Financial Aid Terms and Conditions

Satisfactory Academic Progress (Appeal Online)

Please choose your classification:

Undergraduate Students:

In order to be eligible to receive federal student aid, an undergraduate student must be making satisfactory academic progress in his/her coursework as directed by the Department of Education. This policy also applies to recipients of Sumners Grant and McKinstry loan funds.

There are three standards that are used to measure satisfactory academic progress for the undergraduate student at The University of Mississippi.

Standard One

An undergraduate student must be passing at least 67% of the hours that he/she has attempted.

Standard Two

An undergraduate student's total number of hours attempted at The University of Mississippi and all other institutions cannot equal to or exceed 190 hours.

Standard Three

An undergraduate student must achieve the minimum cumulative resident (Ole Miss) GPA at each hour interval in his/her course of study at The University of Mississippi. The cumulative resident University GPA does NOT include any transfer work.

Total Hours Attempted at Required Cumulative Resident GPA at The University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi

and All Other Institutions

0-30 hours 1.60

31-60 hours 1.80

61 or more hours 2.00

These standards are reviewed at the end of each spring term. An undergraduate student failing to meet any of these requirements is placed on financial aid suspension beginning with the May summer term. A student that is placed on financial aid suspension is ineligible to receive any federal student aid as well as many other types of aid such as state or institutional.

A student who fails to maintain satisfactory academic progress may submit a Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal online to the Office of Financial Aid and should cite any special or mitigating circumstances he/she believes should be considered. The Satisfactory Academic

Progress Appeal will be reviewed by committee. If the Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal is successful, then the student is placed on financial aid probation and allowed to receive federal student aid for one semester. A successful Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal will include academic requirements that must be met to receive aid beyond the probation semester. A student that is denied aid for failure to meet these satisfactory academic progress requirements may reestablish eligibility once she/he meets the requirements.

If a student leaves or is asked to leave the University of Mississippi for any reason and the student is on financial aid suspension, the student still will be on financial suspension when he/she returns. Neither being allowed to return to the University by the Office of the Registrar nor admittance to the University by the academic restart program will change the student's financial aid status. Only the Office of Financial Aid determines a student's eligibility for financial aid as directed by the Department of Education.

A student who has been denied probation by the committee can request an in-person hearing to petition for reinstatement. Although there is no set limit on the number of semesters in which a written appeal may be submitted, only one in-person hearing per student will be allowed while at Ole Miss.

The Office of Financial Aid publicizes deadlines for submitting appeals each term. This information is available at http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/financial_aid/online/AppealIntro.html.

University aid programs and state aid programs as well as other scholarships may have differing requirements for eligibility or continued eligibility.

The Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal is different from the Scholarship Appeal. If required, the forms must be filed separately. For more information regarding scholarship appeals, please refer to the section on ‘University Scholarship Appeal.’

Graduate Students:

Federal Title IV student aid recipients must maintain satisfactory academic progress. In order to continue to be eligible to receive assistance, graduate students must achieve and maintain a 3.00 cumulative grade-point average. The cumulative GPA is based on course work at The University of Mississippi only.

Graduate students will not be eligible to receive aid once they have attempted 72 total hours in pursuit of a Master’s degree, 100 hours in pursuit a Specialist degree, or a grand total of 160 hours in pursuit of all graduate degrees, including Doctorate.

Satisfactory academic progress is checked at the end of each spring semester. Students failing to meet the standard are placed on financial aid suspension beginning with the summer term. Students placed on financial aid suspension are ineligible to receive any federal student aid funds.

Students who fail to maintain satisfactory academic progress may submit an appeal online to the Office of Financial Aid citing any special or mitigating circumstances they believe should be considered. Students submitting successful appeals are placed on financial aid probation and allowed to receive federal student aid for one semester. Each successful appeal includes academic requirements that must be met to receive aid beyond the one semester. Students denied aid for failure to meet these satisfactory academic progress requirements may re-establish eligibility once they meet the requirements.

Fellowship and assistantship programs have differing requirements for continuing eligibility. Contact the Graduate School or your academic department for specific criteria.

Law Students:

Federal Title IV student aid recipients must maintain satisfactory academic progress. In order to continue to be eligible to receive assistance, Law Students must meet the following requirements: at the end of the spring semester of the first year, 1L students (31-37 hours) must have a cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.00, unless they are allowed by petition approved by the law faculty to receive an additional semester of probation. Upper class students (38-90 hours) must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 2.00, unless they have not used the allowed probationary semester, in which case they have 1 semester to achieve the required 2.00 GPA.

Hours are based on the combined total law hours at The University of Mississippi and other institutions. The cumulative GPA is based on course work at The University of Mississippi only. Law students are no longer eligible to receive aid once they have attempted 120 total hours.

Scholarship and state grant programs have differing requirements for continuing eligibility. Contact the Office of Financial Aid for specific criteria.