Financial Aid

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) requires you to maintain satisfactory academic progress in order to remain eligible for financial aid. These standards apply to any transfer credits, your current coursework, and any previous academic history at WCTC even if you did not receive financial aid for those credits. ED requires us to look at both your qualitative progress (term grade point average) and your quantitative progress (percentage of attempted credits successfully completed).

Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards

In order to maintain satisfactory academic progress, you must achieve the following two standards each semester.

• Earn at least a 2.0 term grade point average
• Successfully complete 67% of the credits you attempted

If you attempt:	You must successfully complete:
1 credit	1 credit
2 credits	2 credits
3 credits	2 credits
4 credits	3 credits
5 credits	4 credits
6 credits	4 credits
7 credits	5 credits
8 credits	6 credits
9 credits	6 credits
10 credits	7 credits
11 credits	8 credits
12 credits	8 credits
13 credits	9 credits
14 credits	10 credits
15 credits	10 credits
16 credits	11 credits
17 credits	12 credits
18 credits	12 credits
19 credits	13 credits
20 credits	14 credits

Attempted credits include:

All financial aid eligible credits enrolled in as of the financial aid enrollment lock date. The financial aid enrollment lock date typically falls during the third week of the semester. Courses dropped before the financial aid enrollment lock date are not considered attempted credits. If courses are dropped on or after the enrollment lock date, they will be considered attempted but not completed.

• Repeated courses.
• Remedial and developmental courses approved by the Financial Aid Department. A list of accepted courses may be obtained at the Financial Aid Department

Successfully completed credits include

• Courses completed with a passing grade.

The following are not considered successfully completed credits

• Courses in which you receive a non-passing grade.
• Courses in which you receive a grade of W, WP, WF, AU, I, NG and ID.

Maximum Time Frame of Eligibility

The maximum time frame students may receive financial aid cannot exceed 150% of the average number of credits required to earn a degree.

Transfer credits and all credits attempted at WCTC will count toward the student's overall length of eligibility. Graduating or switching from one program does not restart the count on your number of attempted credits. If you attempt multiple programs, we will use the time frame for the longest program to determine the maximum number of credits you can receive financial aid for.

Program Length	Average Required Credits	Maximum Credits Allowed
1 semester program	16	24
1 year program	32	48
2 year program	68	102

Probation

If your semester grade point average is below a 2.0 or you complete less than 67% of your attempted credits in a given semester you will be placed on financial aid probation. While on probation you are still eligible for financial aid.

If you are a first-time aid applicant with previous academic history we are required to look at your cumulative academic history. If you have not successfully completed 67% of your cumulative attempted credit or have a below a 2.0 cumulative grade point average you will be placed on financial aid probation.

Example 1: Student applied for aid for fall of 07, attempted 12 credits, and completed 12 credits with a 1.0 GPA. Student would be placed on probation for the next semester (spring, 08) since GPA is less than 2.0 GPA.

Example 2: Student applied for aid for fall of 07, attempted 12 credits, and completed 7 credits with a 4.0 GPA. Student would be placed on probation for the next semester (spring, 08) since student passed less than 67% of terms attempted credits.

Example 3: Student has never applied for financial aid at WCTC but has previous academic history. Student previously attempted 15 credits, completed 6 with a 4.0 GPA. In the fall of 07, the student applies for aid for the first time. The student would immediately be placed on probation because the student's previous total number of completed credits was less than 67% of the attempted credits.

Suspension

Once on probation you will remain on probation for all future semesters. If you earn below a 2.0 term grade point average or complete less than 67% of your attempted credits a second time, you will be placed on financial suspension and will lose future financial aid eligibility at WCTC.

Example 1: Student was placed on probation in fall, 07. Student attended spring semester of 2008, attempted 12 credits and completed 6 credits with a 4.0 GPA. Student did not make academic progress, therefore, is suspended from receiving aid at WCTC for future semesters.

Example 2: Student was placed on probation in fall, 07. Student attended spring semester of 2008. Student attempted and completed 12 credits with a 1.50 GPA. Student did not make academic progress, therefore, is suspended from receiving aid at WCTC for future semesters.

Reinstatement

If you become ineligible for financial aid due to not making satisfactory academic progress you may reinstate your aid eligibility back to the probation status in one of the following ways:

• By attempting, paying for with sources other than federal, Title IV financial aid, and successfully completing at least 6 credits at WCTC, in one semester, with at least a 2.0 GPA.
• If there were extenuating circumstances that prevented you from maintaining satisfactory academic progress you may appeal the loss of your financial aid. Appeal forms can be obtained from the Financial Aid Department or can be found online at www.wctc.edu. Students will typically be notified of the appeal results in writing within two weeks from the date the completed form is received.

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