SAP and the Disruption Grading Option – Round 2!

With another semester approved for disruption grading (SD/UD), we thought you all may appreciate a reminder on how it connects to Satisfactory Academic Program, which students must maintain to be eligible for financial aid. What is SAP usually? OSFA is required to evaluate three components at the end of each academic year for a student to maintain eligibility for most types of financial aid:
  • Undergraduate and Special students must have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.0.
  • All students must successfully complete a cumulative 2/3 (67%) of all credits for which they attempt.
    • “Attempted” coursework includes all classes that appear on their official transcript, including those with a DR (dropped) or W (withdrew) grade notation.
    • “Completed” coursework includes all classes with a passing grade (D or above). Credits that are dropped, failed, or incomplete will negatively impact completion rate.
  • All students may not enroll for more than 150% of the number of credits needed to complete their degree. Transfer credits and prior degree credits are included in this evaluation.
If a student fails any component of SAP, they’re given the opportunity to appeal the loss of financial aid by addressing the cause and issues with their academic progress as well as communicating with an academic advisor to work on an academic plan to make sure the issues can be resolved moving forward.  Our team ends up approving most appeals, so we STRONGLY recommend students go through the process. For Disruption Grading (SD/UD) Our team will hold off running SAP until after May 21, 2021 – the last day students can request the SD/UD grade conversion. Credits with an SD/UD grade:
  • ARE NOT included in the SAP GPA calculation.
  • ARE included when calculating the 2/3 (67%) completion rate and total credits for degree completion.
The SAP team has determined that students who fail SAP (whether due to COVID-19 related issues or not) will still be required to submit both a Student Appeal form and have an academic advisor complete an Advisor form.  However, adjustments to the forms were made to give both the student and their advisor an opportunity to note COVID-19 related impacts.  (2020-21 forms are not yet available, but you can check out last year’s forms online and we don’t expect too many changes, https://financialaid.wisc.edu/eligibility/#appeal-process)