DePaul University > Admission & Aid > Financial Aid > Maintain Eligibility > Satisfactory Academic Progress > Definitions and Terminology

Definitions and Terminology

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Terminology Related to Academic Credit

All credit-bearing course hours, including:

  • Transfer credit (regardless of whether they apply to your current DePaul degree requirements)
  • Credit earned through study abroad consortium or other consortium agreement
  • Test credit
  • Other types of academic credit (such as military, PLA, AP)
  • Repeated courses

The policy requires that you maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) to remain eligible for financial aid. 

  • Undergraduate Students:  The minimum cumulative GPA is 2.00.
  • Graduate/Professional Students:  The minimum cumulative GPA that is required to graduate from your program.

You must successfully complete at least two-thirds (66.67%) of all your attempted credit hours. This includes all courses you’re enrolled in after the last day to drop courses. For example, if you attempt 12 credit hours a term, you are expected to complete at least 8 credit hours.

If you are assigned a financial aid probation status, or are completing a financial aid academic plan, you are expected to maintain a minimum term GPA of at least 2.50 or higher as determined by the committee. Your specific term requirements are located on the “View My FA Academic Progress” panel within your Financial Aid tile in Campus Connect.

Any course with a passing grade (A, B, C, D or PA) is successfully completed.

Any course with a non-passing grade (F, W, WA, FX, R, IN or M) is not successfully completed.

  • Incomplete (IN), Missing (M) and Research (R) grades: Grades of IN, M and R are not successfully completed until the final grade is submitted, in accordance with university grading policy.  Students must notify the SAP Committee of grade changes by emailing OFA_SAP@depaul.edu.
  • Withdrawal grades (W, WA, and FX): All withdrawal grades negatively impact quantitative (completion rate) and maximum timeframe. W and WA grades are not calculated in the grade point average; an FX, is calculated in the GPA as an F.
  • Pass grades (PA): PA grades are not calculated into your GPA. If you are below the minimum required GPA and you are on SAP warning, probation, or special SAP plan, you must take letter graded courses to improve your GPA to meet the minimum SAP standard. Aid may be suspended the following term if your GPA does not meet minimum SAP requirements. Students should refer to their View My FA Academic Progress panel in Campus Connect for GPA requirements.

Repeated and original course credits are both counted towards cumulative attempted credit hours. The repeat grade is treated in the cumulative GPA according to university policy. Refer to your Academic Catalog for more information on how repeated grades are calculated in your cumulative GPA.

Treatment of Repeated Coursework for Financial Aid Disbursement.

Audited courses do not earn academic credit and are not eligible for federal, state, and institutional financial aid. They are not evaluated in the review of your SAP.

Non-credit development courses do not earn academic credit and are not eligible for federal, state, and institutional financial aid. They are not evaluated in the review of your SAP.

Terminology Related to Satisfactory Academic Progress Statuses

You are eligible to receive aid in this status.  Financial aid “warning” is assigned when you have fallen below the minimum thresholds of SAP:

  • cumulative GPA is below 2.00 (or higher if required by your graduate degree), or
  • completion rate is below 66.67% (you have completed fewer than 66.67% of attempted hours).

If you do not meet SAP requirements at the end of your Warning term, your financial aid will be suspended.

You are not eligible to receive federal, state, and most institutional aid in this status. “Not Meeting SAP” status is assigned if:

  • you fail to meet your progress requirements after a warning, probation or academic plan status
  • you are a returning student or first-time aid applicant whose prior coursework does not meet SAP requirements
  • you exceed or cannot complete your degree within the maximum timeframe

The Office of Financial Aid reserves the right to suspend your aid if you withdraw completely or fail to complete all courses in a term.

If your SAP status is “Not Meeting SAP”, you can appeal by the deadline in Campus Connect. Submitting an appeal does not guarantee the reinstatement of your financial aid eligibility.

A SAP appeal is a written request from a student submitted after aid is suspended.

Please review the Appeal Financial Aid Suspension section for more information.

Approved SAP appeals will be placed on a probationary status and you will be notified via email.

Probation lasts one term and your requirements will be determined by the SAP committee. You can review your specific GPA and/or completion ratio requirements in Campus Connect (Financial Aid tile > View My FA Academic Status).

Meeting your requirements after your probationary term places you back in good standing. You must continue to meet minimum SAP requirements in your future enrollment.

You may need more than one consecutive term to meet minimum SAP requirements. If you meet your probationary requirements, but you don’t meet overall SAP requirements, you may continue onto Academic Plans 1 and 2.

By the end of Academic Plan 2, you must meet minimum SAP requirements, or you will be suspended.


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