SAP Components
There are three components to SAP. Failure to comply with any component may result in a loss of aid eligibility. The three components are as follows:
Minimum Grade Point Average (GPA)
Completion Rate (Deficit Hours)
While students are expected to enroll full-time to be eligible for financial aid, each student must successfully complete at least a minimum percentage of all credit hours attempted. This percentage includes all institutional and transfer credit hours, regardless of whether or not financial aid was received. Grades of W, D, F, I, U, Q, X, NG, and grade exclusions are not considered to be adequate grades for completion.
Maximum Hours (Excessive Hours)
Students are expected to complete their degree pursuits within a maximum timeframe, including transfer hours earned as well as institutional attempted hours. Students may not receive financial assistance beyond the following:
- Graduate Students: 150% of degree program requirements
Credit hours are cumulative; thus, students working towards obtaining more than one degree in the same category (e.g., double major) may reach this maximum timeframe before completing their course of study and may need to appeal eligibility.
SAP Warnings
After one semester of not meeting the SAP standards, students will be issued a warning and will be permitted to receive financial aid for the next semester. However, after the one semester of warning, students who fail to meet any one or a combination of the SAP components will be ineligible for financial assistance.
Students may appeal ineligibility by providing information on extenuating circumstances, indicating what has changed to allow successful academic progress. If an appeal is granted, students may be placed on financial aid probation and asked to follow an academic plan that will lead to meeting minimum SAP requirements in the near future. If students do not meet the terms of probation, eligibility for financial aid will cease and all remaining aid will be cancelled. Subsequent appeals of the same nature are not permitted. Once a student falls from his/her academic plan and loses eligibility, the only way to regain eligibility for financial aid is to meet the SAP requirements.
SAP Notifications
Students who fail to meet minimum SAP standards are not eligible to receive financial aid. Students will be notified of the reason(s) for the loss of eligibility through an email sent to their TAMU email address as well as via the Scholarships & Financial Aid Portal.
Students may appeal their ineligibility by providing information on extenuating circumstances, indicating what has changed to allow successful academic progress. However, the submission of an appeal is only a request and does not guarantee that scholarship or financial aid eligibility will be reinstated. The appeal must be submitted online through
howdy.tamu.edu. Click the My Finances tab and enter the Scholarships & Financial Aid Portal. Students should provide evidence of the extenuating circumstances that occurred. For more information, please review the "Appeals" section. Please note that the financial aid appeal process is different from college/department academic appeal processes. Scholarships may require a separate appeal process.
Students who graduate from Texas A&M University but do not meet Scholarships & Financial Aid SAP minimums will be denied aid eligibility for additional coursework taken at the same degree level (i.e. teacher certification or post-baccalaureate work), but may visit with a Scholarships & Financial Aid advisor to determine continuing eligibility. Academic progress for students beginning a new degree level (i.e. undergraduate to graduate or undergraduate to professional) will be evaluated based on coursework/performance at the new level.
Changes to recorded grades that take place after SAP evaluation has occurred will be included in the next official SAP evaluation at the end of the subsequent semester. If a grading
error is corrected after the SAP evaluation was completed, students may contact our office by phone, email, or in person to request a recalculation of SAP status using the corrected grade. Recalculations will not be done when an Incomplete (I) grade is updated once missing work is completed.