2011-2012 Catalog

FINANCIAL AID

Academic Eligibility Requirements for Financial Aid

Various federal and state regulations governing student financial assistance require that an institution develop standards to measure academic standing and progress toward a degree objective. These regulations are subject to changes in the Tarleton academic policy regarding probation and suspension.

The financial aid program is designed for all students who have demonstrated financial need for assistance to meet college expenses and who are making satisfactory academic progress, as defined by the Department of Student Financial Aid. All students must be enrolled and accepted for enrollment in a program leading to a degree or certificate. Financial aid eligibility is contingent upon continued satisfactory progress toward a degree or certificate. To maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress, a student must meet the standards listed below.

Grade Point Average: Undergraduate students with less than 30 must maintain a 1.30 minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA).  Undergraduate students with 30-59 hours must maintain a 1.50 minimum cumulative GPA.  Undergraduate students with 60 or more hours must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 on Tarleton course work. Graduate students must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0.  If a course is repeated at this institution, only the best grade in the course is counted in computing the cumulative GPA.

Excessive Hours: Undergraduate and Graduate/Ph.D. students are eligible to receive financial assistance for a limited period of time while pursuing a degree.  A student should not exceed 150 percent of the number of credits that it takes to obtain a degree.  Our policy for Excessive Hours is based on the minimal credit hours a student must have in order to be eligible to complete a degree.  Credit hours are cumulative, thus students working towards obtaining more than one degree in the same category (i.e. two Master) may also be blocked for Excessive Hours.  This also applies when a student changes majors.

All courses that a student registers for [including courses that were completed and those that are not completed (i.e. drops and withdrawals)] or transfers to Tarleton are included in the excessive hour calculation.

Deficit Hours: Financial aid recipients are expected to complete a defined number of credit hours each semester per academic year.  This number is based on the number of hours a student enrolls for during the semester per academic year as follows: Students must successfully complete/earn a minimum of 67% of all attempted course work (62% for undergraduate students with 0-29 earned hours) to remain on track to complete the program of study within the maximum time frame allowed to retain financial aid eligibility.  Attempted hours include all transfer hours as well as all registered hours at Tarleton as of the census date (12th class day in a long semester and 4th class day in the summer term) for each enrollment period whether or not the student earned a grade or received credit.  All partial credit hours will be rounded down to the nearest hour.

Review Policy:  The Financial Aid Office will review the above minimum standards of academic progress annually at the end of every spring semester to determine each applicant’s eligibility for aid consideration for the upcoming year (summer, fall, spring). If it is determined that the student does not meet the requirements, he/she will be ineligible to receive financial aid and will be notified accordingly.

Priority Dates

Priority is given to students who have submitted to the Financial Aid Office all requested and required documentation (including appropriate electronic data exchange) prior to the following dates:

Deadlines

No aid will be processed after the following dates:

Applicants are responsible for the timeliness and promptness of their applications. Note: Electronic data from outside processing agencies and all other required documentation must be on file in the Financial Aid Office to ensure first consideration for awards.