Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

Satisfactory Academic Progress For Financial Aid Recipients

CSUDH is required by federal law to establish, publish, and apply reasonable standards for measuring whether a student is maintaining satisfactory academic progress toward a degree objective, and to ensure progress toward the degree for all periods of enrollment, whether or not the student has received financial aid. These standards are applicable to all financial aid recipients at CSUDH and affect eligibility for all federal and state aid, including grants, student loans, and work-study.

CSUDH grade point average is monitored each semester based on a students' degree objective as listed below:

Degree Objective-Specific Minimum CSUDH GPA
  • Doctoral, Masters: 3.0
  • Credential: 2.5
  • Undergraduates:
    Junior/Senior (60+ units): 2.0
    Sophomore (30-59 units): 1.8
    First-Year student (0-29 units): 1.5
Completion of 75% of Attempted Units with Passing Grades

Students must complete at least 75% of the units attempted with a passing grade of A, B, C, D, I, CR, or RP (report in progress). For example, a student who enrolls in 12 units for a semester must complete at least 9 units (12 x .75 = 9). Non-passing grades of F, IC, NC, W, WU, RD and AU will lower a student's completion rate.

Eligibility Limit - Unit Cap

Students must complete their program within 150% of their program's required units. For example, a student in a 120-unit program must receive his/her degree within 180 units. All graded coursework will be counted, including transfer units, repeats, and withdrawals. Up to 30 remedial units may be excluded. Courses with grades of RD (report delayed) or RP (report in progress) will be considered as completed units until a final grade is determined.

Financial Aid Warning

Students will be placed on warning status (can receive aid) at the end of the semester if the following applies:

  • Completion rate of attempted units with passing grades falls between 50% and 74%.
Financial Aid Disqualification

Students will be disqualified from receiving financial aid if any of the following applies:

  • Student completes fewer than 50% of their attempted units with passing grades in any semester
  • Student fails to complete their program within 150% of their degree program required units
  • CSUDH grade point average falls below the required level based on academic standing
Financial Aid Appeal

Students who become disqualified from receiving financial aid will be notified on their ToroMail account and will be required to complete and submit an SAP Appeal Form by the deadline provided in the email notification. Appeals will be evaluated based on the student's extenuating circumstances. If approved, students will be placed on a Financial Aid Academic Plan, which will establish the conditions that a student must meet for continued eligibility. Students are notified of the specific conditions via their campus email account. At the end of the semester, the Financial Aid Office will review that the specific conditions for continued aid eligibility have been met. If the specified conditions are not met, the student is ineligible for continued aid and is not eligible to submit an SAP Appeal. The student will be notified via their campus email account how they can regain their aid eligibility.

Regaining Eligibility

Students who are disqualified due to low GPA or low unit completion will regain financial aid eligibility once they achieve the required GPA or unit completion as long as they have not completed more than 150% of their program requirements. Undergraduate students who are disqualified due to exceeding the 150% of the required units for their program will regain eligibility after they become a master's or credential student after their bachelor's degree is posted. Students who meet this condition before the spring semester may submit an SAP Appeal Form to request their eligibility be reinstated, otherwise progress will be reviewed after spring grades have posted.

Contact the Financial Aid Office

If you have any questions about financial aid, just contact us. We're here to help.

What Does SAP Stand For? and More (Video)

The link below takes you to our Financial Aid Basics video page, where you can find answers to lots of common questions regarding SAP and Financial Aid.

What does SAP stand for?