Federal Financial Aid

Federal regulations require students to maintain satisfactory academic progress toward the completion of their degree or certificate program in order to qualify for financial aid. This policy applies to any student entering or returning to NCC. A student’s entire academic record for the current degree or certificate program is reviewed even when a student was not a financial aid recipient during prior enrollment. College-approved academic restarts are not considered when computing financial aid for satisfactory academic progress. Only courses required for your current degree or certificate program are eligible for financial aid consideration. The following requirements must be met to determine eligibility for federal financial aid (grants, loans, and work-study):

Important Definitions

Attempted Credits

• All credits in which you were registered at the end of the add/drop period, including those with grades of F, W, WP, WF, N, I, NC, X including all attempts at repeated courses
• All earned credits (e.g. transfer credits, credits earned through prior learning, and PC grades)

*Special exception to completion rate calculations due to the COVID-19 Pandemic during Spring 2020:

The College will automatically exclude any courses from which the student has withdrawn during the Spring of 2020 due to COVID-19 from their completion rate calculation for the semester and will continue to exclude these semester withdrawals cumulatively in future academic progress evaluations. This only applies to COVID-19 related withdrawals after the date the president declared a national emergency: March 13, 2020, during the Spring 2020 semester.

Earned Credits

• Courses that you have completed and have earned credit for
• Repeated courses where credit has been earned (with a grade of D or more or PC) may only be counted once
• Transfer credits
• Credits earned through prior learning (e.g. challenge exams, portfolio assessment, or CLEP/Advanced Placement)

Audited (AU) classes are not considered attempted or earned and are not eligible for financial aid.

Criteria

I. Minimum earned credits (completion rate)

You must successfully complete sixty-seven percent (67%) of all credits attempted at NCC. *Refer to attempted credits

II. Minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA)

You must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average based on the total number of credits attempted including transfer credits.

III. Maximum Time Frame

For federal financial aid eligibility, students must complete their program within a maximum time frame not to exceed 150% of the length of the current degree or certificate. This includes all semesters of enrollment even if no aid was received. Once you attempt more than 150% of the credits that it normally takes to complete your current degree or certificate, you are no longer eligible for financial aid. Up to 30 credits of developmental courses (courses numbered below 100) and all English as a Second Language (ESL) coursework will be excluded from this calculation.

Example: