Page 74 - Southwestern Community College Handbook 2019-2020

FINANCIAL AID FINANCIAL AID
SATISFACTORY ACADEMIC PROGRESS
Students are required to maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) in order to remain eligible for aid. This requires maintaining a CUMULATIVE grade point average (GPA) of 2.0, and completing 67% of ALL the hours ever attempted at SCC, without attempting more than 150% of the number of hours in your current program of study.
If you have not met Satisfactory Academic Progress, you may be eligible to receive aid for one semester only, on a Financial Aid Warning status. If you do not regain satisfactory SAP status after that Warning semester, then you will be suspended from receiving aid until you have met the above standards for SAP. In order to meet these requirements, you will need to pay out of pocket until you can raise your completion rate to 67% and/or raise your GPA to a 2.0 or higher. Students who are not making SAP are ineligible to receive any federal or state funds, including student loans. For complete information on Satisfactory Academic Progress, please refer to the SCC website at www.southwesterncc.edu/financial- aid/satisfactory-academic-progress.
SUMMER FINANCIAL AID
Whether or not you will have any financial aid in the summer varies from student to student. The federal government will now allow students to receive up to three full-time semesters of the Pell Grant per academic year, unless they have reached their maximum Lifetime Eligibility limit of 12 full time semesters. The first two semesters of full-time Pell Grant awards in an academic year are called your Scheduled Award, and the possible third semester of Pell Grant funding in the same academic year is called your Additional Award.
Some students who did not already receive two semesters of full-time Pell Grant payments in Fall and Spring, would likely have Pell Grant funds available for the Summer term from their original Scheduled Award. Other students who did receive two semesters of full-time Pell Grant payments in Fall and Spring, would have their Additional Pell Grant award for Summer, as long as they are enrolled at least 6 hours. The exception is for students with smaller Pell Grant amounts, so please check with the SCC Financial Aid Office. Pell Grant awards available for Summer should show up on Self-Service late in the Spring semester, and can only be disbursed for enrolled hours that are required for the student’s program.
Please note that any Additional Pell used will count towards your Lifetime Eligibility limit of 12 full time semesters, and therefore reduce your opportunity to use Pell in the future. State grants are only available during the Fall and Spring semesters. No state grant
funding will be disbursed during the Summer term.
THINKING ABOUT WITHDRAWING FROM A CLASS?
The impact of withdrawing from a class or several classes is different for every student. Some students will lose financial aid the following semester, some students will owe back funds, while others may never notice a financial aid impact. There is information about withdrawing from classes on our website at www.southwesterncc.edu/financial-aid/ withdrawals-and-financial-aid and in the full Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Policy. You should make sure you understand all of the repercussions that come with course withdrawal before you make your final decision to withdraw. We strongly recommend that you visit the SCC Financial Aid Office to discuss your options before making your decision.
TITLE IV AID AND WITHDRAWALS
The law specifies how SCC must determine the amount of Title IV program assistance that you earn if you withdraw from school. The Title IV programs that are covered by this law are federal Pell Grants, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants, Direct Loans, Direct PLUS Loans, and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOGs).
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