The Online Reflector

The government regulations for federal financial aid will be changed, starting this semester. Students must have a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher by the end of their fourth term of enrollment.

After completing the first semester, a student must have a minimum GPA of 1.7. Each semester the GPA requirement is increased by .1 until it reaches 2.0 by the end of the fourth semester.

If a student does not reach the requirements for eligibility, he or she will be placed on a warning period.

Graduate students, who are also affected by the policy change, must have a 3.0 GPA at the end of each term.

The government also is changing its policy on course completion. At the end of each term of enrollment, a student’s cumulative attempted hours divided by his or her cumulative completed hours must equal at least 67 percent. For example, if a student attempts 12 credit hours but only completes six, he or she has completed only 50 percent of the classes. This student would then be placed on a warning period.

The warning period is one term in which students must make sufficient progress.

This grace period represents an opportunity for students to increase their GPA and improve their completion percentage.

If these students do not make adequate progress by the end of the warning period, they will be dropped from financial aid.

Special Assistant to the Provost, Daniel Briere, will begin working with students who may struggle with these changes. He will advise students about when they should not drop courses or withdraw from a course, and their best route to maintain financial aid.

The Financial Aid Office recognizes that there will be extenuating circumstances in certain situations. If a student is dropped from financial aid after the warning period, there will be an appeals process.

“We will consider their situation, and if it is legitimate, then we will go ahead and grant their appeal,” said Assistant Director of Financial Aid Sandy Osborne.

She also said that if the appeal is granted, students will be placed either on one semester of probation or on an academic plan. An academic plan will include two or more semesters, as prescribed by the staff in the financial aid office. They believe this will give the student enough time to meet the progress requirements.

Some appeals will be common and almost automatically accepted. Appeals such as illness, death of a parent or severe accident will be respected by the appeals committee.

“There are a number of reasons for these changes,” Briere said. “But when you look at it, the system they are now using will get better results. More students will graduate at the end of six years than are currently graduating.”

These new policies will prevent abuses of government money, keep students motivated to perform well in the classroom and ensure that students take courses that will benefit them the most in their education.

This change in government regulation affects not only the students, but also the staff in the Financial Aid Office.

Their job will include monitoring government money much more closely than in previous years. They also will be dealing with appeals paperwork and notification letters to students who have not met the requirements.

Osborne said that she especially would encourage students who have questions or concerns about the changes to contact the financial aid office.

“Any avenue through which we can get this out to students so that they’re not caught off guard by it would be good,” Osborne said.“We obviously want to see students succeed.”