Satisfactory Academic Progress - Financial Aid

To be eligible to receive Financial Aid, which includes funds from federal, state, and institutional programs, students must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) is required by the U.S. Department of Education to establish minimum standards of SAP, which means the student is progressing in a positive manner toward graduation. SAP is calculated each semester and includes all periods of the student’s enrollment, including periods in which the student does not receive financial aid funds.

Satisfactory Academic Progress

Students attending ECSU must be in good academic standing and making satisfactory progress with a minimum grade point average (GPA) and completion rate in accordance with the maximum time frame, as stated below.

All students who wish to qualify for financial aid must meet three standards known as SAP.  These standards include:

Grade Point Average (Qualitative)

If a student’s GPA falls below the required minimum cumulative GPA (2.0 for Undergraduate students, 3.0 for Graduate students), his or her eligibility to receive financial aid will be in jeopardy. 

A student will be placed on financial aid warning for the semester following the semester the student fails to earn the required minimum cumulative GPA. The student has the next semester of attendance to earn the required minimum cumulative GPA. The student may receive financial aid while on financial aid warning. 

At the end of the warning semester, if the required minimum cumulative GPA is met, the student is taken off financial aid warning. If the required minimum cumulative GPA is not achieved, then the student will be put on financial aid suspension during the next semester of attendance. The student will not receive financial aid assistance while on financial aid suspension. 

Transfer credits are not included in the computation of the cumulative GPA for financial aid unless the credit was earned while attending other schools as a Transient Student, a student taking classes at another institution as an ECSU student.