Academic Requirements of Receiving Financial Aid

All students who receive financial aid must make satisfactory academic progress in their degree program to continue eligibility for aid.

What is satisfactory academic progress (SAP)?

Federal regulations require colleges to establish, publish and enforce minimum academic standards for the continued receipt of Federal Title IV financial aid. If you receive any form of federal student aid you must meet satisfactory academic progress to retain your federal aid eligibility. This means you must make good grades and successfully complete a certain amount of coursework within a specified time period. Federal student aid includes Pell Grant, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans, Direct Parent Loans (PLUS) and Federal Work Study.

Satisfactory academic progress requirements for the retention of federal student aid are different from the college’s academic standards.

How is academic progress measured?

Satisfactory academic progress has three measurable components:

• Qualitative – Grade point average (GPA)
• Quantitative – Pace of completion
• Maximum Time Frame – 150% of the length of your major

Grade Point Average Requirement (Qualitative Standards)

Once you have attempted 12 - 20 credit hours, you must have a 1.6 minimum cumulative GPA

Once you have attempted 21 - 29 credit hours, you must have a 1.8 minimum cumulative GPA.

Once you have attempted 30+ credit hours, you must have a 2.0 minimum cumulative GPA.

Pace of Completion Requirements (Quantitative Standards)

The quantitative component refers to the pace at which you complete the coursework required for your major. Your pace of completion is calculated by dividing your total number of earned credits by your total number of attempted credits. Attempted credits include developmental courses. Developmental courses are those with less than a "100" course designation. Let’s say you have attempted 24 credits, but have only earned 13 credits. To calculate your pace of completion, you divide 13 by 24 to get a 54% completion rate.

Once you have attempted 12 credits, you must have earned 50% of all credits attempted. Attempted credits include all course work in your academic history at the College, except for advanced placement credits and test outs. Attempted credits include Failing (F), Incomplete (I), MMR Withdrawal (MW), Pass (P), SUNY General Education (SUNY), Transfer Credit (TR), and Withdrawal (W).

Maximum Time Frame Standards

Maximum time frame refers to the amount of time you may receive federal student aid while you are attending Tompkins Cortland. The maximum time period allowed for you to receive federal student aid is measured by the number of credits you have attempted in remedial and credit bearing courses. The U.S. Department of Education allows you to attempt up to 150% of the credits required for your major. If a degree audit conducted at any point during your enrollment at Tompkins Cortland indicates that it is mathematically impossible for you to complete your major within 150% of the length of your program, then you are no longer eligible for federal student aid for future semesters.

Developmental Coursework

You may receive federal student aid up to 30 credits of attempted remedial coursework. After 30 attempted credits, no further federal aid may be granted until all required remedial courses have been successfully completed.

First Degree

If you are attempting your first associate degree from Tompkins Cortland you may receive federal aid up to 92 attempted credits. If you are attempting your first certificate from Tompkins Cortland Community College you may receive federal aid up to 45 attempted credits. At any time if a review of your academic records indicates that it will be mathematically impossible for you to complete your major within the timeframe allowed, then you are no longer eligible for federal student aid for future semesters.

Second Degree

If you are seeking a second associate’s degree from Tompkins Cortland you must complete graduation requirements within 114 attempted credits. If you are seeking a second certificate from Tompkins Cortland Community College you must complete graduation requirements within 56 attempted credits. The number of attempted credits will include credits from your first degree. If a review of your academic records indicates that it will be mathematically impossible for you to complete your second major within the timeframe allowed, then you are no longer eligible for federal student aid for future semesters.

When is Satisfactory Academic Progress Evaluated?

Satisfactory academic progress is evaluated at the end of each academic term; fall, spring and summer. When you fail to meet satisfactory academic progress standards you will receive a letter and/or an email indicating your status for federal student aid. The communication you receive will also stipulate whether you can appeal your status and provide the necessary appeal instructions. If you are not eligible for federal student aid due to your academic performance, your financial aid record is placed on hold. You may view your hold status in the myTC3 Self Service account. The hold statuses are listed below along with the requirements for regaining federal student aid eligibility.

Financial Aid Warning

The first time you fail to meet SAP standards, you are placed on financial aid warning for one semester. You may receive federal student aid during the semester you are on financial aid warning. You are removed from Financial Aid warning if you are SAP compliant at the end of your warning semester.

You will receive a notice from the College informing you of your financial aid probation status. You will not need to appeal your financial aid probation status. However, you will need to complete an online survey and explain how you plan to improve your academic progress for the following term. The instructions for the online survey will be noted in your probationary letter.

Financial Aid Plan 

Approved financial aid appeals will result in the student being place on a financial aid plan. A student must follow their signed financial aid plan. If a student does not follow the signed financial aid plan the federal aid eligibility will be revoked. If a student needs to make any changes to their financial aid plan it must be done in the financial aid office.

Financial Aid Suspension 

After your financial aid warning semester, if you fail to meet SAP standards, you are placed on financial aid suspension. You may appeal a financial aid suspension status if you have unusual circumstances such as injury or illness, death in your immediate family or other special circumstances. You may only receive one appeal for a financial aid suspension status during your enrollment at the college. You will need to follow the appeal instructions outlined in the correspondence confirming your suspension status.

There are no additional appeals allowed if your financial aid is suspended a second time. You may still attend Tompkins Cortland however, you will be required to make payment arrangements with the Billing and Registration Office prior to the start of classes. Students who are financial aid suspended are not eligible for Pell Grant, SEOG, Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized Loans, Direct PLUS Loans or College Work-Study.

Financial Aid Exhausted

You are considered financial aid exhausted when you are unable to complete your degree or certificate in the required credits as described above. You may submit an Exhausted Financial Aid Appeal Form to the College if you can complete your first or second degree requirements within 18 credits or two semesters, 9 credits or one semester for certificates according to Degree Works and/or your advisor (this may require you to enroll part-time only). You will receive a notice from the college informing you of your exhausted financial aid status. You may appeal your status by following the instructions outlined in the correspondence.

Nursing Students

Students who are admitted into the nursing program, and who otherwise would be financial aid exhausted due to an excessive amount of credits attempted, will have their prior coursework evaluated based on nursing curriculum requirements to determine their eligibility for federal financial aid.  This evaluation will occur at the end of each term and you will be notified if you are not meeting maximum time frame standards. If at any time you are removed from the nursing program and you are determined to be financial aid exhausted, federal financial aid will cease immediately.

Academic Suspension

If you are placed on academic suspension, your financial aid appeal cannot be considered until you have appealed your academic suspension with the Committee on Academic Status (COAS). The academic decision of COAS is not based on your ability to receive federal student aid.

Recalculation of Attempted Credits after a Three Year Absence

You may be eligible for a recalculation of your attempted credits if you are returning to Tompkins Cortland after an absence of three years or more and you are entering a new program of study. The recalculation of attempted credits is available once and must be completed within the first year of returning to College.

Under the recalculation, attempted credits for which you received a passing grade, failing grade or withdrawal that do not meet graduation requirements for your new program of study are excluded from the maximum 92 credit limit for a first degree or 114 credit limit for a second degree.

Incomplete Grades

Incomplete grades are evaluated for SAP when the grade has been finalized.

Repeated Coursework

You may repeat a previously passed course only once and still receive federal student aid. You may receive federal aid for failed courses until you pass the class. Federal aid eligibility may be limited in this instance based on your attempted hours and quantitative standards.

Transfer Credits

Transfer credits from other colleges are included in attempted and earned credits for calculating quantitative and maximum time frame standards. Transfer credits are not part of either your academic or financial aid GPA.

-New York State Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) Guidelines-

Pursuit of Program (POP)

POP is a requirement that a student receive a passing or failing grade (A-F letter grade) in a certain percentage of courses each term, depending on the number of stat awards the student has received. This is evaluated at the end of the term to establish eligibility for the next payment. The percentage is determined according to the following schedule:

For this evaluation final grades are considered to be A,B,C,D, F or P. Grades of W (withdrawal), WP (withdrawal passing), or I (incomplete) are not considered to be course completions and do not count toward Pursuit of Program.

Satisfactory Progress

Satisfactory Progress means earning a minimum number of cumulative credits and a minimum cumulative grade point average prior to receiving the next TAP payment. Students at 2 year institutions may only receive 6 TAP payments.

There are two sets of standards that may apply:

Standard 1 
applies to students receiving aid in 2007-08 through and including 2009-10 and remedial students first receiving aid in 2007-08 and thereafter.

Standard 2 
applies to non-remedial students first receiving aid in 2010-11 and thereafter.

Time of Assessment

Good academic standing must be evaluated each term. Students must meet both Pursuit of Program and Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements for that term to be considered in good academic standing

Reinstatement of Good Academic Standing

Students who have lost good academic standing may restore this standing in one of the following ways:

• Make up past academic deficiencies by completing one or more terms of study without receiving any state grants or scholarships
• Be readmitted to school after an absence of at least one calendar year
• Transfer to another institution; or
• Be granted a one-time waiver

One-time waiver

New York State Commissioner of Education regulations permit students to receive a one-time waiver of the good academic standing requirement. The institution issues the waiver if there are documented extenuating circumstances. The institution is required to publish and adhere to criteria under which it will grant a waiver. Institutional personnel are required to discuss the waiver with the student before granting one. Tompkins Cortland uses the following criteria to review waiver requests.

The College requires a written waiver request and documentation of the extenuating circumstances. This might be acute health problems, or the death of an immediate family member. Examples of documentation would include medical records or death certificate.

Note: Students who are in default on any student loan are not eligible for any state-sponsored grant or scholarship.