Academic Standing and Progress

Students must meet certain standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) to maintain eligibility for federal and institutional aid. The College is required to measure students’ progress using a qualitative standard (GPA) and a quantitative standard (progress toward a degree). Additionally, students must complete all degree requirements within 150% of the timeframe that the College has determined it should take to earn that degree (measured in credit hours). Recipients of federal student aid and/or institutional funding are expected to make reasonable progress toward their degree as a condition of receiving and continuing to receive that aid.  

Program Pursuit (quantitative standard)

To remain in good academic standing for federal and institutional aid, an Ithaca College undergraduate student must successfully complete 67% of all credit hours attempted. Classes in which the student earns grades of F, W, I or U are not considered successfully completed. Transfer credits accepted by Ithaca College are included in this calculation. A student's program pursuit progress is reviewed at the end of each spring semester. 

GPA Requirements (qualitative standard)

To remain in good academic standing for federal and institutional aid, Ithaca College undergraduate students with attempted credits between .50 and 29.50 must have earned a cumulative grade point average of at least 1.8. and a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 is required for students whose attempted credits are 30 and greater. Ithaca College reviews the cumulative grade point average at the end of the spring semester of each academic year.

SAP is calculated at the end of each semester. The first semester a student fails to meet the above requirements, the student will be given a warning semester. If a student is not meeting the above SAP standards after the warning semester, the student will be ineligible for federal and institutional financial aid until the appropriate standards are achieved. The student may request a one-time waiver of these eligibility requirements if they were unable to meet them due to an extenuating circumstance or personal hardship. 

The following are examples of hardship and/or circumstances that may be deemed appropriate for a waiver request:

• Injury or illness of the student;
• Injury, illness, or death of an immediate family member or other family difficulties;
• Fire, flood, or other catastrophic events;
• Other circumstances beyond your control occurred during the term in which the student was not able to meet academic progress requirements.

To request a waiver of these eligibility requirements, the student may submit a Satisfactory Academic Progress Waiver Request form to the Office of Student Financial Services. The information submitted should include the following:

1. The reason why the student was not able to meet the minimum academic requirements.
2. Documentation of any unique circumstance that may have contributed to the student’s inability to meet the standards.
3. An explanation of what has changed in the student’s situation will allow them to demonstrate satisfactory academic progress at the next evaluation.
4. A plan for meeting the standards in a reasonable time frame.  This plan should include an academic plan that the student creates with an academic advisor.

Waiver requests are reviewed by the Satisfactory Academic Progress Committee and the student is notified of the outcome via email. If granted a one-time waiver, a student’s federal and institutional aid may be reinstated for a period of one semester. At the end of the waiver period, the student must be meeting the minimum SAP requirements. If the student is not meeting the minimum standards, they are ineligible for federal and institutional aid until they are meeting minimum SAP requirements. All decisions made by the Satisfactory Academic Progress Committee are final and cannot be appealed.

Students who are denied a waiver will be ineligible for federal and institutional aid until they are once again meeting the College’s  Satisfactory Academic Progress standards or until they can be approved for a waiver. 

Students who do not apply for a waiver will be ineligible for federal and institutional aid until they are once again meeting the College’s Satisfactory Academic Progress standards.

More information can be found on the Student Financial Services website.

Commissioner’s Guidelines for Determining Good Academic Standing for NYS awards

Program: Baccalaureate Program A student must accrue, or earn, a specific number of credits and a minimum cumulative GPA in order to be Certified for the following payments:

More information regarding the Satisfactory Academic Progress guidelines for NYS can be found here: Satisfactory Academic Progress for NYS awards.