Satisfactory Academic Progress

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• Satisfactory Academic Progress Criteria
• Review Policies
• Academic Progress Waiver Provisions

As an undergraduate or graduate student, your academic progress is reviewed at the end of each spring semester. You must meet the following satisfactory academic progress (SAP) requirements to receive financial aid for any subsequent semester from any of the following federal or institutional aid programs:

• Recipients of Poly Merit Scholarships must meet stricter requirements as stated in your scholarship agreement.
• New York State Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) has separate satisfactory academic progress requirements. This information is available on the HESC website. 

Satisfactory Academic Progress Criteria

Satisfactory academic progress has two-fold criteria. Students must have a certain cumulative grade point average (GPA) and must be progressing at an appropriate pace to graduate within the federal guidelines.  A Student is considered to be making Satisfactory Academic Progress if the student meets the criteria below:

Undergraduate

** A student is no longer eligible for financial aid if attended full-time for 6 years. 

Graduate

Review Policies

• The cumulative grade point average is the average of all grade points received for all courses taken during all semester NYU-Poly
• The following will be considered as credits attempted and passed:
  • "A" through "D" grades
  • "P" passing with credit
  • Transfer credits accepted toward the current degree program
• The following will be considered as credits attempted but not passed:
  • "F" Grades
  • "W" Withdrawal
  • "I-F" Incomplete failure
  • "I" Incomplete
  • Credits from courses that have been repeated
• The following will not be considered as credits attempted or passed:
  • Audited courses

In the event that a student fails to meet any of the criteria as indicated in the Table the student will be considered to be making unsatisfactory academic progress.  All Federal and Poly aid for future semesters is canceled.

Repeated Courses

All courses taken at Polytechnic Institute of NYU are counted as attempted credits even if they have been taken again.  If a student fails a course and then repeats it in a subsequent semester and receives a passing grade, the credits for the first time the course was taken are counted attempted but not passed and the credits for the second time are counted as attempted and passed.

Withdrawals

All courses that a student has started at Polytechnic Institute of NYU are counted as attempted.  Courses from which a student has withdrawn count as attempted but not passed even though they do not figure into the calculation of the GPA.

Resuming Students

All course work toward a particular degree program at Polytechnic Institute of NYU is counted when determining whether a student is making satisfactory academic progress even if the student has taken time off from attending the university.

Academic Progress Waiver Provisions

A student who is not making satisfactory academic progress may request a one-time waiver of these requirements.  Waivers are granted only in cases where the student has demonstrated that the academic progress criteria were not met due to extraordinary circumstances occurring in the student’s life, generally beyond his/her control.

Extraordinary circumstances include:

• Severe and long term illness or injury to the student making the successful completion of courses that had been started a physical impossibility or hardship
• Death of an immediate family member that creates serious emotional stress or, in some cases, serious financial stress or uncertainty
• Serious emotional distress as a result of mistreatment (e.g. physical abuse or being the victim of a violent crime)

Circumstances that, generally, do not warrant an academic progress waiver include:

• Not liking the course or professor
• Being too busy at work
• Deciding after the semester starts to take some time off

An academic progress waiver may only be used once, so it’s use should be carefully considered and timed. During the waiver period, you must make up your academic progress deficiency. If a waiver is granted, you will be given a maximum of 2 semesters to achieve satisfactory academic progress.

A waiver may be granted ONLY when the following conditions are met:

1. Detailed documentation must be provided to verify the extraordinary circumstances that warrant the waiver. The documentation must include an explanation of how these circumstances resulted in the loss of satisfactory academic progress and why these circumstances are not expected to cause further problems.
2. Based on documentation and your academic record, there must be a reasonable expectation that all future academic requirements will be met.
3. Student must agree to and sign an academic plan that will lead to him/her making academic progress within the required time frame.

Please Note: Appeals to the Academic Affairs Department to continue studies do not automatically qualify you for a Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress Waiver. You must submit a separate appeal to each department.

A student who believes that he/she has grounds for an academic progress waiver for financial aid should send a letter with qualifying documentation to the Financial Aid Director.