Students must demonstrate they will graduate within 150% of the length of the degree or certificate of their declared program. Students who exceed the timeframe limit will no longer be eligible for financial aid.

126.3.1 Cumulative Financial Aid Grade Point Average (GPA)

Students enrolled in college-level coursework must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least:

• 2.0 as undergraduate students
• 2.0 as graduate students
• 3.0 for MAMFT students
• 3.0 as doctoral-level students

Grades of A, B, C, D, F, and WF contribute toward the cumulative GPA for undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral courses.

• Students who do not have a TKU academic history and are enrolling in college for the first time are assumed to be making SAP at the time of enrollment.
• All continuing students applying for federal financial aid must have a cumulative financial aid GPA of 2.0 on all credit hours earned prior to the semester for which aid is requested.
• Transfer hours will not be counted in a student’s cumulative GPA, but they are counted in completion rates.

126.3.2 Successful Completion of Courses

Each semester, financial aid recipients must complete a minimum number of the hours they attempt in order to maintain pace of progression, which is total hours attempted divided by total hours completed including transfer credits. A student must maintain 67% completion of attempted cumulative hours. Enrollment status is determined by the student’s enrollment on census date.
The following states the required minimums:

• Successful completion is measured by grades of D or above for undergraduate and graduate students. A passing grade for doctoral courses is B and above. These are considered passing grades at TKU for each level.
• A grade of F or WF is not considered a completed grade and will be taken into consideration when calculating the number of hours completed and the cumulative GPA.
• A grade of NC (Not complete) or W (Withdrawn) or WP (Withdrawn Passing) is not punitive in determining the GPA but does reflect the lack of progress under “quantity of work” for the minimum passing rate of 67% of all courses attempted for federal and state aid recipients.
• Courses where a grade of “F”, “IN”, “W”, “WP”, “WF”, OR “AUD” was received may be repeated for grade improvement. However, all courses attempted (repeated and regular) will be counted in the timeframe and completion rate calculations. If the grade in the repeated course is not an improvement, both credit hours and grades will count against the student’s cumulative GPA. Financial aid will only cover the repeated class IF the student originally received a grade of F or W, or the program requires a grade of C or higher. In addition, the repeated class will only be covered by financial aid at the original enrollment and once more if the preceding requirements are met regardless of grade the second time.
• Exception: students in the Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy program must maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA to be in good standing.

Students who fail to maintain SAP will be placed on financial aid warning. Successive failure to maintain SAP will result in financial aid suspension. In these provisions, the warning or suspension terms refers only to financial aid warning or suspension. Students placed on warning or suspension will be notified in writing of their status at the end of the semester.

126.4.1 Financial Aid Warning

Students who fail to meet one or more of the SAP standards will be placed on financial aid warning. While on warning, a student remains eligible for an additional semester of financial aid to give the student the opportunity to meet the SAP standards. The student must complete the subsequent term by meeting all the minimum requirements at the close of that term. This is a warning semester. The student who fails to meet SAP during the semester of attendance while on warning will be placed on financial aid suspension.

126.4.2 Financial Aid Suspension

Suspension occurs when the SAP standards are not met for two consecutive semesters. Notification of suspension status includes verbal, postal mail, posting to individual TKU account or by email. While on suspension, students will not receive financial aid. Students who regain eligibility by meeting all SAP requirements will no longer be on suspension. Students on suspension are encouraged to continue enrollment at TKU. Enrolling and paying for courses can assist in regaining the student’s eligibility. The student must alert the Financial Aid staff for a re-evaluation of their SAP status. If the student successfully regains eligible SAP status, then they will be eligible again for federal aid.

126.4.3 Financial Aid Probation

Students who were previously put on suspension due to not meeting the minimum satisfactory academic progress may be granted one semester of financial aid with an approved appeal. Students on financial aid probation may be subject to an academic plan as part of their probation requirements. If the additional semester is completed, and the student does not meet the minimum satisfactory academic progress, they will be placed on suspension.

126.4.4 Monitoring

A student’s progress will be reviewed at the conclusion of each semester to determine whether SAP is being maintained. Students placed on warning or suspension will be notified in writing of their status at the end of the semester.

For the purposes of SAP, TKU does not categorize students. TKU does not treat students that transfer or seek additional coursework any differently than other students. All students are held to the same three standards.

Financial aid will not be provided for:

• Credit hours earned by placement tests
• Non-credit coursework
• A course attempted by the student for the third time
• Grades of IN and NC will not be treated as completed coursework
• Students who are non-degree seeking.

Students may change programs while at TKU. Only the hours that transfer to the new program will count towards the student’s SAP.

A student who has been denied financial aid because of a failure to meet any of the SAP standards may petition the Financial Aid Appeals Committee to consider any mitigating circumstances. An appeal form is available on the TKU Financial Aid website.

The student’s appeal must be in writing and supporting documentation regarding special circumstances must be provided. The appeal form, including all documentation, must be returned to the Student Financial Services Office within the posted deadlines for the appropriate semester. The student will receive notification of the appeal decision within six weeks from the date the completed appeal form and documentation was submitted to the Student Financial Services Office.

Financial aid appeals cannot be considered while a student is on academic suspension. This restriction is explained to students in this situation by letter. If the academic suspension is lifted or the student has waited out one semester, then the financial aid appeal can be considered.

126.9.1 Through the Appeals Process

The Financial Aid Appeals Committee considers all financial aid appeals and any mitigating circumstances. All supporting documentation regarding special circumstances provided by the student is available to the committee.

TKU offers many services to help students attain academic success. The services include counseling, testing, tutoring, and academic coaching. Information on such services is available to all financial aid students but is specifically outlined in the notification of appeal approval letter.

Some students who have had difficulty completing a full course load are restricted in their hours. Others may have gone past the time frame barrier and are limited to only the courses required to complete their degree plan.

Some student appeals are denied. Students are notified of their continued suspension status by telephone (if available), email (if available) and mail of the committee’s decision. In some cases, students are allowed to add to their documentation and re-appeal. Although the committee will consider the re-appeal, there are no guarantees of approval.

In rare cases, a student will exhaust their appeal option. The committee will make this decision and notify the student by letter of this final decision.

126.9.2 By Meeting the SAP Standards

In other situations, a student may choose not to appeal their suspension status. In this case, eligibility is regained by successfully bringing the Financial Aid GPA up to the 2.0 minimum, successfully completing a semester and/or changing their major so the time frame limit no longer applies.