Satisfactory Academic Progress
To maintain eligibility for federal, state, and institutional financial aid, a student must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress towards completing a degree or its equivalent. This satisfactory academic progress is measured both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Qualitative Measures
Undergraduate
All undergraduate students are required to maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.0. This GPA is calculated only using those classes taken at NDNU – it does not include transfer GPA if the student enrolls at NDNU subsequent to studies at another institution.
Graduate
We expect graduate students to maintain a minimum cumulative NDNU GPA of 3.0.
Quantitative Measures
Course Completion Standard
We expect students to complete the courses successfully in which they enroll within a satisfactory quantity/percentage, as defined below.
Undergraduate
- Full-time: 12 – credit hours enrolled.
Successful completion of a minimum of 21 credit hours for the fall/spring semesters combined. If the student attends only the fall or the spring semester, completion of at least 10.5 credit hours is required. - Part-time: less than 12 credit hours enrolled.
Successful completion of a cumulative percentage of at least 67% of credits attempted.
Graduate
- Successful completion of a cumulative percentage of at least 75% of credits attempted.
Maximum Time Frame Standard
We expect students to complete their academic program within a maximum time frame, which encompasses all credits attempted within the duration of their studies at NDNU. The standard set for this maximum time frame is 150% of the credit hours required to complete the degree or its equivalent.
Definitions of Successful Course Completion
We consider only graded units of A, B, C, D, and P as completed units.
- F, NP, W, IP, AW, and I grades are not considered as units completed. Students who receive I or IP grades must notify the Office of Financial Aid with verification when hours have been completed.
- A student may repeat a course for which a grade of C, D, or F is received, but we limit repeats to the number of times specified in the University Catalog. Students may repeat only courses designated as repeatable in the Catalog. These classes will be included in enrollment status and must be taken for a letter grade. Students may not use Independent Study to repeat a course.
- We will not consider incomplete courses as being successfully completed. An incomplete grade will count as credit/s attempted and credit/s not earned until the grades have been changed to a passing grade.
Consequences of Failure to Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress
NDNU evaluates students following Spring Semester regarding satisfactory academic progress.
Once NDNU completes this evaluation, the process for students failing to maintain satisfactory academic progress is:
- The student is immediately disqualified from consideration for all forms of federal, state, and institutional student aid for any future semester(s) of enrollment at NDNU.
- This disqualification status is communicated to the student in writing by the NDNU Office of Financial Aid.
- The disqualified student considers whether to appeal the SAP disqualification if the student has not previously appealed.
If the student appeals, the appeal process consists of these steps:
- The student submits a letter of appeal to the Financial Aid SAP Appeal Committee explaining the circumstances which led to the failure to achieve SAP and how the student’s academic performance will improve in the future.
- The student submits any supporting documentation on why they did not meet SAP standards to the Committee.
- The Committee reviews the student’s appeal and renders one of the following decisions:
- Approve unconditionally – the student is reinstated on probation without a specific remediation plan.
- Approve conditional – the student is reinstated on probation with a specific remediation plan.
- Deny – the student’s disqualification status remains with no further opportunity for appeal.
NDNU students are allowed one appeal per degree level during their enrollment at NDNU.
Probation Status Review
We will review students placed on probation status at the end of the student’s next semester of enrollment at NDNU. It is expected that at the end of this next semester of enrollment, the student will have met all standards required for SAP. At the end of this next semester of enrollment, the NDNU Office of Financial Aid will place the student in one of the following statuses:
- SAP Cleared – probation status is removed.
- SAP Final Disqualified – student is no longer eligible for federal aid and does not have the right to appeal further.
The NDNU Office of Financial Aid will communicate the results of this probationary evaluation to the student in writing.