Please find below information about our Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy.
In order to remain eligible for Title IV Aid, you must meet various criteria. A student must meet these minimum
requirements:
2.5 GPA Undergraduate/3.0 Graduate
Complete 67% of the hours you attempt. This calculation is computed by dividing the cumulative number of hours
the student has successfully completed by the cumulative number of hours the student has attempted.
Not exceed 150% of the maximum time frame of the published length of your program as measured in credit hours:
Maximum attempted credit hours (also included are required transfer hours) not to exceed:
Accelerated BSN - 123
Upper Division BSN - 180
Adult Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Concentration (MSN) - 66
Adult Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (MSN) - 75
Nurse Educator Concentration (MSN) - 55
Health Systems and Population Health Leadership Concentration (MSN) - 55
Nurse Anesthesia Concentration (MSN) - 117
Nurse Anesthesia (DNP) - 91
DNP - Post Master’s Option - 126
All of these requirements are checked at the end of each applicable progress check (term).
While this policy is applicable to recipients of Title IV aid, this policy is as strict as the school’s
academic progress policy for non Title IV recipients. Also, all periods of enrollment are reviewed, including
those for which the student did not receive Title IV aid. GSON will provide notification to students of the
results of a SAP evaluation that impacts Title IV/Federal Student Aid eligibility. This includes notification to
any student that may be eligible for Title IV aid, regardless of whether they currently receive aid. The
Satisfactory Academic Progress review includes all courses taken towards the student’s program of study,
regardless of any academic amnesty or academic renewal policy. If a student is enrolled in a program of more
than two academic years, the student must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.5 (UG) or 3.0 GPA (MSN) at the end of the
2nd year (UD BSN, MSN, Ph.D/DNP), interpreted to mean at the end of 4 terms. Per our transfer of credit policy,
all hours needed for admission are included in the attempted hours calculation for pace. Please see below
specific details as it relates to your program:
Students in the Accelerated BSN program will be reviewed at the end of each term. These students must have a 2.5
GPA, and complete the required percentage of cumulative attempted hours. Because this program requires a
bachelors degree for admission, any credits required for admission will count toward the pace and maximum time
frame calculation. If you are not able to meet these minimum requirements, you will be placed on Financial Aid
Warning. The next term after being placed on warning, you must meet the minimum requirements. If after the
warning period, you still have not met the minimum requirements, your Title IV aid will be suspended and you
must appeal. If the appeal is approved, the next term you will be placed on Financial Aid Probation. If after
the probationary period, you fail to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress again, you may appeal again. If it is
determined that your Satisfactory Academic Progress will not meet the minimum requirements in the next term, an
academic plan must be created to ensure that you will meet the minimum Satisfactory Academic Progress
requirements by the time period determined in the academic plan.
Students in the Upper Division program will be reviewed at the end of each term, or if they were previously on
probation. These students must have a 2.5 GPA, and complete the required percentage of attempted hours. If you
are not able to meet these minimum requirements, you will be placed on academic warning. The next term after
being placed on warning, you must meet the minimum requirements. If after the warning period, you still have not
met the minimum requirements, your Title IV aid will be suspended and you must appeal. If the appeal is
approved, the next term you will be placed on Financial Aid Probation. If it is determined that your
Satisfactory Academic Progress will not meet the minimum requirements in the next term, an academic plan must be
created to ensure that you will meet the minimum Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements by the time
determined in the academic plan.
Students in the MSN & Ph.D/DNP programs will be reviewed at the end of each term, or if they were previously
on probation. These students must have a 3.0 GPA, and complete the required percentage of attempted hours. If
you are not able to meet these minimum requirements, you will be placed on academic warning. The next term after
being placed on warning, you must meet the minimum requirements. If after the warning period, you still have not
met the minimum requirements, your Title IV aid will be suspended and you must appeal. If the appeal is
approved, the next term you will be placed on Financial Aid Probation. If it is determined that your
Satisfactory Academic Progress will not meet the minimum requirements in the next term, an academic plan must be
created to ensure that you will meet the minimum Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements by the time
determined in the academic plan.These percentages have been carefully calculated such that at the end of the
maximum published length of each program (based on number of credit hours), the student has either completed
their program or is no longer eligible for Title IV aid.
The Accelerated BSN, Upper Division, and CRNA programs accept at a minimum the required prerequisite
transfer courses for admission. Courses not needed for admission are not entered into the calculation of
attempted hours.
Classes with grades of A, A-, B, B-, B+, C , C+, D, P, S, TR are earned hours, and will count toward the GPA.
Classes with grades of A, A-, B, B-, B+, C , C+, D, F, I, P, S, TR, U, W, WX will count toward attempted hours.
Classes with grades of AU will not count toward attempted hours.
Financial Aid Warning - A student who fails to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress, will be placed on FA Warning,
but can continue to receive Title IV funding. These students will need to meet with their Financial Aid
Counselor during their Warning term as well. If at the end of the warning period, Satisfactory Academic Progress
is not met, you will be suspended, and will need to submit an appeal as to why, and how you plan to meet
Satisfactory Academic Progress at the end of the next term.
Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal - If you are unable to meet the above mentioned requirements (GPA, Pace,
Maximum time frame) you may submit an appeal to the Financial Aid Office. Your appeal must explain why you
failed to make Satisfactory Academic Progress and what has changed in your situation that will allow you to make
satisfactory academic progress at the next evaluation (the next term). While there is no limit on the amount of
appeals you may submit for anytime you fail to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress, you cannot have the same
reason twice. You must have a unique situation that has prevented you from meeting Satisfactory Academic
Progress requirements (Car accident, death in immediate family, pregnancy, serious illness, etc).
Financial Aid Probation - If after successfully appealing, you will be placed on probation if it is determined
you will be able to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements in the next term. You must meet
Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements at the end of the probationary term. If you fail to meet
Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements, you will be suspended from receiving Title IV aid, whereby you must
appeal again (using a new reason for appeal).
Academic Plan - If you are unable to meet the above mentioned requirements (GPA, Pace, Maximum time frame) at the
end of the subsequent term following the Satisfactory Academic Progress evaluation (when you are on probation),
you will be required to be placed on an academic plan. This plan may detail you successfully meeting
Satisfactory Academic Progress criteria for a certain time period or all the way through until graduation. If
you fail to meet the requirements outlined in the academic plan, your financial aid may be suspended. Students
must also appeal to change their plan. They must explain what has happened to make the change necessary and how
they will be able to make academic progress.
Regaining Title IV Eligibility - If a student has been denied an appeal, or academic plan, the student can regain
eligibility only by taking action that brings him into compliance with the school’s Satisfactory Academic
Progress standards. Such examples may include taking a specified number of hours in a certain term, and paying
out of pocket, or alternative funding. Once the student has then re-met the Satisfactory Academic Progress
criteria, they may regain Title IV eligibility.
Readmission & Treatment of Academic amnesty/renewal - If you previously attended GSON at BJC, but were
academically dismissed, and you are re-admitted, all previous coursework will be included in both the attempted
and gpa portions of the calculation. If this previous coursework causes you to lose Financial Aid eligibility,
you may appeal this.
Repeated coursework - Students must repeat all courses for which a “D” or “F” is earned.
Only the grade earned after a course is repeated will be used to compute the GPA. Even though a student may
repeat a failed course and earn a higher grade, the original failure is not negated and is a failure when
considering academic dismissals. All repeated courses affect financial aid SAP calculations. Regardless of
whether the student received financial aid or not, all repeated coursework must be counted as attempted credits.
The grade earned in the repeated course is the grade that determines the student’s cumulative grade point
average.
In order to receive federal financial aid funds for a repeat of a course, a previously passed course may be
repeated
only ONE time, and the student may receive Title IV federal funds for a repeated course only the one time. Any
subsequent repeats of a course will not be counted in the student's enrollment level for Title IV
funds.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Education will not permit the school to count in a student's
financial
aid enrollment level a course that does not count toward the student's declared degree plan and program
completion
requirements at that school. This includes transfer classes and exploratory classes.
Second Degrees - Students whose program requires a bachelors degree (Accelerated, MSN), at a minimum we will
accept transfer hours needed for admission.
Degree changes - If a student changes programs i.e. Accelerated to Upper Division, the hours needed for the new
program are only taken into consideration.
Withdrawals - If a student withdraws from a course after the add/drop period for that particular course, the
hours are still counted as attempted.
Remedial Coursework - GSON does not offer remedial coursework, therefore, we do not have a policy on how remedial
coursework is treated.
Grade Changes - If your grade has been overturned due to an approved appeal after we have run this progress
evaluation, it’s the student’s responsibility to notify us so that we can take this new information
into consideration.