What is Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)?
UCF’s Financial Aid website provides detailed information about the University’s Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy. In order to meet University standards for satisfactory progress, students must maintain a minimum GPA, complete a certain ratio of the courses they’ve attempted (meaning, they have completed those classes with a grade of A, B, C, D, or S, and have not failed or withdrawn), and graduate within a certain amount of credit hours attempted (varies by program). To learn more about the specific requirements, view the Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy.
When a student fails to meet these requirements, they become ineligible for certain types of federal financial aid unless they complete an appeals form and are approved. This appeals form requires help from the College advising office in order to complete.
Assistance With Completing Your Appeal Prior to Submitting to Financial Aid
These instructions are for students in the College of Science only. All other students should contact their College’s Advising office or ask their assigned ASC for help.
First, Read about the SAP Appeal process to see if you would be eligible for an appeal and Download the form. It is most efficient to complete the form digitally. Please attach any supporting documents after College of Sciences has reviewed the form, especially if your supporting documents contain sensitive medical information.
- Page 0 (Instructions): Read this page in full.
- Page 1 (Sections I, II and III): Fill out this page completely, and sign at the bottom. If you plan to attach supporting documents, please do not do so yet.
- Page 2 (Labeled “To be completed by the Academic Advisor/ Department Head/ Dean ONLY”): Leave this BLANK. Do not ask your Academic Advisor / Success Coach to sign it.
- Page 3 (Labeled “Plan of course work…”): Complete this page with the help of your Academic Success Coach or using your degree audit/Pegasus path.
- Only courses needed for your major will be considered for an appeal.
- If you have two majors, you will need to complete 2 academic plans/page 3’s, one for each major.
- Submit the pdf through the following link: https://ucf.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_55zZjaJePvRaH9X. A trained College of Sciences staff member will review your form for accuracy and complete page 2 for you.
- Watch your UCF email for communication back. Once the review is done, the form will be sent back to you, completed and with any needed corrections.
- Complete and Submit: You will now attach any needed supporting documents to the PDF, then submit it to financial aid as described on the instruction page of the form.
Excess Credit Hour Surcharge
Another (but often related) obstacle that students sometimes face is the accrual of Excess Credit Hours Surcharges, per Florida Statute. These can begin accruing before a student reaches their “Maximum Time Frame” per SAP guidelines, and these surcharges cannot be waived.
If you are concerned that you may be at risk of being charged the Excess Hour Surcharge, please speak with your Academic Success Coach (ASC). They can look up how many credits are remaining until you are at risk of being charged, and compare that to the number of credits remaining in your major program. College credits earned in high school, including AP, IB, AICE and Dual enrollment credits, do not count against your credits for the purpose of Excess Hours.