The United States Department of Education requires every postsecondary institution receiving Title IV federal funds to have an academic progress policy that is used to determine eligibility for and continued receipt of federal funds.

SAP Policy

Although this policy must apply to all students whether or not they are receiving financial aid, the receipt of financial aid is a privilege that creates both rights and obligations for the student. The Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) policy has three components:

1. The student must maintain a certain grade point average or a comparative qualitative measurement against a norm

2. The student must complete a certain percentage of all coursework attempted

3. The student has a maximum timeframe to complete the program

Affected financial aid funds

Title IV federal funds affected by this policy at PCOM include the Federal Direct Stafford Loan, Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan, Federal Perkins Loan and Federal Work Study program. Although not required by the federal government, all institutional funds are also governed by the SAP policy.

SAP review schedule

A review of SAP will be conducted at the end of every spring term regardless of when a student enrolls. Failure to meet any component of SAP at the end of the spring term will result in the loss of eligibility for federal and PCOM financial aid for the next academic year. The Office of Financial Aid will notify the student if the student has failed to meet the standards of SAP and has lost eligibility for financial aid. If financial aid has already been awarded for the subsequent academic year, the offer of aid will be rescinded.

How to appeal SAP eligibility

A student may appeal the loss of eligibility of financial aid and seek to be placed on a Financial Aid Academic Action Plan for one term. This appeal must be based upon either the death of a relative, a serious personal illness/injury or other extenuating circumstance. The student must be able to demonstrate that the illness/injury or extenuating circumstance had a direct impact on the student's academic performance. To do this, the student must:

1. Work with the appropriate academic program adviser and/or student progress evaluation committee to develop an academic action plan.

2. Submit a Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal Form with all supporting documentation to the Financial Aid SAP Committee for review within 10 business days. The online SAP Appeal Form is located in myPCOM within the Financial Aid and Billing section.

After the student’s SAP Appeal Form has been submitted to the Financial Aid SAP Committee, the SAP Committee will then review and notify the student of the approval or denial of the appeal within 5-7 business days.

If the student’s appeal is approved, the student is granted Financial Aid Academic Progress Probation and the student will regain eligibility for financial aid for one term. At the end of the term, the student’s academic record will be reviewed. If the student is now meeting the terms of the SAP, the student will regain eligibility for financial aid for subsequent terms. If the student has still not met the terms of the SAP, but has fulfilled the terms of the Financial Aid Academic Action Plan, then the student’s Financial Aid Academic Progress Probation will be renewed for an additional term and the student will be awarded aid for that term. If the student has not fulfilled the terms of the Financial Aid Academic Action Plan, then the student will lose eligibility for federal and institutional financial aid.

Students who are dismissed or withdrawn from the school are required to be measured for Satisfactory Academic Progress upon reentry and may be required to submit a SAP appeal before financial aid eligibility can be determined. The SAP policy will be disseminated annually to all matriculated students.

Minimum GPA requirements

• Doctor of Psychology students must achieve a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0

• Doctor of Physical Therapy students must achieve a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0

• Graduate students must achieve a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0

• Graduate Certificate students must achieve a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0

• Pharmacy students must achieve a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0

• Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) students must achieve a cumulative GPA of 2.0 and pass all core and non-core clinical clerkships

Minimum course completion requirements

Students must complete the appropriate percent of all courses attempted to maintain a good academic standing. The completion percentage is calculated by dividing total hours earned by total hours attempted.

If a student changes degree programs, then the SAP status will be based on the academic record of the new program. Students may only change degree programs one time in order to establish a new SAP status.

It is also important to understand how specific grades and/or course types count toward the completion ratio. The following grades count as attempted but not completed courses:

• Incomplete

• No Grade Reported

• Withdraw

• Failure

• Unsatisfactory

All students at PCOM are required to maintain a 67% completion of coursework. Transfer credits will count towards a student’s attempted and completed credit hours.

Maximum timeframe requirements

Students may not exceed the maximum time frame for a program as defined as 150% of the total amount of credit hours required to complete the degree as detailed in the course catalog.

In addition, those seeking the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree must complete their degree requirements within 6 calendar years from the date of their initial matriculation.

All time enrolled counts towards the maximum time frame regardless of whether or not the student receives federal financial aid. Attempted credits include: remedial, repeated, withdrawn, transfer and incomplete credits. Time spent in a leave of absence does not count towards the maximum time frame when considering funds eligibility.

For Academic Maximum Timeframe, students should refer to their Program Handbook.