In order to remain eligible for all types of financial aid, you must make satisfactory progress toward completing your degree requirements. There are some basic academic progress standards that must be met each year (or term) in order for you to continue to receive financial aid. For the purposes of these policies, an academic year is defined as a consecutive summer, fall, and spring semester.
Failure to meet these Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements will result in the cancellation/nonrenewal of financial assistance.
Students must maintain a minimum cumulative institutional GPA of 3.0. Only credits taken at UM count toward your GPA requirement.
Up to eight consecutive terms or per scholarship agreement.
If you go on Inactive Status or enroll in a non-UM program (fall or spring), and you are meeting SAP prior to your semester away, your scholarship will be on hold until you return. For non-UM programs, each term is counted as a semester "used" of your scholarship
UM and Federal Need-Based Aid include Coral Grants, donor awards, Pell, SEOG, Work Study, International Student Grants, Direct Student Loans, and PLUS Loans. Satisfactory Academic Progress is evaluated at the end of each term.
Students must maintain a minimum cumulative institutional GPA of 2.0. However, if your program requires a higher GPA it could be greater than 2.0.
Your degree must be completed within 150 percent of normal completion as determined by the school or college catalog. A student will fail when the institution is aware that a student cannot complete their program within the 150 percent time frame. For example, a typical bachelor’s degree requires 120 credits, so financial aid can be applied to only 150 percent of 120, or 180 credits. Only those who are determined to not be on track to meet the maximum time frames requirements will immediately lose aid eligibility and not be given a warning term.
Federal and institutional need-based aid recipients will be placed on a “warning status” for one semester following notice of failure to meet SAP requirements. Failure to meet the requirements by the end of the warning period will result in loss of financial aid eligibility
If you go on Inactive Status or enroll in a non-UM program (fall or spring), your loans MAY go into repayment. If you are meeting SAP prior to your semester away from UM, you can receive aid upon return.
Renewal requirements apply to all undergraduate students receiving Florida Financial aid, which includes Bright Future Scholarships (Academic and Medallion), Effective Access to Student Education (EASE), and Florida Student Assistance Grant (FSAG). Satisfactory Academic Progress is evaluated at the end of each spring semester.
If you go on Inactive Status or enroll in a non-UM program (fall or spring), you can receive aid upon return if meeting SAP prior to semester away from UM and Bright Futures eligibility is not exhausted elsewhere.
Reinstatement of Florida Bright Futures Recipients of the Florida Bright Futures program who do not receive any scholarships for the period of one academic year may apply for reinstatement of aid through the Florida Department of Education Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA) website. Florida academic award recipients who fail to achieve a 3.0 GPA institutional average, but achieve at least a 2.75 GPA institutional average, will renew at the lower Florida Medallion amount. Bright Futures–eligible recipients who fail to achieve a minimum 2.75 institutional GPA and become ineligible during their first year of funding may apply for restoration in an academic year after which the 2.75 institutional GPA requirement is met. The 2.75 institutional GPA must be met before the fall term for which the student is applying. If this is the case, you must complete a Reinstatement/Restoration application available on the Florida Department of Education Office of Student Financial Assistance website. Students who do not meet the minimum earned hours requirement during any academic renewal period or who fail to meet the minimum institutional GPA requirement after their first year of funding will not be permitted to have a reinstatement opportunity. Reinstatement of Effective Access to Student Education Reinstatement of the EASE grant may be obtained after one full academic year of ineligibility by earning a minimum of 24 credits and a minimum institutional GPA of 2.0.
The Benacquisto Scholarship is a merit scholarship for high school graduates who achieved the National Merit or National Achievement Scholar designation. To be eligible a student must enroll full-time in an undergraduate degree-seeking program and initially enroll during the fall academic term immediately following their high school graduation. Satisfactory Academic Progress is evaluated by the state at the end of each spring semester.
Students must complete all credits attempted with a minimum of 12 credits/semester or 24 credits/academic year. All credits must be required for your primary degree program.
A student enrolled in a 4-year undergraduate program is eligible to receive an award for a maximum of 8 semesters (120 credits), while a student enrolled in an approved 5-year program may apply for an extension to be eligible for a maximum of 10 semesters. To renew your award, you must complete all credits attempted. Students who do not earn the required credits or fail to maintain the minimum GPA will be ineligible to continue receiving this award and will not be granted restoration.
If you go on Inactive Status or enroll in a non-UM program (fall or spring), you must proactively notify the UM State Aid Program coordinator for an eligibility review.
Students who do not meet the conditions listed have the opportunity to submit an appeal to the Financial Aid Review Committee. While the committee can consider a variety of factors when evaluating each request, students must prepare a convincing argument indicating the reason for failing to meet satisfactory academic progress, the steps taken to try to rectify the situation, and what the plan for success to get back on track. The appeal letter must be signed, and must include documentation to support the argument. If a student plans to submit an appeal, all requests must be submitted to the committee no more than 30 days from the day the notification was sent to the student. A student who misses this period to appeal may submit an appeal at the end of the next term, for future term consideration. If a student re-establishes their aid eligibility through the appeals process, the term in which their initial appeal is approved will be considered a “Probationary” term. If a student is placed on an academic plan during the probationary term then the student must meet the requirements as outlined in the academic plan to continue receiving aid.
Since all CR/NC courses for which you receive a CR grade will count as earned credits, they will also count toward the 24 academic year credits that are needed for UM Merit award renewal eligibility. Please keep in mind that you must also maintain a cumulative GPA of at least a 3.0.
Since all CR/NC courses for which you receive a CR grade will count as earned credits, they will also count toward the 24 academic year credits that are needed for Florida State and UM Merit award renewal eligibility. Please keep in mind that you must also maintain the appropriate cumulative GPA for your individual awards.
Since all CR/NC courses for which you receive a CR grade will count as earned credits, they will also count toward the 24 academic year credits that are needed for Florida State and UM Merit award renewal eligibility. Please keep in mind that you must also maintain the appropriate cumulative GPA for your individual awards. For need based aid, you must meet the Satisfactory Academic Progress standards that are in compliance with federal regulations (see above). Please keep in mind that the CR/NC courses will count as credits attempted and/or earned for the tracking of your need-based aid eligibility.
UM Merit/Academic scholarships and Florida Aid allows you to take credits to meet the credit completion and GPA-earned requirements but they must be completed the summer after the academic year. If you have UM and Federal Need-Based Aid or are a Benacquisto recipient, contact the Office of Student Financial Assistance and Employment.
In most cases, yes; with the exception of Benacquisto scholars. An evaluation may be done prior to the completion of summer term and it is important that students follow appeal instructions if notified of SAP failure.