Standards of Academic Progress

Students must make satisfactory progress toward the completion of an approved certificate or associate degree to be eligible for financial aid. Standards of Academic Progress for financial aid recipients are applied to all students receiving financial assistance. All semesters and courses in which a student was registered must be considered, even if financial aid was not awarded. 

Academic status scale

On a qualitative basis, students must earn a cumulative grade point average (GPA) consistent with the scale below. In calculating the GPA on this scale, all credits attempted at Delta College are considered, including courses below 100 level.

This method of evaluation is consistent with Federal Title IV regulations which require that students achieve a cumulative "C" average by the end of their second academic year. 

The Financial Aid Office's Standards of Academic Progress policy quantitatively measures student advancement in two manners – through completion rate and program length. 

To be eligible for financial aid, students must successfully complete at least 67% of the courses they attempt at Delta College. The following criteria are used to evaluate completion rate: 

• • Completion rate is calculated by dividing the total number of credits earned plus transfer credits accepted toward program completion by the total number of credits attempted plus transfer credits accepted toward program completion.
  • Classes in which students received grades of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, or P are considered to be satisfactorily completed.
  • Grades of W, WI, NC (No Credit), F, and I (incomplete) are not considered to be satisfactory completions.
  • For students repeating courses, the lower grade is considered to be an unsatisfactory completion and the higher grade is considered to be satisfactory completion. Federal financial aid can be used to pay for only one repeat of a previously passed course.  

A financial aid recipient must complete their approved certificate or associate degree within a time frame which, by Federal regulation is 150% of the published length of the program. Maximum program length can be determined by multiplying the number of credits required for a program based on the Delta College catalog by 1.5 to determine the maximum number of credits. All semesters, attempted courses, repeated courses and transfer credits are taken into consideration when calculating the maximum number of credits.

• • All grades (A through F, P, I, NC, W, WI) and repeated courses are counted in determining the maximum number of credits.
  • Transfer credits must be taken into consideration when calculating the maximum number of credits; a maximum of 38 transfer credits can be accepted toward an associate degree. Transfer credits accepted toward a certificate program cannot exceed one-third of the published length of a certificate program.

Students determined to not be satisfactory maintaining academic progress with regard to grade point average, completion rate, or a combination of factors will be given one semester in a warning status. After a warning semester, students who continue to be below the standards of academic progress will not be eligible for further financial aid. A student has the right to appeal for future financial aid if documentable circumstances can be shown to have negatively impacted academic success during a specific semester(s).