Satisfactory Academic Progress

Students receiving federal Title IV aid for their educational costs are required to maintain an acceptable cumulative GPA, while at the same time completing a specified percentage of the credits for which they register within a certain time frame. The maximum time frame may not exceed 150% of the published length of the educational program measured in credit hours attempted.

Excessive withdrawals, incomplete or F grades can be the cause of not meeting the pursuit of progress requirement. It is important that you successfully complete all the classes you register for. Note: Remedial coursework is not considered in the calculation that determines eligibility for federal student aid.

Federal Title IV student aid funds include: Federal PELL, Federal SEOG, Federal Work Study, Federal Perkins Loan, and Direct Stafford Loans.

Satisfactory Academic Progress standards for New York State TAP recipients follows a different structure than that of the federal requirements.

A review of federal aid eligibility will be completed at the end of the spring semester to determine eligibility for the new aid year. Students will be notified via their NCC email if they did not meet the federal requirements for academic progress. A student may appeal this decision if they can document the extenuating circumstances that caused the poor academic performance. Appeals are for unforeseen, extenuating circumstances and are not for ongoing issues. Students with approved appeals will be given a probationary semester in which they will be granted federal aid for one semester. At the end of the probationary semester their progress will be reviewed to determine if they are eligible for federal aid in the next semester. If it is determined that the student is still not making academic progress, no aid will be issued for the following semester and no additional appeal will be accepted.

Steps to appeal:

• Students MUST have a FAFSA on file for the academic year they are appealing to receive Federal aid funds.
• Log into your MyNCC Portal and select the Verify My FAFSA tile. If this is your first time logging into Student Forms, you will be asked to create an account. Important, when confirming student information, the student’s name, date of birth and SSN you enter must match the information on your FAFSA exactly.
• Complete the tasks: the appeal form, personal statement and upload any supporting documentation which can justify why your academic progress suffered and how you plan to remedy it for future semesters.
• Students must also complete the online, SUNY Smart Track Financial Literacy course: College & Money, and upload it with any supporting documents.
• Deadline to submit appeals is July 15.
• The appeal decision is based on the information you provide. Notification will be sent to your NCC email.

To continue to receive federal financial aid, students must maintain the standards of satisfactory progress.

Qualitative Component: Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA)

Quantitative component: Pace (attempted credits vs. earned credits)

Students must earn with a passing grade, at least 67% of all cumulative attempted credit hours. For example, if a student attempted a cumulative total of 30 degree credits, the student must have earned at least 20 of those credits toward their degree or certificate program of study.

Time Frame

Students may attempt a maximum of 150% of the published required credit hours for the Associate's Degree or Certificate program the student is pursuing. For example, if the program of study requires 64 credits to complete, the student may attempt a maximum of 96 credits.

Grades

• Calculated in Attempted: 'A','B','B+','C','C+','D','D+', ‘F’, ‘UW’, ‘W’, 'WU', ‘GNS’, ‘INC’ & Transfer Credits (TR)
• Calculated in Earned credits: 'A','B','B+','C','C+','D','D+ & Transfer Credits (TR)
• Calculated in GPA: 'A','B','B+','C','C+','D','D+', ‘F’, ‘UW’

Remedial Courses

A maximum of 30 credits of remedial coursework will be used to determine eligibility for financial aid. After a student has attempted 30 credit hours of remedial coursework, the student cannot receive federal financial aid for any additional remedial coursework.

Remedial coursework is not counted in Pace or GPA. However, a student with only remedial coursework will be evaluated under the qualitative measure. If at least one remedial course is successfully completed within the academic year, the student will be determined eligible for federal aid.

Appeals Process for Mitigating Circumstances

A student may appeal the loss of federal aid eligibility if they can document that extenuating circumstances caused the poor academic performance. Appeals are for unforeseen, extenuating circumstances and are not for ongoing medical issues or patterns of poor performance. Student may only submit one appeal in an academic year.

Students with approved appeals will be given a probationary semester in which they will be granted federal aid for one semester. At the end of the probationary period, their progress is reviewed to determine if they are eligible for federal aid in the next semester.

If the student does not meet SAP or fails to meet the Academic Plan* requirements after the probationary period, the student will be ineligible for federal financial aid until student meets SAP.

Reestablishing aid eligibility

A student regains eligibility for federal financial aid by taking action that brings the student into compliance with SAP criteria.

*Academic Plan Requirements

Students in a probationary semester may be considered for an Academic Plan if the following requirements are met:

1. Student successfully completes all courses in the probationary semester.
2. Probationary semester GPA is at least a 2.0.

Students placed on an Academic Plan must meet these requirements each semester until they are back in compliance with SAP standards. Failure to do so will result in the loss of Federal Title IV aid at NCC.

How does a student obtain an Academic Plan?

The Financial Aid Office will refer the student to the Center for Educational & Retention Counseling (CERC) via email notification to the student’s NCC email. The student should make an appointment to meet with a CERC counselor at 516.572.7141 or CERC@ncc.edu. The CERC counselor will develop an academic plan with the student and submit a copy to the Financial Aid Office on the student’s behalf.