U.S. federal regulations for Financial Aid, Veteran Benefits, and the F-1 International Student Visa require anyone receiving these benefits to meet certain academic standards. At Madison College, these academic standards are referred to as Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP).

Who SAP affects

SAP applies to students who are active in a program of study, are enrolled for the current term and:

  • are receiving Financial Aid from Madison College.
  • OR
  • are receiving federal Veterans Educational Benefits from Madison College.
  • OR
  • are receiving F-1 Student Visa support from Madison College.

SAP Standards

There are the three SAP standards that must be met related to GPA, Completion Percentage and Maximum Attempted Credits.

  • GPA

    You must maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher. 

    • Late Grades: The Financial Aid Office will automatically recalculate SAP for those who have final grades posted through the second week of the following semester. Any status changes will be communicated to you. If a final grade is posted after the second week of the new semester, it is your responsibility to contact the Financial Aid Office.
    • Missing or Incomplete Grades: For financial aid purposes, any missing grades and/or incomplete ("I") grades are calculated as a "F”. If either of these situations apply, you may manually calculate your GPA. 
    • Non-Degree Courses: Continuing education courses are not used to calculate GPA.
    • Repeated Courses: If you repeat a course, we use the highest grade you received to calculate your GPA. The unused course displays the following note on your transcript: "Repeated-Excluded from GPA." 
    • Remedial/Developmental Courses: Grades for these courses have an asterisk(*) next to them, indicating they are not used to calculate GPA.
    • Transfer Credit: Transfer credit and other credit from prior learning is not used to calculate GPA.​​​​

  • Completion Percentage

    You must maintain a cumulative completion percentage of 67 percent or higher.

    • Non-Degree Courses: Continuing education courses are not used to calculate Completion Percentage.
    • Course Cancellations: Courses that are canceled by Madison College will not be included in the calculation for Completion Percentage.    
    • Drops & Refunds: A dropped course is considered attempted if it was dropped on or after the start date of the course, regardless of refund percentage granted.
    • Repeated Courses: All attempts of repeat coursework are used to calculate the Completion Percentage, unless they were dropped prior to the start date of the course, are a non-financial aid eligible remedial/developmental course or are a non-degree course. 
    • Remedial/Developmental Courses: Only financial aid-eligible remedial/developmental courses are included when calculating Completion Percentage. 
    • Transfer Credit: Only transfer credit that satisfies academic program requirement(s) for your primary program of study (as seen on your Degree Progress Report) are used to calculate Completion Percentage. Of those, the category type of transfer credit is then assessed to determine if it’s included in the calculation. For questions on category type assignment, please email Credit for Prior Learning.
    • Missing or Incomplete Grades: Any missing grades and/or incomplete ("I") grades are calculated as a "F”. Therefore, they are considered only as attempted credits.

  • Maximum Attempted Credits

    You must complete your current program of study without exceeding 150 percent of the number of credits required to graduate.

    All of the following classes are included when calculating the number of credits you have attempted that count towards Maximum Attempted Credits. Note that this calculation does not start over if you change or add a new program of study. In addition, the calculation includes all of the following classes, regardless of whether financial aid was received. 

    • Classes attempted at Madison College, regardless of final grade
    • Repeated classes
    • Classes dropped after the class start date
    • Transfer credits applied to your applicable financial aid eligible program of study
    • FA eligible developmental coursework

    Once you have exceeded the 100% completion threshold for Maximum Attempted Credits, you will receive messages letting you know that you are approaching the 150% limit. Once the limit is exceeded, you will be suspended from financial aid. 

    Additional notes on how Maximum Attempted Credits is calculated:

    • Non-Degree Courses: Continuing education courses are not used to calculate Maximum Attempted Credits.
    • Course Cancellations: Courses that are canceled by Madison College will not be included in the calculation for Maximum Attempted Credits.
    • Drops & Refunds: A dropped course is considered attempted if it was dropped on or after the start date of the course, regardless of refund percentage granted.
    • Repeated Courses: All attempts of repeat coursework are used to calculate the Maximum Attempted Credits, unless they were dropped prior to the start date of the course, are a non-financial aid eligible remedial/developmental course or are a non-degree course. 
    • Remedial/Developmental Courses: Only financial aid-eligible remedial/developmental courses are included when calculating Maximum Attempted Credits. 
    • Transfer Credit: Only transfer credit that satisfies academic program requirement(s) for the student’s primary program of study on the Degree Progress Report will be included in Maximum Attempted Credits. Of those, the category type of transfer credit is then assessed to determine if it’s included in the calculation. Refer to category chart located here. For questions on category type assignment, please email Credit for Prior Learning.
    • Missing or Incomplete Grades: For financial aid purposes, any missing grades and/or incomplete ("I") grades are calculated as an "F”. Regardless of which grade is assigned, they are included in Maximum Attempted Credits.

SAP Status

At the end of each semester, your SAP Status is evaluated based on the standards above. You will have one of the following statuses:

Meets SAP – You are meeting all SAP requirements.

Warning – You have not met one or more SAP standard for one semester. You will be told which standard(s) you did not meet. It is suggested you develop a plan to return to good SAP standing with your academic advisor. 

Not Meet – You have not met one or more SAP standard for a second consecutive semester. You will be told which SAP standard(s) you did not meet. There are significant consequences once on suspension (loss of aid/benefit eligibility or visa status termination).