Maintain My Eligibility – SAP

For you to receive financial aid, you must complete 67% of your attempted coursework for your program (i.e., bachelor’s, post-baccalaureate teacher certificate, master’s and doctorate). Attempted coursework includes transfer hours and courses for which you received no financial aid. To calculate your completion rate, just take the total of your completed program hours and divide that figure by your attempted program hours. Attempted hours include all registered hours whether or not you earned a grade or received credit (including any courses you attempted that are covered under academic bankruptcy or Academic Fresh Start).

• F or U grades for undergraduate and post-baccalaureate teacher certificate students
• D, F or U grades for master's students
• C, D, F or U grades for doctoral students
• PR (progress) for undergraduate and post-baccalaureate teacher certificate students
• W (withdrawal)
• I (incomplete)
• Repeats excluded from the GPA

• A through D grades for undergraduate and post-baccalaureate teacher certificate students
• A through C grades for master's students
• A through B grades for doctoral students
• PR (progress) for graduate thesis or dissertation hours
• CR (credit)
• Repeats included in the GPA

1. If you complete 67 of 100 attempted hours while working on your baccalaureate, your completion rate of 67% (67/100 = .67) would meet the minimum completion rate requirement.
2. If you complete 18 of 30 attempted hours while working on your master's, your completion rate of 60% (18/30 = .60) would not meet the minimum completion rate requirement.

Note: All completion rate percentages are rounded using standard rounding rules (i.e., round up .5 and higher; round down if below .5).

If you are on financial aid suspension, you may have your aid reinstated in one of the following manners:

• If you have not exceeded the maximum limit of attempted hours, continue to attend Texas State without financial aid and meet the SAP requirements. If at the next evaluation period (end of spring semester) you are meeting the SAP requirements, you will be eligible to receive future financial aid as long as you continue to meet the SAP requirements. If you meet the SAP requirements prior to the standard evaluation period at the end of the spring semester, you may file an appeal with Financial Aid and Scholarships.
• File an appeal demonstrating mitigating circumstances and be approved for an exemption to the SAP requirements.

If you are on financial aid suspension and subsequently meet the SAP requirements prior to the standard evaluation period at the end of spring, you may file an appeal with Financial Aid and Scholarships.

In the event you have been placed on financial aid suspension, you may file an appeal. Appeals will only be approved in the case of special circumstances. There is no guarantee of approval. Special circumstances may include, but are not limited to, a death in the family, illness of the student or any undue hardship that prohibits the successful completion of coursework. Circumstances will be evaluated by the reviewer of the appeal.

To begin the process of filing an appeal, please contact our office first by completing the TXST One Stop Webform or calling 512.245.TXST (8978). A TXST One Stop Navigator will then help you get on track to file the appropriate appeal.

An appeal must include the following:

• A written description that addresses why you failed to meet SAP
• A written description of what has changed in your situation to enable you to demonstrate SAP at the next evaluation point
• Documentation to support any claims
• If appealing because you have exceeded the maximum timeframe or because of a change in major, a degree plan must be submitted showing the number of hours remaining until graduation

If your appeal meets all the above requirements, Financial Aid and Scholarships will request from your academic advisor either: 1) documentation confirming that you can within a single semester regain SAP eligibility; or 2) an academic plan that demonstrates you can meet SAP by a specified and reasonable point in time with measurable milestones for each semester. If your appeal is approved, our office will send you a copy of the academic plan for financial aid purposes (which may be different than what you need to do academically with respect to your individual degree or post-baccalaureate teacher certificate program).

Due to the comprehensive nature of the appeal review process, it will take approximately 4 – 6 weeks for a decision to be made regarding your appeal.

Note: Appeals submitted without documentation will be denied.

• Level 1 Appeal – Financial Aid Program Specialist
• Level 2 Appeal – Supervisor, Assistant Director, Associate Director or Director
• Level 3 Appeal – Assistant Vice President
• Level 4 Appeal – Financial Aid Advisory, Appeals and Scholarship Awards Committee (final appeal level)

Once you are notified of not being eligible for financial aid (financial aid suspension), you have until the appropriate deadline (see Appeal Deadlines) to submit an appeal. If your appeal is denied at any level (with the exception of a level 4 appeal) and you wish to appeal to the next level, you must submit a written notice of appeal to the next level by the appropriate deadline (see Appeal Deadlines). You have the option to submit up to four appeals during your program of study (i.e., first baccalaureate, second baccalaureate, doctoral, etc.).

An appeal must be filed by the appropriate deadline in order to be considered for a particular semester. The deadlines are as follows:

• Fall semester – November 10
• Spring semester – April 10
• Summer semester – July 10