There’s this thing called, “satisfactory academic progress,” that a student must meet to remain eligible for federal financial aid.
The standards are the same regardless of university or college: an undergrad must maintain a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA; must complete their degree within 1 1/2 times the length of their degree program’s requirement (so if your program is 120 credit hours, you have to get that degree within 180 credit hours); and must show a minimum course completion rate of 67 percent.
Yeah. Who knew such a thing existed? Everyone I’ve talked to had no clue; they just thought the federal government kept tossing money out at them until they walked out with that piece of parchment.
The more traditional students may never have to worry about whether they’re meeting those standards. But if you’re non-traditional like me? Someone who flunked out after the first two quarters of their college career, leaving UC with a 1.5 GPA… Someone who did most of her general education requirements part time while working full time as she still tried to find her footing and her major while still getting an F and some W’s here and there? You might want to read up on that policy. College is stressful enough. You don’t need to be getting emails from financial aid telling you that you suck, and you’re not getting aid until you meet satisfactory academic progress.
How do you meet satisfactory academic progress? By taking 12 credit hours using your own money and getting a 2.0. This can be the equivalent of a full-time semester or broken up part time. But still. It’s around $6,500 a semester for me to go full time at UC — and that’s including the cost of the crappy student health insurance I have to take. $459 per credit hour, if I go part time. I don’t exactly have that kind of cash lying around.
The other option is to write an appeal, explaining why you sucked in the past and detailing your plans not to suck in the future.
When I returned to UC in 2014, I got the “you suck” email again. Never mind that it’s been a long time since my Epic College Screw Up, and I was returning with A’s and B’s and a 2.9 cumulative GPA. I wrote my appeal, got my aid restored, and my college adviser told me that I could never get an F or a W ever again.
I kept that promise — until this semester when I took Public Affairs Reporting. It wasn't Public Affairs Reporting's fault that I got the F in that class. It was just one more thing that piled up and led to the F.
I got caught up with this need to make myself impressive. I snagged a communications/marketing internship with the Provost’s office, but shortly after, I finally landed a job at The News Record. I had to do both. There was this pressure with the Provost’s gig because I came highly recommended by the head of the journalism department, yet I had tried three times previously to get on The News Record’s staff. I couldn’t give either up: one was too impressive. The other took too long to get and would benefit me post-graduation. I finally had to tell myself I couldn’t do it all — in early November when it had become too late to save myself in all my classes. (Public Affairs Reporting had become the sacrificial class.)
I had become a stranger to UC. I moved out of Clifton over the summer, and this was my first semester where I only had to be on campus for class two days a week. No need to buy a campus dining pass, so no more hanging out at Center Court or MarketPointe daily with my best friend for bitch fests and study nights. I lost my focus being so far away; I forgot that I was a student; I became miserably lonely. (Okay, it’s only a 15 to 20-minute drive, but I had become so unmotivated to deal with parking and was too cheap to buy a parking pass.)
Before I decided to take the F, I made sure I would continue to meet “satisfactory academic progress.” I used UC’s GPA calculator to figure out what my cumulative GPA would be at the end of this semester based on my anticipated fall semester grades, and I boosted my B in Principles of Photojournalism to an A, so I wouldn’t land a 1.87 GPA for the semester. For fun, I even did the numbers to figured out what GPA I’d have to get spring semester and how many credit hours it would take to finally get my 2.9 up to a 3.0. (Answer: If I take 15 credit hours, I need to make a 3.36. It’s doable.)
None of it was as nasty as I feared. And while financial aid and the journalism department may see failure, I see growth because I still learned: impressive opportunities aren’t so impressive when they don’t line up with your heart’s desire. And forking out over $600 to have the freedom and flexibility to be on campus and see your BFF whenever you want — while bonding over crappy college food — is priceless because that opportunity won’t be here much longer.
