All degree/certificate-seeking students must meet satisfactory academic progress (SAP) standards in order to establish and maintain eligibility for federal financial aid. Standards are monitored and reviewed each semester and if they are not met, students may be placed on warning, suspension, or an education plan.
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SAP Standards
Grade point average (gpa)
Students must maintain a minimum institutional GPA of 2.00. Institutional GPA includes all coursework receiving a letter grade of A, B, C, D, F, or X taken at CWI and includes remedial coursework. It does not include transfer coursework.
Pace of Completion
Students must make progress toward completion of their declared degree/certificate while maintaining a minimum 67% completion rate. The completion rate is calculated by dividing the cumulative number of credit hours successfully completed by the cumulative number of credit hours attempted.
Maximum Time Frame
In order to stay within the maximum time frame, students must be able to complete their declared degree/certificate program within 150% of the published number of credit hours required to complete the program.
To get the total number of credit hours, all remedial credit hours attempted are subtracted from all credit hours attempted at CWI (including repeated credits) and all credit hours transferred from other colleges/universities. The total is then used to determine the student's current progress toward their degree/certificate.
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SAP Standing
View standing in mycwi
To view your standing, log in to myCWI and select Financial Aid. Click on Financial Aid Menu and then Satisfactory Academic Progress.
Good standing
Students who are meeting all SAP standards and are not placed on warning, suspension, or an education plan are in good standing.
Students in good standing are eligible for federal financial aid.
Warning
Students who have not met one or more of the SAP standards will be placed on warning. This standing is temporary and is intended to alert students to a current deficiency in their academic progress. Without improvement, students will be placed on suspension.
Students placed on warning remain eligible for federal financial aid.
Suspension
Students will be placed on suspension if they cannot mathematically complete their declared degree/certificate or cannot raise their institutional GPA to the minimum 2.00 within the maximum time frame.
If extenuating circumstances lead to academic difficulty or a student has exceeded the maximum time frame, students may appeal their suspension or request an evaluation of their credits.
Students placed on suspension are no longer eligible for federal financial aid.
Education plan
Students that have successfully appealed their suspension will be placed on an education plan. In order to begin meeting SAP standards, students must meet all requirements outlined on their plan. Progression is measured at the end of every semester and once all standards are met, the student will be moved to good standing.
Students who fail to meet their plan requirements will again be placed on suspension. Students who fail to attend courses within three semesters of an approved education plan will be required to submit a new appeal.
Students placed on an education plan regain eligibility for federal financial aid.
denied
Students that have had an appeal denied must attend and complete multiple semesters successfully until they begin meeting all SAP standards again.
Students with a denied appeal remain ineligible for federal financial aid.
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Regaining Eligibility
SAP Appeal
If a student experienced academic difficulty due to extenuating circumstances (such as death of an immediate family member, hospitalization, and/or illness), they must submit the following documents to appeal their suspension:
- A SAP Appeal form that has been completed and signed by both the student and their advisor.
- A typed, detailed statement describing the circumstances that prevented them from meeting SAP, along with how the issue(s) have been resolved.
- Any required supporting documentation.
The deadline to submit an appeal is the last day to withdraw each semester.
Remaining credits evaluation
If a student has exceeded the maximum time frame due to transferred credits or prior degree/certificate credits, they may request an evaluation to see if any credits that do not fulfill graduation requirements for a current/additional program may be excluded from the maximum time frame calculation. To request an evaluation they must submit the following document:
- A Remaining Credits Evaluation (RCE) form that has been completed and signed by both the student and their advisor.
If a student is seeking an additional degree/certificate, all attempted credits from a prior degree/certificate that fulfill graduation requirements must be counted.
IMPORTANT – Submitting an appeal or RCE does not guarantee approval. If it is clear that a student cannot mathematically complete their declared degree/certificate or cannot raise their institutional GPA to the minimum 2.00 within the maximum time frame, the appeal or RCE will be denied, and the student will no longer be eligible for federal financial aid.
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Terms & Definitions
GRADING
A, B, C, D, and P grades represent credits that have been successfully completed for SAP purposes. F, NC, NP, I, W, WIP, and X grades represent credits that have not been successfully completed.
IMPORTANT – While considered successfully completed for SAP purposes, a D grade may not be passing in all courses and may not fulfill specific program and/or graduation requirements.
REPEAT, INCOMPLETE, & AUDIT COURSES
Repeat Course
Repeat courses are subject to the college's academic policies. A course with a grade that represents credits that have not been successfully completed may be repeated with the assistance of federal financial aid. A course with a grade that represents credits that have been successfully completed may be repeated one time with the assistance of federal financial aid.
Incomplete Course
Incomplete courses must be arranged with instructors and must be completed as indicated by the instructor in accordance with the college's grading policies. Courses extended beyond the published end of the period of enrollment in which they were originally scheduled are not considered credit hours successfully completed.
Audit Course
Audited courses must be arranged in advance with the instructor and declared by the due date published in the catalog. They are not counted as attempted or completed credits and are not eligible for federal financial aid.
Non-credit & Remedial Courses
Non-credit Course
Non-credit courses (such as Workforce Development, Basic Skills Education, and English as a Second Language) that do not satisfy graduation requirements in the student’s declared degree/certificate are not counted as attempted or completed credits and are not eligible for federal financial aid.
Remedial Course
Remedial courses have a course number below 100 and are credit-bearing. Credits are included in the institutional GPA calculation and are counted as both attempted and completed credits in the pace of completion calculation, but are excluded from the maximum time frame calculation. Students may receive federal financial aid for a maximum of 30 remedial credit hours.