At the end of each semester or upon a student's re-enrollment at UMD, the student's academic performance is reviewed.
This is done to determine if the student is able to receive financial aid by making Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). The review is based on qualitative (grade point average) and quantitative measures (credits completed vs. credits attempted). It is also cumulative for all academic work attempted at University of Maryland and transferred credits.
Qualitative
Undergraduate students must maintain a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 or above. Graduate students must maintain the minimum cumulative GPA required by their program.
Quantitative
Undergraduate students with more than 30 UMD and transfer credits must complete at least 75% of the total number of credits attempted (including credits attempted during summer sessions, winter sessions, non-degree semesters and transfer credits). Freshman with less than 30 UMD and transfer credits must complete at least 50% of the total attempted credits.
Cumulative
The maximum number of cumulative credits undergraduate students can attempt is 180, including transfer credits, even if they have never received financial aid.
At the end of each semester, our office reviews each student's progress. Students who have not met all three requirements (for all semesters enrolled, not just those semesters that the student received aid) will be notified in writing that they have lost eligibility for financial aid.
Students who fail to meet the minimum quantitative standards for the first time will be placed on Financial Aid Warning. Students will continue to receive financial aid during the warning period. Students who fail to meet the minimum quantitative standards after the warning period will be placed on Financial Aid Suspension and will not qualify for financial aid.
At the end of each semester, our office will review your academic progress and grades. If you have not met the SAP requirements, we will send you a letter informing you of your lost eligibility for financial aid. This letter will include instructions on how to submit a SAP appeal, should you choose to do so.
If you believe you should have received the SAP appeal letter from our office but did not, please review the SAP Appeal Form which must be submitted along with the SAP Academic Plan and a letter from a third party. Once completed, you can submit these documents via email (umdfinaid@umd.edu), in-person or by mail:
0115 Mitchell Building
Attn: Satisfactory Academic Progress Committee
7999 Regents Drive
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
- An attempted credit includes graded credits (A, B, C, D, F, S, or P), withdrawn credits (W), incomplete credits (I) and failure (XF).
- Any repeated course will be counted as credits attempted but not as credits earned for SAP calculations to determine the rate of completion and maximum time frame calculations.
- Completed credits are credits with passing grades (A, B, C, D, S or P). To calculate the completion percentage, total all completed credits (including your transfer credits) and then divide the number by the total number of attempted credits (including your transfer credits).
- A student may receive financial assistance for a course that was repeated and for which a non-passing grade was received. A student may not receive financial aid to repeat a class for which a grade of "I" was received that was not completed within the maximum time frame stipulated by the course instructor.
University of Maryland follows the following financial aid Satisfactory Academic Progress guidelines for graduate students:
- Graduate students must maintain minimum qualitative and quantitative requirements for academic progress. These are defined based on the program of study for which the student is enrolled.
- Visit the Graduate School Catalog to view your complete graduate program policy.
- If a graduate student has been notified that they are no longer eligible for financial aid, they may appeal this decision to the Financial Aid SAP Committee. A written letter of appeal and documents supporting their request must be submitted to Office of Student Financial Aid within thirty (30) days of the financial aid suspension letter. The Committee may waive these guidelines and consider cases of unusual hardship, personal injury, death of a relative or other special circumstances.