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I currently have a 2.9 in a MS program I am in. As it turns out, I had to work a pretty demanding job while completing the program full time which was not my plan. In effect, my grades slipped. This was my cumulative GPA for this program as of May 2015. I am a full time completely funding my education with Federal Student Loans.
In December 2014, I gained acceptance to and accepted an offer at a different and better school for an MS degree. I will be leaving my old program and beginning a new program. The problem is that my old program requires a 3.0 GPA to be in good standing. I was placed on academic probation since my GPA was 2.9.
I did some research and read up on the impact that falling below the 3.0 threshold could have on Federal Student Loans. It seems that if I stayed at my current school, I would be ineligible to take out student loans next year. But, I am leaving and starting a new program. I will not be transferring any credits. It will be like I am starting over from an academic standpoint.
My question: Does anyone have insight as to whether my poor academic performance at my old university will affect my ability to get Federal Loans at my new university? It seems that the old GPA would only be a factor if I were to transfer credits to the new university, but I am unclear regarding the impact since there is no specific clause that covers my situation. I hope that someone has some experience with this type of issue.
I know two people who essentially flunked out of their current school and were able to enroll elsewhere and still get federal student loans. A quick call to the financial aid office of your new school should be able to answer the question for you.
I know two people who essentially flunked out of their current school and were able to enroll elsewhere and still get federal student loans. A quick call to the financial aid office of your new school should be able to answer the question for you.
That is my plan today just to make certain. Thanks for your response.
That is my plan today just to make certain. Thanks for your response.
To graduate from your MS program, or any Master's program, you have to demonstrate excellence in that discipline, hence the bottom threshold of maintaining at least a 3.0 GPA. I wish you good luck, I gave up almost everything to complete my graduate degree.
Oh man, I talked to the financial aid office and the Federal Student Loans Customer service today and no one has any clue what is going to happen. What a mess!!! I am curious if there is anyone here that might have experience with this sort of thing. Any help about it would be appreciated!
Oh man, I talked to the financial aid office and the Federal Student Loans Customer service today and no one has any clue what is going to happen. What a mess!!! I am curious if there is anyone here that might have experience with this sort of thing. Any help about it would be appreciated!
Talk to the admissions department and see what the SCHOOL defines as adequate progress. If they say you have to have above a 3.0, you will be put on probation for a semester. If you do not raise your GPA above a 3.0, you will be kicked out of your program and no longer eligible for federal aid--there is a time restriction, 3 years or so on that.
First off, under federal SAP regulations, a school is obligated to have a SAP policy that explains the qualification criteria (which you seem to be aware of) as well as the process for appealing.
So even at your current institution, if they suspend your eligibility, you should have some provision for appealing to extend your eligibility. Though as it's an appeal, it is of course not guaranteed they would determine in your favor. And that should be something disclosed in their school SAP policy. If they are not disclosing that at all, that would be a violation of federal rules as well as accreditor requirements, etc. Every time we get an accreditation visit, audit, etc. they want a copy of our policy and where we disclose it to students.
So a school that can't answer "where's the policy" has serious problems both from a customer service and liability standpoint.
As for your new institution, if the person you talked to can't answer that question, they should have moved you up the chain to someone who can. If you called the feds, then sure, they can't answer the question since while federal regulation provides the shape, each school has to fill in the specifics.
Under current federal policy, in general you would start fresh for SAP purposes entering a new school & program, particularly if not transferring any credits. There are still some ceilings that do apply (Pell or SULA caps if you were an undergrad, Stafford borrowing limit of 138,500 as a graduate student - higher for med), but SAP in and of itself typically does not.
It's possible a school could weigh all your prior grad credits against SAP - there's nothing that prohibits it, but I'm not aware of anyone that does or would even want to. It would be a freaking mess both from a workload and liability standpoint in my opinion.
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