Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
The U.S. Department of Education requires that students receiving federal financial aid meet the UMass Amherst academic status standards ensuring academic progress toward a degree or certificate program of study.
At the end of spring term each year, Financial Aid Services checks the SAP for all students receiving aid. To meet the UMass Amherst academic status standards, students must maintain a minimum grade point average of 2.0 and maintain the necessary credit hours to ensure graduation within ten semesters. Students who do not maintain these standards will, at a minimum, be placed on academic probationary status. Then, if a student does not meet the academic status standards after a probationary period, he or she may become ineligible to receive federal financial aid.
Appeals
If you have lost, or are in danger of losing financial aid because you have failed to maintain SAP after probation, you may enter into an appeal process. To begin the process, download the SAP Policy Information and Appeal Form or pick one up at our office. Send the completed Appeal From to:
Financial Aid Services
255 Whitmore Admin. Bldg.
181 Presidents Drive
Amherst, MA 01003-9313
Maintaining Merit Aid
Merit aid is aid awarded on the basis of academic merit rather than financial need. Students must maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) designated for their particular merit aid program. (For example, the required cumulative GPA for the University Scholars Award and Adams Tuition Waiver is 3.0.)
At the end June, after grades are posted, the Financial Aid Office reviews the cumulative GPAs of merit scholarship recipients for programs it administers, and distributes GPA rosters for review to the appropriate Dean (such as the Commonwealth College Incentive Program). The Dean will notify the Financial Aid Office of those scholarship recipients to be placed on probation, whose cumulative GPA has fallen below the minimum for the merit scholarship. Probation allows the student one academic year to re-establish an acceptable cumulative GPA, as long as their GPA for the interim semester does not decline (in which case the scholarship will be permanently withdrawn). Failure to re-establish an acceptable cumulative GPA at the end of probationary period will likewise cause the scholarship to be permanently withdrawn. Appeals are directed through the Associate Director of Financial Aid for Scholarships.
