAP.
- Financial Aid Warning: You don't meet the completion rate and/or GPA conditions of SAP, but met all conditions at the beginning of the previous semester. You're eligible for one additional semester of aid requiring SAP (e.g., you don't meet SAP after the fall semester, but are given a warning email and given the spring semester to try to meet SAP).
- Financial Aid Information Only: You're close to not meeting one or more SAP requirements.
SAP Petitions
If you feel that you were not able to meet SAP requirements because of circumstances beyond your control, you're entitled to appeal Financial Aid Disqualification by completing an electronic SAP Petition. Petitions will be denied if there is a lack of extenuating circumstances (see definition below).
- You must explain and document why you failed to make Satisfactory Academic Progress and how you intend to make satisfactory progress by the next evaluation.
- Complete the SAP petition form electronically, and attach supporting documentation required based on your specific circumstances.
What You Need To Petition
The notification you received informing you of your Financial Aid Disqualification will tell you exactly why you are not meeting SAP requirements. Click on the reason below to help you determine what forms are required for in order for you petition to be reviewed.
Processing of your petition can take up to two weeks after all required documentation has been received.
GPA and/or Completion Rate Issue
- SAP Petition (Electronic Form) - requires an attachment, if you don't have other documents ready yet, attach a word document stating what you are waiting for and why. See "Due Dates" below.
- SAP Advisor Documentation Form (Electronic Form) - completed and signed by advisor
Depending on your circumstances, you are also required to submit documentation from a professional which supports the extenuating circumstances that prevented you from meeting SAP requirements. See "Definitions" below for acceptable extenuating circumstances.
Professional letter(s) of support from doctors, counselors, lawyers, etc., knowledgeable of the student's situation must:
- Be on letterhead, contain a signature block, and a personal signature.
- Include dates of service, and detail the service provided to the student.
- For medical/mental health professional documentation, the documentation must state
that the student was seeking care or assistance during the time that they were unable
to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress.
- If the student has a chronic or past issue that has been re-evaluated or required a change to their plan of care, that information should be included in the documentation.
Maximum Credits Issue
- SAP Petition (Electronic Form) - requires an attachment, if you don't have other documents ready yet, attach a word document stating what you are waiting for and why. See "Due Dates" below.
- SAP Advisor Documentation Form (Electronic Form) - completed and signed by advisor
- SAP Course List Form (Electronic Form) - completed and signed by both advisor and student
SAP Petition Due Dates
SAP Petition deadlines are emailed directly to the student’s NDUS/UND email address for Fall, Spring, and Summer Semesters. If you are unsure, please access the Academic Dates and Deadlines Calendar.
*Your petition will not be reviewed if submitted past the deadline.* If you are not able to meet/discuss with your advisor before the deadline, submit the petition anyway and attach a statement that you will submit the other required paperwork after you've met with your advisor.
If your SAP petition is denied, you will have the option to appeal the initial decision with the Director of Financial Aid. Please refer to your SAP denial notification for instructions on appealing.
SAP PDF Forms
Definitions
Any credits a student is enrolled in after the last day to add/drop without record, which is also called the "Financial Aid Census" date. Use the Academic Calendar to help determine this date each semester.
Credits completed at other institutions that are recorded as transfer credits by UND will be included
Completed credits are those in which a student received a passing grade. Grades of Incomplete (I), Withdrawal (W), U, UP, F, or not grade at all are not considered successfully completed credits.
Credits completed at other institutions that are recorded as transfer credits by UND will be included
Circumstances beyond your control which may include, but are not limited to:
- Legal issues
- Personal medical or mental health issues
- Death of a close family member or friend
- Becoming a caregiver of a close family member or friend
Circumstances beyond your control DO NOT include:
- DUI (or other legal issues resulting from a crime you committed)
- Working too much
- Not knowing important academic and financial dates and deadlines
- Not checking your UND e-mail or Campus Connection Communications
*Any extenuating circumstances you describe will require supporting documentation from an objective 3rd party (i.e. doctor, legal paperwork, counselor, physical therapist, clergy, obituary, etc.) or they cannot be considered in the evaluation process.*
Professional letter(s) of support from doctors, counselors, lawyers, etc., knowledgeable of the student's situation must:
- Be on letterhead, contain a signature block, and a personal signature.
- Include dates of service, and detail the service provided to the student.
- For medical/mental health professional documentation, the documentation must state
that the student was seeking care or assistance during the time that they were unable
to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress.
- If the student has a chronic or past issue that has been re-evaluated or required a change to their plan of care, that information should be included in the documentation.
When you do not meet one or more of the requirements of Satisfactory Academic Progress and you are ineligible for all aid which requires SAP to be met.
The first time you do not meet SAP standards, you will be placed in Financial Aid Warning. This means you are one term away from losing your financial aid eligibility. You are still eligible for financial aid.
When you are close to not meeting one or more of the Satisfactory Academic Progress conditions, you will be placed on Financial Aid Information Only.
Upon approval of your SAP petition, you will be notified of the stipulations required to maintain federal aid eligibility until you meet SAP requirements on your own.
SAP FAQ's
No. If you have been placed on Financial Aid Disqualification, taking a semester off (or longer) will not reinstate your eligibility. The only way to regain eligibility is to meet SAP requirements on your own by improving your grades and/or completion rate or to have an approved SAP petition and be placed on a plan of study.
Maybe. You can still apply for a private (bank) educational loan, however, there are many lenders who require students to be meeting SAP.
The following private lenders will consider loan applications of students not meeting SAP: Citizens One, Common Bond, Wells Fargo, Sallie Mae., Union Federal, SunTrust.
You can compare them to decide which is best for you using FASTChoice.
No. It's required that your petition is submitted on, or before, the deadline. You will be granted additional time to submit required documents from your advisor and other supporting documentation.
The petition requires that you have at least one attachment before it will allow you to "submit." Please attach a word document stating what documents you will be sending later, and why.
Yes. Credits earned from a pervious degree or from other institutions may be included in calculating your maximum credit allowance. These calculations are based on your career (undergraduate, graduate, etc.)
Please read about the Maximum Credit Limit above.
Yes. If your petition was denied and you either chose not to appeal to the Director of Financial Aid, or it was denied by the Director as well, you will have the opportunity to petition again. However, keep in mind that if you still lack extenuating circumstances and haven't made an improvement, your petition may be denied again.
The following private lenders will consider loan applications of students not meeting SAP: Citizens One, Common Bond, Wells Fargo, Sallie Mae, Union Federal, SunTrust.
You can compare them to decide which is best for you using FASTChoice.
No. This hold and the notifications are for Financial Aid purposes only and will not affect your ability to register for courses. Be sure to check your holds and "To Do's" in Campus Connection in case there are other holds which may prevent your registration.
No. If you don't use Federal Financial Aid or any other aid that requires you to be meeting SAP, this hold does not effect you financially. You should still meet with your academic advisor to make sure that you have a plan to be successful.
If you plan to use Federal Financial Aid or other aid which requires you to be meeting SAP, you will need to petition or to have met the requirements on your own.