Satisfactory Academic Progress - Credit Hours Policy Student Financial Aid - Policy and Procedures

  1. Back to Policies and Procedures Page
  1. Purpose
    1. As part of the federal administrative capability requirements, the College has developed the following standards to measure student progress towards their technical training.
    2. Progress standards for students enrolled in an eligible program who receive Title IV Aid, are the same as or stricter than the institutional standards for a student enrolled in the same program who is not receiving Title IV Aid.
  2. References
    1. Federal Student Aid Handbook Volume 1,Chapter 1
    2. Code of Federal Regulations, 34 CFR 668.16(e); 668.32(f); 668.34
    3. Higher Education Act Sec 484(c)
    4. Utah Code 53B
    5. Davis Technical College Student Financial Aid Professional Judgment Policy
    6. Davis Technical College Student Financial Aid Offers and Packaging Policy
    7. Davis Technical College Grading and Performance Policy
    8. Davis Technical College Schedule Development Policy
    9. Davis Technical College Student Financial Aid Disbursement Policy
  3. Definitions
    1. Completed Hours: Also referred to as “Standard Hours” or “Progress Hours.” Referring to the credit hours completed by the student that counts towards student progress.
    2. Payment Period: For programs that are one academic year or less in length, the first payment period is the period in which the student successfully completes half of the credit hours of the 1st academic year. The second payment period is when the student successfully completes remainder of the credit hours and all the weeks of instruction for the program’s defined academic year. For programs greater than an academic year in length, subsequent payment periods are prorated based on the remaining credit hours in the program.
    3. Progress: A ratio of credit hours completed compared to the number of credit hours attempted in a defined period.
    4. Financial Aid: includes all federal grants, state grants, scholarships, tuition waivers, and Federal Work Study processed through the Office of Financial Aid.
  4. Policy
    1. Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP): To be eligible for and maintain eligibility for Title IV funds, a student must meet their program’s minimum satisfactory academic progress standards or 67%, whichever is higher, while enrolled in their certificate seeking program, as found in each program’s orientation syllabus.
    2. Frequency: Student progress is evaluated at the end of each payment period for all students in all Pell eligible programs.
    3. Prior Enrollment: A student’s prior enrollment in the same program at Davis Technical College will be considered when determining eligibility for financial aid and includes any credit hours enrolled as a high school student at The College. This will be based on enrollment in the student information system.
    4. Withdrawals: If a student withdraws from The College before completing an entire payment period and they were not meeting SAP at the time of their withdrawal, they will be placed on Warning status upon returning to Davis Technical College and will need to meet or exceeding SAP standards at the end of the payment period to maintain financial aid eligibility. This applies if a student returns to Davis Tech more than 180 days since the date of withdrawal.
      1. If a student returns to school within 180 days of their withdrawal date, their SAP status will be what it was at the time of withdrawal.
    5. Incomplete and Repeat Coursework: Credit hours that are not completed or that are taken more than 1 time will be counted in the qualitative measure and towards maximum timeframe and could lead to a loss of eligibility.
      1. Students in the last module of the class may be granted an extension of 5 business days to be given the opportunity to finish any incomplete coursework. If a student fails to finish the incomplete coursework, the course will not be signed off and the student will need to repeat the course. Incomplete coursework does not increase the number of attempted credits for the student.
    6. Transfer Credits: The college accepts transfer credits also known as alternate documentation or “Alt Doc”. Any courses which are approved for “Alt Doc” will be included in the calculation for completed and attempted credits.
    7. Qualitative Measurement: The qualitative measure is determined through a student’s ability to complete coursework for attempted credit hours. A student must maintain cumulative progress at a rate of 67%. A measurement of a % of progress is used, in lieu of GPA. Progress is calculated by dividing the completed credits hours by the attempted credit hours.
      1. If a program has a stricter requirement for qualitative measurement, then that must be used when determining a student’s eligibility for aid.
    8. Quantitative Measurement: the quantitative measure is determined through a student’s ability to be on pace for completing the program in no more than 150% of the credit hours in the program. Progress is monitored at the end of each payment period. EXAMPLE: a student enrolled in a 20-credit hour program would need to complete the program within 30 attempted credits. In the first payment period the student completed 10 credit hours but attempted 22 credits. At this point the student would not be able to successfully complete the required 20 credits for the program before they attempt 30 credits so they would be ineligible for financial aid for their second payment period.
    9. Loss of Eligibility: Students are paid their first payment of aid upon enrollment (see Disbursement policy). No subsequent disbursement of aid will be paid until the student completes the credit hours in the payment period for which they have been paid. The college does not accept appeals for termination of federal aid due to not meeting satisfactory academic progress.
    10. Reinstatement of Eligibility: A student’s eligibility can only be evaluated at the end of each payment period; therefore, a student cannot regain eligibility during a payment period in which they were terminated from federal aid. If at the end of the terminated payment period a student is meeting SAP, their eligibility can be re-instated. A student must request that the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid reevaluate their eligibility for federal aid.
    11. Student Categories: students are divided into separate categories for SAP purposes.
      • Adult Certificate
      • Secondary
      • Personal Interest
      • Occupational Upgrade
      1. Adult students enrolled in Title IV certificate programs are not required to meet standards that may be for students of another category. I.E. secondary students in certain programs have different minimum standards for progress than adult students.
  5. Procedures
    1. Recorded Progress: A student’s progress must be recorded in the student information system (Northstar) for completed credit hours to be used for determining financial aid eligibility.
    2. Warning: If a student’s cumulative progress is less than 67%, or the minimum requirement for the program, at the end of any official review period, their financial aid will be placed in a warning status. A student is only allowed one (1) warning period for not meeting progress.
    3. Termination: A student’s whose cumulative progress is less than 67%, or the minimum requirement for the program, at the end of their warning period will be terminated from financial aid eligibility. If at the time of official review, a student would be unable to complete their program within 150% of the program length, will lose eligibility for the subsequent disbursement.
    4. Notification: students that are placed on a Warning or Terminated status, will be notified through email.
Policy migration in progress

Davis Tech is in the process of migrating our policies from PDF to HTML format to conform to Title II (ADA) requirements. During this transition period, the latest approved version of the policy is available (below) in pdf format, but may contain ADA Compliance errors.

Printable PDF

Effective Date: 11 August 2025

  • Approvals and Notes
  • Revision Date: 11 August 2025
  • Effective Date: 1 July 2024
  • Revision Date: 14 June 2024
  • Expanded President’s Council Approval: 10 June 2024
  • Effective Date: 1 July 2023
  • President’s Council Approval: 12 June 2023