Satisfactory Academic Policy

The Higher Education Amendments of 2010 mandate institutions of higher education establish standards of "satisfactory progress" for all students receiving financial aid. Valley Forge Christian College will make the following standards applicable to all Federal funds awarded to students.

Student Aid Programs Affected:

• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG)
• Federal TEACH Grant
• Federal Work-Study
• Federal Perkins Loan
• Federal Direct Stafford Loan
• Federal Direct PLUS Loan

Note: The Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) standard does not affect the PHEAA State Grant Program. Pennsylvania has established its own SAP standards. The award notices sent from PHEAA describe the SAP requirements. This SAP Policy and appeal process does not apply to VFCC scholarships. VFCC students must maintain for all VFCC scholarships a cumulative 2.0 GPA except for the Trustee (3.7), President (3.6), Dean (3.5), Professor (3.4) and VFCC Grant (variable) which require higher GPAs.

Requirements for Satisfactory Academic Progress

SAP for both full-time and part-time students has two components – Pace and GPA.

Repeated Courses: Classes in which you received a grade of F and is repeating will count toward determination of enrollment status and will be eligible for financial aid. Classes in which you received a passing grade of D- or higher will count toward determination of your enrollment and you will be eligible for financial aid only one time. Repeated courses will be counted each time in the Pace (completion) calculation. If you repeat a course, only the highest of the grades received for the course will be used in the calculation of the grade point average.

Withdrawn Courses: Withdrawn courses neither earn credit nor influence your grade point average; however, they do affect the Pace (completion) rate. You may retake courses you have withdrawn from. The courses will count toward determination of your enrollment status and you will be eligible for financial aid.

Incomplete Courses: Incomplete courses do not earn credit but influence your grade point average as an “F” in the semester in which they are listed as “Incomplete.” Incomplete courses either turn into an “F” grade if not completed or into a different letter grade when completed.

Audit Courses: Audit courses do not earn credit nor influence your grade point average. They are not eligible for financial aid.

Remedial Courses: Remedial courses will count toward determination of your enrollment status, will influence your grade point average and you will be eligible for financial aid.

Pass/Fail Courses: Pass/Fail courses are not calculated in your cumulative grade point average but will be included in your credits earned and will count toward your determination of enrollment status.

Transfer Students: The credits that are transferred to VFCC are calculated into your overall credits earned total, but are not factored into your cumulative grade point average when a student transfers to VFCC. Therefore, if you are a new transfer student, you will come at a satisfactory academic progress level.

Returning/Suspended Students: If you are returning to VFCC, you will enter under the same SAP status you had the semester you left. If, however, you attended long enough that grades were issued (census date), your status would be reevaluated based on that semester.

Academic Amnesty: VFCC does not practice academic amnesty.

Summer Semester: The summer semester is treated the same as the fall and spring semesters.

Evaluation of Academic Progress: If you receive financial aid during the semester in which you are on warning. You are not permitted to enroll for more than 13 credits. If you fail to meet the necessary SAP requirements at the end of your warning semester, you must submit an appeal to be considered for probation status. If you do not appeal or if your appeal is denied, you will no longer be eligible to receive financial aid.

Financial Aid Warning: The members of this committee are the Vice President of Academic Affairs, Registrar, Executive Director of Enrollment Management, Director of Financial Aid and Comptroller.

Financial Aid/Academic Advisory Committee: The members of this committee are the Vice President of Academic Affairs/Provost, Registrar, Executive Director of Enrollment Management, Director of Financial Aid and Comptroller.

Appeal Process: If you fail to meet SAP during their warning semester, you must appeal to continue to receive Federal aid. Appeals should be received by the Financial Aid/Academic Advisory Committee within 30 days of notification of status. Reasons for appeal might include:

• Medical, family or emotional difficulty
• Learning disability
• Other special, significant or unusual circumstances.

You must submit the following three items:

• A detailed statement of your reason for not meeting SAP requirements and what has changed that will enable you to meet SAP standards.
• Third party documentation supporting your statement (letter from doctor, minister, counselor, instructor, hospital records, death certificate, etc.)
• An Academic Plan signed by your advisor.

Appeals should be submitted to:

Financial Aid/Academic Advisory Committee – Chair
Valley Forge Christian College
1401 Charlestown Road
Phoenixville, PA 19460
610-917-2069 (Fax)
financialaid@vfcc.edu

You will receive a letter from the Office of Financial Aid within 30 days from the receipt of the appeal stating the decision of the Financial Aid/Academic Advisory Committee.

Academic Plan: You will be required to meet with Evie Meyer, Executive Director of Enrollment Management to receive your academic plan as established by the Financial Aid/Academic Advisory Committee. It must be signed by your Academic Advisor. The academic plan will outline your semester GPA or Pace requirements to regain satisfactory academic progress. You are also required to meet with the Associate Director of the Student Success Center to monitor your Academic Plan.

Financial Aid Probation: You may receive financial aid during the semester you are on probation. However, you are not permitted to enroll for more than 13 credits. At the end of the probation period you must be meeting SAP. If you are not meeting SAP but are successfully following the established academic plan, you would continue to remain on probation and be eligible to receive financial aid. If you have not successfully followed the established academic plan, you may appeal by following the appeal process listed above to continue to receive Federal aid. If approved, you will receive a new academic plan.

Amendments to Policy: This policy will be amended whenever applicable Federal or State law or regulations are changed. Upon approval of the Vice President of Academic Affairs and the Financial Aid/Academic Advisory Committee, the Financial Aid Director is authorized to incorporate and implement changes required in this policy by Federal law or regulations. The Financial Aid/Academic Advisory Committee will review other amendments to the policy, not required by changes in law or regulations, annually.