Satisfactory Academic Progress Requirements

Students who receive financial aid from Oconee Fall Line Technical College must be in good academic standing and making satisfactory progress as outlined below.

Students are responsible for maintaining an acceptable level of progress regarding quality and quantity of work. Progress will be reviewed no less than once each term. Records are reviewed after grades are posted at the end of each term.

Repeated courses are included in the qualitative and quantitative calculations for financial aid satisfactory progress. Students may repeat each previously passed course only once for Title IV purposes. For Title IV, a “D” is considered passing. However, a “D” is not considered academically passing for OFTC.

Qualitative Academic Progress Requirements

Students must maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale that includes all credit courses appearing on the academic transcript. If a student’s cumulative GPA falls below the minimum, his/her financial aid is endangered. A student will be placed on financial aid warning for the following term of attendance and may receive financial aid during the semester placed on warning. The student has the next semester of attendance to earn the required 2.0 minimum cumulative GPA.

At the end of the warning period, if the required 2.0 minimum cumulative GPA is met, the student is taken off financial aid warning. If the required 2.0 minimum cumulative GPA is not achieved, then the student will be put on financial aid suspension during the next period of attendance. Students placed on financial aid suspension are ineligible to receive any source of financial aid until cumulative minimum requirements have been met.

Quantitative Academic Progress Requirements

Students must complete at least 67% of the total coursework attempted. All hours attempted at Oconee Fall Line Technical College plus all transfer hours accepted by Oconee Fall Line Technical College are counted to determine the completion rate. A student will be placed on warning during the following term of attendance if he/she fails to complete this minimum percentage. The student will be eligible for financial aid during the term(s) placed on warning. However, if the student fails to reach 67% cumulative requirement during the term(s), he/she will be placed on warning. At the end of the warning period, if the required 67% completion rate is met, the student is taken off financial aid warning. If the required 67% completion rate is not achieved, then the student will be put on financial aid suspension during the next period of attendance. Students placed on financial aid suspension are ineligible to receive any source of financial aid until the 67% completion rate minimum requirements have been met.

The completion rate is calculated by dividing the total number of hours successfully completed with a "D" or above by the total number of hours attempted. There is no rounding.

Example:

6 credits completed/9 credits attempted	66.67% - requirement not met
7 credits completed/10 credits attempted	70% - requirement met

Maximum Time Frame

All students must complete their program of study within the maximum time frame** of 150% times the length of the program in which they are enrolled. This means that once students have attempted 150% of the minimum number of credit hours necessary for completing program requirements, the student will be ineligible to receive financial aid.

Example: If a program requires 42 credits for completion
42 X 150% = 63 attempted credits is maximum timeframe

All hours attempted at Oconee Fall Line Technical College, plus all transfer hours accepted by Oconee Fall Line Technical College, are counted in the 150% limit. Students who are enrolled less than half time will be prorated accordingly.

**If a course is repeated, all hours attempted will be counted for purposes of the 67% completion rate and maximum time frame requirements, and all grades will be used in calculating the minimum GPA of 2.0.

Notice for Students Enrolled Prior to Fall Semester 2011

All returning (pre-merger) Heart of Georgia Technical College or Sandersville Technical College students will be reviewed using the current OFTC SAP policy as they are re-admitted to the merged OFTC.

Withdrawals

Grades of “W” are not used in calculating a student’s GPA but are counted as coursework attempted. Prior to Spring 2024, "I" grades are included in the GPA calculations. The grade received the next term will be used when calculating the completion rate.

Transfer Students

Transfer students accepted by Oconee Fall Line Technical College (OFTC) who never attended OFTC will be classified as maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress for the first semester enrolled. After the first semester, the student’s grades will be measured in accordance with the college’s Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements. Students who previously attended OFTC, transferred to another school, then returned to OFTC, will have all of their coursework reviewed. (Only a grade of “C” or better will transfer.)

Termination of Financial Aid

Financial aid will be terminated when a student is determined by the Financial Aid Office to be ineligible if the office has evidence that the student has falsified information on the application materials or if federal or state funds are not provided to meet the award.

Appeals Process

Students have the right to appeal their satisfactory academic progress (SAP) status one time if they feel that there are extenuating circumstances which have prevented them from meeting the specified requirements. Any student on suspension may file an appeal with the Financial Aid Appeals Committee. Appeals for Satisfactory Academic Progress must be based on specific extenuating circumstances. Documentation supporting the extenuating circumstance must be submitted with the appeal via the Verify My FAFSA portal, https://oftc.verifymyfafsa.com.

If the appeal is granted, the student will be placed on Financial Aid Warning and will be given an academic plan to ensure success for the following and subsequent terms. When a student is given an academic plan, it is the student’s responsibility to check on status by contacting the Financial Aid Office after grades are posted each term. The deadline for submitting an appeal is ten (10) days from the date student is notified of suspension.

Academic Plan

Students must be given an academic plan IF the committee approves the SAP appeal. A student under an academic plan will agree to the following requirements:

successfully complete all courses
maintain a term a term GPA of at least 2.3

Failure to comply with all requirements of the academic plan will result in the student being placed back on suspension.

A second appeal may be considered if extenuating circumstances have occurred that is different from the first appeal, while on an academic plan. This is essentially an unanticipated and unavoidable occurrence beyond the student’s control which directly affected his/her ability to be academically successful, and which has been resolved or stabilized so he/she is now able to become academically successful.

Examples of mitigating circumstances include, but not limited to:

documented illness
death in the immediate family
·natural disaster

If the length of the SAP Academic Plan has expired and the student is still not making SAP, then the student would not be eligible for another extension of aid. The student would need to submit another SAP Appeal to request aid be reinstated or submit up to 2 (two) SAP appeal forms

Reinstatement of Aid

A student who has been terminated from aid due to a lack of satisfactory academic progress must pay for credit hours attempted or have an approved SAP appeal after returning and must meet satisfactory academic progress requirements to be eligible to receive any further financial aid in future terms.

Withdrawal from School

Any student receiving financial aid should contact the Financial Aid Office before withdrawing from school. Financial aid adjustments/payments may be calculated according to federal and state regulations.

Notification

The Financial Aid Office will notify a student by email if he/she is in violation of the above standards of satisfactory academic progress and of the termination of his/her eligibility to receive financial aid. The deadline for submitting an appeal is ten (10) days from the beginning of the semester.

Student Loan Status

A student in default on a Federal Student Loan or Direct Loan is not eligible to receive Title IV aid until the default status is resolved by repayment in full; payment of at least six consecutive, full, voluntary payments on time to the loan holder; or loan rehabilitation. To be eligible for state aid, the defaulted loan(s) must be paid in full. Students should contact their lender directly in order to resolve any default situations.

Unusual Enrollment History

The Department of Education prevents fraud and abuse in the Federal Pell Grant Program by identifying students with unusual enrollment histories (UEH). The UEH is a specific enrollment pattern in which students attend an institution long enough to receive Title IV credit balance refunds, leave without completing the enrollment period, enroll at another institution, and repeat the pattern of enrollment just long enough to collect another Title IV balance without having earned any academic credit. There may be cases where students have a legitimate reason for enrollment at multiple institutions. However, such an enrollment history requires a review to determine whether there are valid reasons for the UEH. After a complete review, a determination will be made on whether or not a student is eligible to receive further aid.

Satisfactory Academic Progress (HOPE)

In accordance with the Georgia HOPE regulations, students receiving HOPE Grant and/or HOPE Scholarship must maintain the same institutional satisfactory academic progress policy used for Federal Title IV programs, as outlined above.

In addition, HOPE recipients are limited to a maximum number of hours of attempted credit hours as follows:

Students who have received only HOPE Grant/Zell Miller Grant for diploma and/or certificate programs: A maximum number of 95 quarter hours or 63 semester hours of HOPE Grant eligibility. All attempted hours for which HOPE has been received since Summer term 2003 from all colleges are counted in this cap.
Students who have received HOPE Scholarship/Zell Miller Scholarship for degree classes and HOPE Grant for diploma/certificate classes: A maximum of 127 hours of HOPE eligibility. All HOPE Scholarship hours since 1993 and all HOPE Grant hours since Summer term 2003 from all colleges are counted in this cap. Credits earned in dual enrollment programs after Fall 2011 do not count toward the cap.

Drug Convictions

Section 304.7 states that a student convicted of committing certain felony offenses involving marijuana, controlled substances, or dangerous drugs, may be ineligible for HOPE funds from the date of conviction to the completion of the following school term, in accordance with the Georgia Drug-Free Postsecondary Education Act of 1990, OCGA §20-1-20, et seq.

Commercial Truck Driving Program and Financial Aid

Commercial Truck Driving students will be held responsible to the same satisfactory academic progress standards as all other students and can only receive aid for 150% of the hours to complete the program. Should a student wish to repeat the program, he/she must pay the Business Office for all hours required to graduate over the 150%. Once this has been done, HOPE Grant will be awarded for the other 50% of eligibility.