UNM Student Financial Aid Office

Federal regulations require that to remain eligible for financial aid, you must perform in the classroom according to the University’s Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy.  Student academic progress is reviewed at the end of each academic year for programs at least two years in length.  For programs shorter than two years in length, academic progress is reviewed at the end of each semester.  Satisfactory academic progress is reviewed each semester for students who are within 23 credits of the maximum time frame allowed. For students not meeting the University’s standards, financial aid will be canceled.  The three components of the Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy are explained below. Academic renewal does not satisfy academic progress standards for financial aid.

1.  Course Completion Rate

Students must successfully complete at least 67% of the total credit hours they attempt. Classes in which grades of A, B, C, D, and CR are earned will be considered completed. Repeated courses were already counted as a completed course, and credit will not be earned twice.  All attempted credit hours are counted whether or not financial aid was received. This calculation includes all hours in which a student is registered at the time of withdrawal.  Remedial classes and English as a Second Language (ESL) classes are also counted as attempted credit hours.  Courses taken for AUDIT are not counted in the student’s total course load for purposes of financial aid eligibility. For graduate students, 100- and 200-level classes count as hours attempted, but not hours earned, because they will not count toward the completion of a graduate degree.

2.  Minimum GPA requirement

Students must meet the following GPA requirements in order to maintain their eligibility for financial aid:

3.  Maximum Time Frame

Undergraduate students must complete their program of study within 150% of the published length of the program, measured in credit hours attempted.  Example: if the published length of an academic program is 128 credits, the maximum time frame for completion is 192 attempted credits.  All attempted credit hours from any university, including non-degree hours, and hours attempted in completing a prior certificate or degree will count toward the maximum allowable credits regardless of whether financial aid was received.  Courses with assigned grades of F, WF, W, WP, I, NC, and “repeated” courses all count as attempted credit hours.  In addition, remedial classes and ESL classes are counted in this calculation, even though these classes do not count toward the students’ graduation requirements.  To receive financial aid, graduate students must complete their degree within the maximum time frame allowed by their graduate program.

Remedial Coursework

Students enrolled in a degree or certificate-granting program may receive financial aid for remedial coursework.  However, federal regulations prohibit the receipt of financial aid for more than 30 semester hours of work.  ESL (English as a Second Language) courses do not count against this limit.

Petitions for Exception to Standards of Satisfactory Progress

Students may request an exception when failing satisfactory progress standards by submitting a petition to the Student Financial Aid Office. A committee will review each petition.  Students may not request an exception to fund a semester which has already ended except for FFELP loans.  Petitions must contain the following:

1.        A personal statement, explaining the extenuating circumstances which prevented Satisfactory Academic Progress toward a degree or certificate.  If the student’s transcript indicates difficulty for more than one semester, the petition must address the circumstances pertaining to each of these terms, and should also explain how they have been resolved

2.        Documentation: For example, if you had an illness that prevented you from attending classes, you must provide a statement from your physician or photocopies of medical bills or statements containing a description of the illness and the dates that indicate when you suffered from that illness.

3.        Degree summaries signed by academic advisors, for students who are close to, or exceeding  the maximum time frame.

Students will be notified, in writing, of the decision approximately 10 working days after the petition was submitted.

Rev. 06/06

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