The Distance Education Demonstration Program has received new regulations for
the distribution and allocation of federal financial aid funds. These guidelines
require strict adherence to the dates noted below:
To be eligible to receive federal financial aid for Independent Study courses, students must
fulfill the following:
- Be a regularly admitted day school student enrolled in at least one-half (.5) credit on-site to receive federal financial aid
for Independent Study courses.
- Register and pay for Independent Study courses between the first day of class
and the Add Deadline. Courses purchased before or after this period cannot be covered
by federal financial aid. There are no exceptions.
- Notify the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office via VIP
or by calling (801) 422-4104 after purchasing the Independent Study courses.
- Complete courses by the Last Day of Fall Finals. Courses not
completed by this date will receive a failing grade.2
Note also the following restrictions:
- Students cannot be paid for more than 6 credit hours of Independent Study
courses in any semester.
- Students with fewer than 6 credit hours of Independent Study courses cannot
be paid for more Independent Study credit hours than their regular day/evening
credit hours for Fall Semester.
- Financial aid disbursements for Independent Study courses will only be made
after each student's on-site registration is confirmed after the Add Deadline of
the applicable semester, term, or block.
- Students who do not submit at least one lesson for each Independent Study course
covered by federal financial aid will be required to repay all financial aid received
for the course.
Important Deadlines:
1 Courses purchased outside of this timeframe cannot be covered by federal
financial aid. There are no exceptions.
2 In unusual circumstances, students may be able to petition to receive an
Incomplete grade rather than a failing grade (under guidelines established by the Records
and Registration Petitions Office).
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
Students must be meeting
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) criteria in order to receive federal
financial aid. The federal government requires the following three measures of
SAP: GPA, rate of progress and non-progress, and total hours:
GPA
Students on
academic probation at the end of an enrollment period will not be eligible for
federal financial aid for the following semester or term. Academic probation
normally occurs when a student has two consecutive enrollments with a GPA below
2.0 or when a student's cumulative BYU GPA falls below 2.0.
Rate of Progress and Non-progress
Students who fail
to successfully complete 70% of their attempted credit hours during their
university enrollment will not be eligible for federal financial aid for the
following academic year. For federal financial aid purposes, the following are considered
to be non-progress grades: E, I, IE, NS, UW, W, and WE. Once a student
accumulates 40 hours or more of non-progress credits, the Financial
Aid and Scholarships Office may ask that he or she meet with a financial aid counselor
to evaluate the student’s rate of progress.
Note that repeated courses are counted as
non-progress courses. Students should consult a financial aid counselor before
attempting to retake a large number of classes if they are going to apply for
federal financial aid now or in the future.
Total Hours
A student must
complete graduation requirements within 150% of the required credit
hours. Generally, undergraduate students who exceed 180 total attempted credit
hours are ineligible for federal financial aid. Total attempted credit hours
are evaluated at the end of each enrollment. Total hours include all attempted
hours at BYU, including non-progress hours: E, I, IE, NS, UW, W, and WE.
SAP status is monitored for each
enrollment period. Although a student may be awarded federal financial aid,
such aid may be subsequently withdrawn because of failure to maintain SAP. The
Financial Aid and Scholarships Office will attempt to notify students of their
status and provide warning notices. A complete explanation of BYU’s SAP policy can
be found at BYU's Financial Aid Website.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
[PDF - Things You Need to Know about Federal Financial Aid for Distance Educational]
[PDF - Letter to Previous Distance Education Students]
