Students receiving financial aid must maintain Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress (FASAP). The Financial Aid Office at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College monitors a student’s academic progress as a condition of eligibility when the student applies for financial aid at A-B Tech for the first time and at the end of each spring semester if the student received aid disbursements since the last annual calculation. These requirements are applied to a student’s entire academic history at A-B Tech, including transfer hours from other schools that apply to the student’s program and including periods when financial aid was not received (e.g., courses are taken through A-B Tech in high school). A student is considered to be making Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress when the following three requirements are satisfied:
- Qualitative Standard (Cumulative Grade Point Average) – A student must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.0.
- Quantitative Standard (Completion Rate) – A student must maintain a minimum cumulative completion rate of 50% between 1-29 completed hours. A student must maintain a minimum cumulative completion rate of 67% with 30+ completed hours.
- Maximum Timeframe – A student must successfully complete the program of study within its timeframe. Federal regulations specify that the timeframe may not exceed 150% of the published length of the program. When students exceed the timeframe for their programs of study, they are no longer eligible to receive financial aid. However, students can submit an appeal to the Financial Aid Appeals Committee to have their eligibility extended if there are extenuating circumstances.
Monitoring FASAP occurs once annually after the spring semester. The exception to this is if a student is only in a certificate or diploma program that requires one year or less to complete. Those individuals will be calculated after each semester.
Every course attempted with a final grade or transferred into the College will be factored into the SAP calculation, including developmental courses. Students may only receive financial aid for a maximum of 30 credit hours of attempted developmental courses. Transferred credits will be calculated into the student's completion rate, but will not affect the institutional cumulative grade point average (GPA). Transfer courses may be deducted from the maximum timeframe calculation if they do not count towards the student's current program of study; however, courses cannot be deducted if they are considered a prerequisite for a course in the program.
- Passing grades are: A, B, C, D, P, P1, P2
- Failing grades are: F and R
- Courses attempted but not completed are: I and W
- Courses transferred from another institution are courses attempted and completed, but carry no weight in the GPA are: T, TR
Students may repeat a course until it is completed with a passing grade; however, each attempt is factored into the FASAP Calculation.
At the end of the spring semester, the College will check the FASAP of all students who received Title IV aid over the past year and since the last annual calculation. Students will enter one of the following statuses after the calculation:
- Satisfactory – The student is meeting the above-listed terms and remains eligible for aid.
- Suspension – The abovementioned terms have not been met, and eligibility has been lost (Students in this category are eligible for appeal)
- Continued Probation – Students who have appealed and have met the terms of probation but have not reestablished FASAP conditions
- Termination – The student was on a probation plan and failed to meet the terms of the probation (Students in this category are not eligible for appeal)
Students will receive an email to their student email account and a banner notification in their student self-service portal notifying them of their standing immediately after the FASAP calculation has been completed.
Students in a suspension status are eligible to appeal. A successful appeal will outline the mitigating circumstances that prevented the student from being successful with documentation that supports the student’s claim from an official source (doctor’s office, counselor, or other professional). Documentation submitted by a friend or parent is not acceptable. Once this portion of the process is reviewed, and if the student's appeal is approved, the student is referred to a counselor to establish a success plan that will help the student reenter FASAP as quickly as possible. Once this plan is approved by the Financial Aid Office, the student is moved to a Probation status for the next scheduled semester. The student is required to attend that term. If they do not, the account is reverted to a suspension status, and the student is eligible to appeal again.
Acceptable Appeal Reasons
When submitting an appeal for satisfactory academic progress purposes, the student will be asked to detail any extenuating circumstance(s) that prevented them from successfully completing any failed or withdrawn courses taken at the institution. An extenuating circumstance is defined as a situation that is/was unexpected or outside of the student's control, such as a severe illness or injury; a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, divorce, or an assault; family emergencies; and military orders or involuntary lay-off/furlough/unemployment.
| Circumstance | Examples of Supporting Documentation |
| Personal physical or mental health illness, personal injury or accident, hospitalization, etc. | Signed and dated letter from physician/provider/counselor on provider's letterhead, accident report, hospital billing, or discharge statement |
| Death of a family member or a significant person in the student's life | Copy of death certificate or obituary |
| Illness, accident, or injury of a family member or significant person in the student's life | Physician's statement confirming the patient was in their care during the time period in question (does not disclose medical history or diagnoses), accident report, and hospital billing statement |
| Personal divorce or divorce of parents (dependent students) | Divorce decree or statement from attorney on law firm's letterhead |
| Involuntary employment changes | Separation statement/employment change confirmation from the employer on the company's letterhead, military orders, etc. |
| Additional degree program or change of program (Maximum Timeframe only) | Detailed explanation for degree change or addition, a copy of the program evaluation, and confirmation of credit hours/courses remaining from program advisor |
Circumstances that will not be considered extenuating by the Appeal Committee include, but are not limited to, lack of maturity, lack of effort, heavy or difficult course load, work-life balance difficulties, instructor incompatibility, lack of transportation, technology issues, textbook concerns, and voluntary changes to job or course schedule. The Appeal Committee will not review or approve an appeal with insufficient reasoning or documentation. The student's FAFSA must be on file with the institution and completed for verification before an appeal will be reviewed and decided. The Appeal Committee's decision is final. Students may only submit one FASAP Appeal Request per academic year.