Federal Satisfactory Academic Progress Standard

Federal regulations (General Provision CRF 668.1) require Lehman College to review the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) of all enrolled students. The review determines eligibility to receive federal student aid. SAP is defined as:

Achieving and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA (graduate students: 3.0 GPA):
.5-12 attempted credits requires at least a 1.5 GPA	13-24 attempted credits requires at least a 1.75 GPA	25 attempted credits requires at least a 2.0 GPA

Accumulate credits toward graduation in accordance with the CUNY SAP Regulations:
Credits Attempted	15	30	45	60	75	90	105	120	135	150	165	180
Require this number of Earned Credits	0	5	16	27	42	50	63	72	84	95	108	117

Attempting no more than 180 credits (graduate students: depends on length of program)

General Provision CRF 668.1 applies to all students, whether a previous federal aid recipient or not.

Annual SAP Review

Each student's academic record will be reviewed at the end of the spring term. All courses that appear on the permanent academic record and all courses accepted for transfer will be part of the review.

Failure the satisfy any or all of the SAP criteria will result is suspension of federal student aid eligibility i.e., loss of eligibility to receive any federal student aid. Student aid eligibility remains suspended until the student's academic progress bring him/her back into compliance with the appropriate SAP standard.

If a student's financial aid has been suspended, notification will be sent with information regarding the suspension and the right to appeal for the aid to be reinstated. For detailed instructions on how to appeal CLICK HERE. For more information on the Appeals process, please visit the Academic Standards and Appeals website.

The appeal must provide:

Detailed explanation as to the mitigating circumstances resulting from events such as personal illness or injury, illness or death of a family member, loss of employment, or changes in your academic program that interfered with manifesting academic sufficiency. Please mention in the letter any other college appeals that are pending, i.e. academic probation appeals.
Supporting documentation such as medical, death certificate, court or legal records, etc.
Discuss changes in circumstances or any personal adjustments made that will assist in achieving and maintaining SAP standard in the future.
Your academic plan for achieving and maintaining future SAP requirements

If an appeal is granted, the student is placed on financial aid probation and federal student aid eligibility reinstated for one semester. At the end of the probationary semester, the student's record will be reviewed to determine compliance with regards to the prescribed academic plan.

As long as the student complies with all of the conditions of the academic plan student aid eligibility continues and is monitored on semester-by-semester basis.

While there is no limit on the number of times that a student may file a SAP appeal, “back-to-back” appeals, by federal regulation, cannot be granted to those who failed to satisfy the conditions of an appeal granted for a term immediately preceding the term that the new appeal would be applied to.

Other than having eligibility restored through filing a successful appeal, students may have their financial aid suspension removed by taking actions that bring them into compliance with the all SAP standards. The mere passage of time, by itself, is insufficient to restore student aid eligibility. One such action would be to continue attendance without using federal financial aid funds.

A request for a SAP review may be requested after any term for which financial aid was suspended. If the standard is met, you will regain eligibility for federal aid in the subsequent terms of the academic year.