Undergraduate Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress (UFA SAP) Policy
According to federal regulations, the Undergraduate Financial Aid (UFA) Office must confirm that students are meeting minimum eligibility requirements to receive Federal Student Aid (FSA) funds. UFA performs this review at the end of each semester.
This review process and the required standards are separate from the review conducted by the Faculty Committee on Examinations and Standings. Students that are not meeting all of the UFA SAP requirements will lose Federal Student Aid eligibility (federal grants, loans, and work study) until the requirements are met again. However, as long as they are meeting Princeton’s academic requirements, Princeton will continue to meet 100% of students’ financial need with grant.
Information regarding the academic standards for progress can be found in the Undergraduate Announcement.
This standard measures the quality of a student’s academic achievement. Since Princeton University does not calculate official grade point averages, Undergraduate Financial Aid considers students to have the equivalent of at least a C-average if they have received satisfactory grades in at least half of their attempted courses each semester. An unsatisfactory grade is anything less than a C for the qualitative measure for federal financial aid.
Students who have fallen below the minimum qualitative requirement can regain eligibility once they have earned satisfactory grades in at least half of their cumulative courses.
This standard measures a student’s progress toward graduation. AB students are required to complete 31 courses to graduate and BSE students must complete 36 courses in eight semesters of study. The UFA SAP process uses standards based the academic progress required by the Faculty Committee on Examinations and Standings, as published in the UA. This required progress is higher than the minimum federal requirement.
This table provides a detailed breakdown of the course completion requirements for UFA SAP at the end of each term in progress:
AB
Year | Term in Progress | Min # Required Completed Courses |
|---|---|---|
| First Year | 1 | 3 |
2 | 7 | |
| Second Year | 3 | 11 |
4 | 16 | |
| Third Year | 5 | 19 |
6 | 24 | |
| Fourth Year | 7 | 27 |
8 | 31 |
BSE
Year | Term in Progress | Min # Required Completed Courses |
|---|---|---|
| First Year | 1 | 3 |
2 | 8 | |
| Second Year | 3 | 12 |
4 | 17 | |
| Third Year | 5 | 21 |
6 | 26 | |
| Fourth Year | 7 | 31 |
8 | 36 |
Students who have fallen below the minimum quantitative requirement can regain eligibility once they have completed the number of required courses for their term in progress. Courses that are transferred in will be included in the next UFA SAP evaluation process.
Federal regulations dictate that the maximum timeframe for students to complete their degree is 150% of the published length of the program. Due to Princeton’s academic policy, students will never meet the federal maximum timeframe. This will be confirmed during each UFA SAP review process.
UFA SAP Status and Notification
Students meeting both measurements are considered “meeting UFA SAP.” Students not meeting at least one of the measurements are considered “not meeting UFA SAP.” Students who lose eligibility for FSA funds and would switch to the “not meeting UFA SAP” status will automatically be placed in a “Financial Aid Warning” status instead. The warning status extends students’ eligibility for FSA funds for one semester. If, after being in the “Financial Aid Warning” status for one semester, students are still not meeting both measurements, they will switch to “not meeting UFA SAP” and lose FSA eligibility. If students are meeting the minimum requirements after the one-semester warning status, they will switch to “meeting UFA SAP” and continue to receive FSA funds as eligible.
Students’ status as of the last UFA SAP review will be published on their My Financial Aid Portal. Students on aid whose status changes after the review will also receive an email notification letting them know about the change in their UFA SAP status.
Appeals are not considered. There is no probation period available for students. Student will be eligible for Title IV aid again once they are meeting both the qualitative and quantitative measures.