The Departments of Education at both the Federal and State level set minimum standards that each student must meet in order to receive financial aid. However, each school may then set additional standards. To receive financial aid, a student must continue to achieve satisfactory academic progress according to the hours attempted per year. This will differ for full-time and part-time students. All financial aid is computed for full-time attendance unless the student notifies the Financial Aid Office otherwise. The general academic progress standards apply to all aid applicants, whether or not aid was received in prior semesters.

The aid programs covered by Truman’s general academic progress policy are:

The following chart outlines the number of credit hours that an undergraduate must take at Truman per semester to be a full-time, ¾-time, or ½-time student and the number of Truman credit hours per year that must be passed to achieve satisfactory academic progress. If a Pell Grant is awarded for less than six credit hours, the student must pass all hours in which they are enrolled during that term.

Academic Competitiveness Grant: Requires a 3.0 cumulative GPA at the end of the first academic year. Completion of an academic year by attending enough weeks (30) and earning enough credits (24) is also required. The Academic Competitiveness Grant is only available to first and second year students. These requirements cannot be appealed and grades from future terms cannot be counted toward progress.

SMART Grant: Requires a recipient to maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA after each semester and be enrolled in at least one class required for the major. Progression also requires completion of an academic year in both weeks (30) and credits (24). This cannot be appealed.

TEACH Grant: This program is new beginning the 2008-09 academic year and academic progress has not yet been defined.

Bright Flight and Access Missouri Grant: The Missouri state statute requires a cumulative grade point average of 2.5 for renewal of these two programs and they can only be received for a maximum of 10 semesters. Students must be enrolled full-time to receive the funds, but are allowed to pass 20 hours for the year (or pro-rated hours if in attendance only one semester) by Truman’s academic progress policy A denial letter due to the review of academic year grades supersedes notification of aid awards for a subsequent term and/or a letter from the Missouri Department of Higher Education regarding renewal of state funds. The 2.5 cumulative GPA cannot be appealed. However, it is permissible to appeal the 20 hour requirement.

Students may regain eligibility for state funds if a 2.5 cumulative GPA is attained after any subsequent term – summer and/or fall. Students must notify the Financial Aid Office to have the funds reinstated because progress is not automatically monitored after the denial of funds. PLEASE NOTE: If a student does not receive Bright Flight funds for an entire academic year (consecutive fall and spring semesters) then the student will never be able to regain eligibility for the funds.

Graduate students are considered to be making satisfactory progress as long as enrollment is maintained in the degree program. However, the maximum time frame to complete a master’s degree is 54 attempted hours.

Grades for study abroad programs are normally not received on a timely basis. Therefore, academic progress is considered to be met unless the Financial Aid Office is notified that that student withdrew from the program.

If you fail to achieve satisfactory academic progress for the term(s) you received aid you must pass enough hours to make up the shortage at Truman without financial aid. For example, if your aid was based on full-time enrollment for an academic year but you passed only 17 hours, you must pass 3 hours at Truman without financial assistance before your aid would be reinstated. Your academic progress record remains the same at Truman regardless of whether there is a break in your enrollment and/or you take classes at other institutions. Aid will be reinstated when a 2.0 cumulative grade point average is attained. Students must notify the Financial Aid Office if hours and/or grades are made up after a summer and/or fall term.

Examples of situations that may be appealed are:

1. Failure to pass the required number of hours due to circumstances beyond your control.

2. Surpassing the maximum time frame allowed to complete a program.

3. Failure to meet the 2.00 cumulative grade point average for programs covered by the general policy.

Examples of situations that cannot be appealed are:

Interim classes are not counted toward your enrollment during the fall or spring semester. Aid is also not available for December interim with the exception of cultural loans for study abroad. However, hours taken during interims may be counted when making up hours. For example, if you had passed only 18 hours at the end of the academic year (Fall and Spring) and passed a 2-hour interim class at Truman, then your aid would be reinstated for the next term instead of being denied. If at any time you do make up deficiencies in hours at Truman, please notify the Financial Aid Office in writing so your aid can be reinstated promptly. In some cases, summer interim may be combined with regular summer session for awarding of summer aid.

Hours are not counted as passed until the final grade is reported to the Registrar. This means that incompletes/in progress hours are not counted as passed until the final passing grade is recorded by the Registrar. Courses failed, courses dropped, and courses taken for audit are never counted as hours passed. Aid is not awarded for audited hours or correspondence classes.

Grades for dual credit are counted in the cumulative GPA for renewal of all programs. However, only Truman hours and grades are used in determining Truman academic scholarship renewal.

A withdrawal from all courses means no hours will be passed for the semester, thus causing a substantial shortage of credit hours at the end of the academic year. Future aid would be denied until the deficient hours are made up. If the withdrawal was beyond the control of the student, an appeal may be justified. If you withdraw before 60% of the term is over, you may owe a partial repayment of aid.

Academic progress is normally reviewed at the end of the spring semester and again after summer session (for summer school students who received aid for that term).

A change of major will not extend the time frame for receiving student aid. Extra terms were built into the maximum to allow for change of major, double majors, and five-year majors.

Cumulative credit hours that are accepted as transfer hours by the Registrar will be used to determine the remaining time frame for degree completion.