Satisfactory Academic Progress

Federal and state regulations and Young Harris College require that financial aid recipients make satisfactory academic progress. This means that a student must proceed toward successful and timely completion of the degree requirements. All federal, state, and institutional aid programs are affected by this policy. In addition, if a student receives a merit scholarship, he/she must meet the requirements associated with the scholarship.

Satisfactory Academic Progress for Full-Time Students:
*The student must be enrolled for at least 12 semester hours.
*The student must successfully complete at least 67% of the credit hours attempted each semester of enrollment. These hours may include developmental courses and repeated courses.
*The student must earn a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 1.5 in the course work attempted each semester.
*At the end of each academic year, a full-time student must earn the minimum number of credit hours: 1 year - 20 credit hours; 2 years - 40 credit hours; 3 years - total required for degree.
*The student must meet the requirements for graduation in a maximum of 6 semesters. This maximum would include a change in program and/or major.

Satisfactory Academic Progress for Part-Time Students:
Financial aid (with the exception of the Pell Grant, Stafford Loan, half-time HOPE) is awarded to part-time students only in exceptional cases subject to availability of funds.

Review Policies:
Following every semester, the academic record of each financial aid recipient will be reviewed and recorded. Only grades "A", "B", "C", or "D" shall be considered as credit hours completed. The following grades shall not be considered as credit hours completed: "F" grades, "W" - withdrawal,"WF" - withdrawal failing, "INC" - incomplete, Audit - no credit.

Financial Aid Probation:
In the event that a student fails to meet any one of the criteria listed in "A" above in a particular semester, the student will be placed on financial aid probation. A student in this category may receive financial aid during the probationary semester, but must complete 10 credit hours and earn a semester GPA of 1.5 to continue receiving financial aid.

Financial Aid Suspension:
If a student does not complete 10 credit hours with a 1.5 GPA during the semester he/she is on financial aid probation, the student is considered to be making "unsatisfactory progress" and is placed on financial aid suspension. Financial aid suspension means the termination of all financial aid (including scholarships, grants, work-study, and loans).

Students who do not complete any credit hours or who receive a 0.0 GPA in a particular semester will be placed on financial aid probation.

Appeal of Financial Aid Probation/Suspension:
A student may appeal financial aid probation/suspension status through the following procedure:

A student will indicate in writing to the financial aid director the reasons why minimum academic requirements were not achieved. The financial aid director will review the appeal and mitigating circumstances to determine if the financial aid probation/suspension is justified. The student will be advised in writing of the decision. A student wishing to appeal the decision of the financial aid director may do so in writing to the president.

Conditions of Reinstatement:
To be eligible for reinstatement of financial aid, a student must complete 10 credit hours with a semester GPA of 1.5 at Young Harris College or be eligible to transfer 10 credit hours with with a semester GPA of 1.5 back to Young Harris College from another accredited institution. (Grades of "D" or below are not transferable).

Return of Title IV Funds Policy:
According to federal financial aid regulations, the return of Title IV funds policy will be applied to students who receive federal assistance and completely withdraw from a semester. Federal Title IV assistance includes Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Stafford Loan, Federal PLUS Loan, Federal Perkins Loan, and Federal Work-Study.

This policy assumes that a student earns his or her aid based on the period of time he or she remained enrolled. During the first 60% of the semester, a student earns Title IV funds in direct proportion to the length he or she remains enrolled. A student who remains enrolled beyond the 60% point earns all aid for the semester. The percentage of the semester that the student remained enrolled is derived by dividing the number of days the student attended by the number of calendar days in the semester, excluding breaks of at least five calendar days.

Unearned Title IV funds, other than Federal Work-Study, must be returned. Unearned aid the amount of disbursed Title IV aid that exceeds the amount of Title IV aid earned by the student. Unearned aid must be returned in the following order:

Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loan
Subsidized Federal Stafford Loan
Federal Perkins Loan
Federal PLUS Loan
Federal Pell Grant
Federal Supplemental Opportunity Grant
Further detail for the calculation of the return of Title IV funds is available upon request from the Financial Aid Office or the Business Office.

Institutional refund policy:
Refunds for tuition charges for each semester will be made according to the following schedule:

Within 1st week of class 75% refund
Within 2nd week of class 25% refund
Within 3rd week of class 10% refund
After 3rd week of class no refund

Charges are prorated on a weekly basis from the first scheduled class period until actual withdrawal. Withdrawals made anytime during the week are prorated to the Monday following the week of withdrawal. This means that any portion of a week will be charged as a full week. There is no refund for temporary absences. There are no refunds for labs, special fees, nor for courses dropped after the drop/add period. No refund for tuition and fee charges will be given to any student who is suspended for disciplinary reasons. Institutional aid will be calculated on the same basis as tuition (stated above). In no case will institutional funds generate a refund greater than the amount of funds already received.

Refunds for board charges will be prorated equally over the semester. In no cases will institutional aid generate a refund greater than the amount of funds already received. No refund will be given for room rental.