All students must maintain a minimum grade point average (GPA) to retain their SAP standing.

• Undergraduates and Veterinary Medicine students must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 2.00.
• Graduate students must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00 and Law students must maintain a 2.25 minimum GPA standard as defined by the degree program.

Please note, financial aid GPA includes all attempted coursework, which may differ from the academic GPA.

Pace is the rate at which you are progressing through your program of study.

All students in all programs must successfully complete at least 67% of the credit hours they attempt.

• Example: If an undergraduate has taken 30 credits in their first year of enrollment, and has received Cs in 20 credits, a B in 7 credits and an F in 3 credits, they have successfully completed 90% of their classes attempted and would satisfy the SAP requirement. If they had received Cs in 15 credits and Fs in 15 credits, they would have only completed 50% of their classes successfully and would not be satisfying the SAP requirement.
• Students with transferred military credits who exceed the timeframe for completion may submit a copy of their military transfer hours for review. If it is determined that those credits alone are causing the SAP issue, we will waive the need for a formal SAP appeal and accept these documents for SAP approval.
• Students who have an approved SAP appeal in their published educational program will need to provide a new appeal and be re-evaluated for SAP If they change programs or majors.

All students in all programs may attempt no more that 150% of the credit hours required by their degree program.

• If the undergraduate program is expected to be completed in 8 semesters, for example, the maximum allowable timeframe to complete the program would be 8*150% or 12 semesters.
• Students with transferred military credits who exceed the timeframe for completion may submit a copy of their military transfer hours for review. If it is determined that those credits alone are causing the SAP issue, we will waive the need for a formal SAP appeal and accept these documents for SAP approval.
• Students who have an approved SAP appeal in their published educational program will need to provide a new appeal and be re-evaluated for SAP If they change programs or majors.

Change of Major: Change of major can result in a possible overage of attempted credit hours which would impact the maximum time frame component.

Conflicting Information: All conflicting information is reviewed for SAP monitoring. For example, late posted grades or grade changes will not automatically change a student's status. Students may request that their SAP status be recalculated after confirming with the Registrar that the grade change has been posted to the academic record. The student must submit an SAP appeal and that SAP appeal must be approved. The SAP appeal approval must make the student financial aid eligible retroactively to the start of a payment period within the current award year/academic year. A student may have to re-pay unearned financial aid.

Consortium: For consortium agreements, students will be reviewed, and SAP calculated at the next normally scheduled SAP review.

Course Repetition: Students are allowed to repeat a course and have it count toward enrollment for financial aid eligibility only once. However, all attempts will count toward a student's pace, GPA, and maximum time frame. A passing grade will be treated as such. When a grade of C and an A are earned for the same class, both grades will count as passing when calculating SAP.

Dual Degree: Students pursuing a double major or dual degree should keep in mind that once a student has completed the requirements for one major or degree, financial aid eligibility is limited. Undergraduate students in 150 programs (dual undergraduate and graduate degree programs) are considered graduate students when they reach 120 credit hours. SAP is calculated based on program primacy as assigned by the Office of the Registrar.

Incompletes: At the time of evaluation, Incompletes (grade of “I”) do not affect a student's cumulative GPA for SAP but count as credit hours attempted toward both pace and maximum time frame. Students with grades of Incomplete which become new letter grades prior to or during a subsequent period of enrollment and that may affect financial aid eligibility for that period of enrollment are encouraged to contact finaid.sap@ttu.edu for further evaluation.

Pass/Fail Courses: For pass/fail courses which count towards graduation requirements, a “pass” does not count in the GPA but does count towards attempted hours and impacts progression. A grade of “fail” impacts both the GPA and progression.

Readmit Students: Students who have not had SAP calculated prior to readmission will receive a T1Pend code and SAP calculated after the term of readmission. SAP codes are valid for students who have a prior SAP calculation prior to readmission.

Remedial Courses: Remedial coursework will be counted in determining financial aid eligibility, enrollment status, and SAP. These courses will initially be included in maximum timeframe calculations. Exclusions may be considered in some cases. Remedial courses do not count towards the total number of credit hours needed for graduation. Students will be limited to no more than thirty (30) remedial credit hours for financial aid eligibility.

Students Who Receive All Failing Grades (Unofficial Withdrawals): If a student receives all failing grades (a combination of 'F', 'DF', 'X', 'W', 'DG', 'DW', 'DX', 'NC', 'NP', 'WF', ‘AP', ‘ACT', ‘CLP', ‘DE', ‘FLP', ‘IB', ‘SAT'), attendance in all classes will be reviewed. If attendance cannot be confirmed via official TTU Registrar records, Student Financial Aid personnel will apply the federally mandated calculation for the return of federal financial aid funds. Unearned federal financial aid (Title IV) will be returned, and it is possible repayment could be owed to the university.

Transfer Credits: Transfer credits, including dual credit attempted at either Texas Tech or another institution will count toward a student's cumulative GPA, pace, and maximum time frame for SAP. These credit hours will be calculated in the term the Registrar's office has entered them. Students receive a pending SAP code for the initial term of enrollment to allow for calculation of transfer credits received.

Withdrawals, Dropped Courses, or Backdated Withdrawals: Withdrawals or dropped courses prior to the first-class day (first census) do not affect a student's cumulative GPA for SAP. Courses dropped after the 12th class day (first census) count as credit hours attempted, but not passed, toward pace and maximum time frame. For students enrolled in summer hours any course dropped after the 4th class day will count as credit hours attempted, but not passed.

Waivers and Exemptions: Legislative requirements state a student receiving certain waivers/exemptions must meet the GPA requirement portion of this SAP policy. Students may or may not have a FAFSA on file. Student Business Services identifies all students with qualifying waivers and exemptions to be included in the SAP analysis.

Fresh Start/Academic Amnesty: For students who have been granted academic amnesty under the state legislative “Academic Fresh Start” program, all attempted coursework, even those granted amnesty, will still be included in the SAP calculation, per federal Department of Education guidelines.

All students enrolled at Texas Tech University are evaluated for SAP annually (end of the spring semester), after the Registrar's office has released official grades. Students can find their SAP status within the Financial Aid menu on Raiderlink. For the annual evaluation, a student loses federal and state eligibility for the semester immediately following evaluation if SAP is not met. If the student's appeal is successful, the student is placed on SAP Contract and federal and state funds are disbursed for the following semester (or payment period only). The student must meet SAP at the end of the next semester or comply with requirements of academic plan designed to ensure student will make SAP by a specified point in time.

Student is eligible for financial aid. This category may include students with no SAP issue at all, students who have appealed successfully and have successfully completed their SAP contract period of enrollment, students who have successfully completed their SAP contract period of enrollment and are following their academic plan, and students who have met SAP after being ineligible previously.

Failure to make SAP; however, the student is eligible to appeal. If the appeal is approved, the student can continue financial aid eligibility for another period of enrollment under an SAP contract status. Students may also choose not to appeal and attempt to regain financial aid eligibility by meeting SAP while paying out of pocket (without any financial aid). Students on suspension may not receive financial aid unless an appeal is approved.

Failure to make SAP, but the appeal is approved, and student is financial aid eligible for one more period of enrollment, or possibly more if following the required academic plan (which may include documentation requirements not directly related to academic performance). SAP contract follows a successful appeal.

Failure to meet SAP and/or failure to follow the required academic plan/SAP contract. A student is not eligible for financial aid until the SAP appeal is approved.

The maximum number of appeals a student may submit is three.

• All eligible students can appeal their SAP status at any point during the semester but no later than the last class day. Until the appeal has been approved, the student will not be eligible for any federal or state financial aid funding and will be required to make their own arrangements to pay any balance due to the University.
  
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• The appeal must be submitted by the last class day of the current term (TTU Official Publications - Academic Calendars)
• For students receiving military benefits, exemptions, or waivers (Hazelwood, GI Bill, etc.), appeals will continue to be accepted past the published deadline for the purpose of receiving applicable military benefits, exemptions, and waivers only. The student will not be eligible for federal, state, or institutional financial aid if an appeal is submitted after the deadline. These students must submit the appeal and have completed the necessary exemption/waiver applications by the last class day of the term as set by the Military & Veterans Programs and Student Business Services departments.
• GPA, pace, and maximum time frame are all appealable.
• Student printed name, R number, daytime contact information, and signature should be included on any appeal.
• The appeal form also serves as the contract.
• The student is responsible for making sure their SAP appeal is complete, not the academic advisor.
• Basis on which student may file an appeal:
• Medical: Illness, accident, or injury experienced by you or an immediate family member. (Documentation required: proof of office visit, police report, hospital bill, covid-positive test result, etc.)
• Death: Death of an immediate family member including parents, grandparents, and siblings. Death of an animal is not acceptable. (Documentation required: obituary, death certificate, or funeral program.)
• Divorce: You or your parents. (Documentation required: First and last page of the final divorce decree, Decree legality, lawyers' statement, etc.)
• Military Service: If you withdrew due to military service. (Documentation required. Provide a copy of your orders.)
• Exceeding timeframe: If you are a second undergraduate degree student, in a dual-degree program, or have changed your major.(Documentation required) Email from academic advisor stating how many hours from first degree will count towards your second degree, how many hours you have remaining to earn your degree in our current program, and when you are expected to earn your degree. Dual-degree students will need an SAP appeal from both academic advisors letting us know if the student is making progress how many hours the student has left to earn a degree and when the student will earn a degree.
• Other Circumstances: Please clearly state your reason and provide documentation.
• Include information describing why SAP minimum standards have not been met and how the situation has changed so that SAP will be met at the next evaluation.
• Detail any mitigating circumstances, including supporting documentation from a 3rd party (e.g., police reports, hospital bill or proof of office visit, death certificate, etc.).
• Demonstrate an understanding of why the student failed to make SAP and explain what has changed that will allow the student to make SAP at the next evaluation.
• Include enrollment plans for the next period of enrollment (e.g., number of credit hours, change in major, any other academic-related documentation, etc.) For all students in all programs the deadline to submit a complete SAP appeal is the last class day of the term.
• Only complete appeals including both the student and academic advisor portions of the appeal will be reviewed. Complete appeals will receive a response within 10 days of submission.
• Students are allowed to appeal a maximum of three times. Third appeals will be reviewed by a SAP committee.

Consistent application of standards is provided to all students within all categories of students for purposes of appeal review and basis upon which students may file an appeal. Students are notified of their SAP appeal decision via their Texas Tech University email account. All appeal decisions are considered final. Students whose appeals are not approved may re-establish financial aid eligibility only by meeting the SAP standards.

Our system of academic records will automatically update a student to good standing once SAP requirements have been met. Students denied for exceeding the maximum number of appeals will be evaluated at the end of each spring. If a student believes they have regained eligibility after a fall or summer semester, they will need to self-identify and request to have their progress evaluated.

All students who appeal successfully and are subsequently placed on SAP Contract may be subject to the implementation of an academic plan. In addition, undergraduate students must earn at least a 2.0 GPA, and a 67% completion rate, Law 2.25 GPA and 67% completion rate, and 3.0 GPA and 67% completion rates for graduate students within subsequent periods of enrollment. The academic plans for individual students will be based on the situation and content of the appeal on a case-by-case basis. Academic plans will include an anticipated date that the student will be back on track for completion.

You may access the GPA Calculator to calculate the semester GPA required to meet the cumulative GPA required for financial aid.

An academic plan is a multi-semester plan that may require students to successfully complete a certain number of hours per semester, or earn a specific semester GPA so as to meet SAP requirements by a particular point in time. An academic plan is developed when:

• a student successfully appeals Financial Aid Suspension and it is determined that SAP requirements cannot be/will not be met at the end of one semester; or
• a student fails to meet SAP at the end of their probationary period and successfully appeals Financial Aid Suspension.

If you missed the appeal deadline you may submit a new appeal of your next term of enrollment.

After your appeal has been denied you are not eligible to appeal again. To regain financial aid eligibility you must meet the Satisfactory Academic Progress standards as stated in our SAP policy.

Your academic GPA is calculated somewhat differently from your financial aid GPA since financial aid uses every class you've taken in its calculation of your financial aid GPA.

There are several factors involved in reviewing appeals. If the appeal is not complete when submitted it delays the process. Appeals must be complete before they are sent to the committee for review. A complete appeal must include the Academic Advisor portion, your portion with written hardship with supporting documentation.

Attempted credit hours may not exceed 150% of the educational program. You need to file an appeal to explain why you have gone over the 150% allowed for your program. Keep in mind any attempted hours will count towards this calculation whether passed, failed or dropped.

Note that the Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships SAP policy differs from Texas Tech University's Academic Status Policy for undergraduates, graduates, law school and veterinarian medicine students. The Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships SAP policy reviews both pace and maximum time frame, in addition to GPA, and all attempted credit hours are included in reviewing student eligibility. These two policies also have separate appeal procedures.

• Undergraduate Academic Status Policy
• Graduate Academic Status Policy
• Law School Academic Status Policy
• School of Veterinarian Medicine Policy