Debbie Raucher
But according to experts gathered at a virtual webinar hosted by The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice, financial aid safeguards have created barriers to success, and increased melt and dropout rates for those students most in need of support.
Debbie Raucher, director of education at John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY), a California-based organization that focuses on students who have experienced homelessness or were part of the foster care system, said that she's heard concerns about the undue burdens of the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) qualifier for financial aid.
While some SAP qualifications may vary by state and institution, the general expectation of meeting SAP is a minimum GPA (usually 2.0 or higher), completing the required number of courses, and staying on track to completion by, at most, 150% of the published projected length of a student’s program.
“If a student doesn’t make SAP for one academic year, or two consecutive terms, they lose eligibility for future federal financial aid,” said Raucher.
That loss of eligibility stays with the student, whether they drop out or stop out, and even if they chose to return to school at a later time. While students can appeal an SAP failure, appeal requirements can be complicated. As an example, should a student wish to appeal due to hardships experienced after the death of a family member, some institutions or states require death certificates as proof.
To find evidence behind the anecdotes, JBAY studied the student success rate at the California Community College system (CCC), the biggest system of higher education in the U.S., serving two million students every year. According to JBAY’s study, 24% of students fail to make SAP in their first year. Disaggregated, the data reveal a disproportionate effect on Latinx, Native American, Black, and foster youth. Thirty-four percent (34%) of Black and foster students fail SAP.
