Satisfactory Academic Progress

Purpose

To receive Title IV aid (federal student aid such as Pell Grant, Federal Work-Study, Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized Loan, and PLUS Loan funds), federal regulation requires that a student must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). Certain state, University, and private aid or scholarship programs may also require a student to meet SAP standards to remain eligible. A student is considered to be maintaining SAP when both the quantitative and qualitative standards described below are met.

Evaluation Timeline

Beginning with the calculation that occurs at the conclusion of the spring semester each year, the determination of each student's meeting the quantitative and qualitative requirements for satisfactory academic progress (SAP) will be made following the conclusion of each of the fall, spring, and summer semesters (the combined summer sessions equal a single 10 week term from May-August). That calculation will determine students’ eligibility for financial aid for the following semester.

SAP Statuses

    1. Meets SAP: Students who meet all criteria outlined below for both the qualitative and quantitative requirements at the end of a semester when an official SAP calculation has occurred.
    2.  SAP Warning: Students who do not meet the Pace and/or GPA requirements outlined below will be put on warning status for the next semester they attend at University of Arkansas (see SAP Suspension definition below for students who do not meet the Maximum Timeframe requirement). Students will be on warning status for a single semester and remain eligible to receive financial aid during that time.
    3. SAP Suspension: At the end of the warning period, students who continue not to meet overall SAP standards will be on financial aid suspension and ineligible to receive financial aid. In addition, students who do not meet the Maximum Timeframe requirements outlined below at an official SAP calculation at the end of a given term will go on SAP Suspension. (See Regaining Eligibility section below for more information.)
    4. SAP Probation: Students who successfully appeal SAP Suspension will be eligible for federal financial aid and have their progress monitored based on a customized Academic Plan. (See Regaining Eligibility section below for more information.)

Quantitative Requirements

Students must meet both of the following quantitative requirements to remain eligible for federal financial assistance.

1) Pace: the student must successfully complete and earn credit from a minimum of 66.66̅% of all credit hours attempted.

        • Graduate and Law students: for course credits to be counted toward the 66.66̅% completion percentage, graduate and law students must pass each graduate level course with a grade of C or better while attending the University.
        • Courses graded W, I, F, XF, and NC are not considered successfully completed credit hours.
        • Courses that have been forgiven or excluded through academic bankruptcy, grade forgiveness, grade exclusion, or other means are included as credit hours that have been attempted but not successfully completed.
        • The completion percentage is truncated after the hundredths decimal place and rounded to the nearest whole number following standard rounding rules (5 or greater rounded up and 4 or lesser rounded down).

2) Maximum timeframe: the student will remain eligible for federal student aid as long as the number of credits attempted is not more than 150% of the number of credits required for the student's published primary degree plan.

        • Dual majors and degrees are calculated at 150% of the total unit requirements of the primary plan. Changing of major will mean future SAP calculations will use the unit requirements of the new primary plan or degree, but all previous completed and attempted hours will be used in SAP calculations.
        • Courses that have been forgiven or excluded through academic bankruptcy, grade forgiveness, grade exclusion, or other means are considered attempted hours.

Transfer, Remediation, and Repeat Coursework

        • Credit hours transferred to the University of Arkansas from other institutions are included in both quantitative calculations as attempted and completed.
        • Classes taken for remediation at University of Arkansas are included in both quantitative calculations.
        • All attempts of repeated coursework at University of Arkansas are included in both quantitative calculations as attempted hours. Successfully completed attempts will also count as earned credit hours as part of the Pace requirement.

Qualitative Requirements (GPA)

Undergraduate and Law students must maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or greater for all courses attempted at University of Arkansas within the student’s current academic career. Graduate students must maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.85 or higher at the time of evaluation.

        • Federal SAP regulations do not allow for grade exclusions from the GPA calculation. Grades that have been excluded from the GPA on record with the Registrar’s Office through academic bankruptcy, grade forgiveness, grade exclusion, or other means must be included in the GPA calculation for SAP purposes.
        • The GPA calculation for SAP purposes includes all grades within a student’s current career (undergraduate, graduate, law, or aglaw).
        • Academic work transferred from other schools does not affect University of Arkansas GPA per University policy (Transfer and Test Credit policies can be found at https://registrar.uark.edu/transfer-and-test-credit/).
        • Students who have only earned grades of W, PD, CR, R, P, or NC will pass the qualitative requirement.
        • Grades of A, B, C, D, F, and XF are included in the GPA calculation for SAP. Grades of I, AU, CR, R, S, W, P, PD, and NC do not have grade points associated with them for SAP or academic GPA calculations.

Prior Degrees

Once a bachelor’s degree or higher is earned, the SAP calculation will monitor progress going forward from the date of the previous degree (excluding technical certificates and associate degrees).

Regaining Eligibility

When a student fails to make satisfactory progress (SAP) after a warning period and are on SAP Suspension, there are two ways to regain eligibility for federal financial aid.

1) Appeal:

        • Eligibility: students may appeal due to injury or illness, the death of a relative, or other extenuating circumstances. Students on Academic Suspension are ineligible to appeal until their suspension has been resolved.
        • Required Materials: students must explain the circumstances that prevented them from maintaining SAP and what has changed that will allow them to meet SAP requirements at the next evaluation. Full instructions and conditions of the appeal process are detailed in the SAP Appeal Form.
        • Academic Plan: If an appeal is approved, the student will receive a customized Academic Plan for review and signature and will be placed on Financial Aid Probation for federal aid purposes.
        • SAP Probation Review: Students on SAP Probation after a successful appeal will have their progress monitored at the end of each semester to determine if they are meeting the contingencies of their Academic Plan. Students who meet their contingencies each semester will remain on SAP Probation (and eligible for federal financial aid) until they meet all quantitative and qualitative SAP requirements at an official evaluation or until they graduate, whichever occurs first. Students who fail to meet their Academic Plan contingencies and do not meet overall SAP requirements at an official evaluation will return to SAP Suspension and will be ineligible for federal financial aid.

2) Meeting SAP Requirements:

        • The only way to regain financial aid eligibility without a successful SAP appeal is to meet all quantitative and qualitative criteria outlined above at an official SAP calculation. Note: A student may not regain eligibility by using grade exclusion, academic bankruptcy, “sitting out” for any period of time, or otherwise not attending a term at University of Arkansas.

Notifications

Students who do not meet SAP requirements after an official calculation will be notified via email of their SAP Warning or SAP Suspension status. Students on SAP Suspension will be offered the opportunity to appeal to the Student Aid Committee. The Committee reviews appeals individually to determine whether circumstances beyond the student's control prevented them from maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress. The decision of the Committee is final. Notifications of appeal outcomes will be sent via email. All email communications will be sent to students’ UARK email address.

Student Resources

The University of Arkansas provides resources and services to support student success. Some of these resources are listed on the final page of the SAP Appeal Form, and additional services are available through the Division of Student Affairs. The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships can help with resource selection and the appeal process. Walk-in appointments are available Monday through Friday. For more information, please visit finaid.uark.edu

 

Policy update effective May 08, 2026