The U.S. Department of Education requires institutions of higher education to establish minimum standards of satisfactory academic progress for students receiving federal student financial assistance. Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) means the student is proceeding in a positive manner toward fulfilling degree requirements. SAP includes two standards; qualitative and quantitative. Students must meet both standards to continue receiving financial aid. Failure to maintain SAP, as described below, will result in cancellation of financial aid awards, and the student may have to repay any funds already received.
Qualitative
In order to remain eligible a student must achieve the academic standing necessary to pursue in his program at Université de Montréal, HEC Montréal or École Polytechnique. The Financial Aid Office - FAO (Bureau de l’aide financière) will review a student’s SAP before the delivery of each disbursement and conduct a review at the end of each trimester based on the grade scale to determine whether or not the student progresses toward obtaining a degree. The FAO does not make judgment on the satisfactory results but refers to the academic grade scale. At Université de Montréal, an undergraduate student must normally maintain a 2.0 GPA to remain enrolled in the program and to continue to receive aid through the Direct Loan program. A graduate student must normally maintain a 2.7 GPA to remain enrolled in the program and to continue to receive aid through the Direct Loan program. Withdrawals and incompletes are not included in the overall grade average. Students must complete all required courses by the end of the degree. When a student repeats a course and achieves a passing grade, the original grade will then be replaced in the grade average. All students on initial entry to the university are in good standing.
At HEC Montréal and Polytechnique Montréal, students must refer to their schools regulations. These students must regularly provide the FAO with their last transcripts, in order to review their SAP. In some cases, the FAO may double check this information with his counterpart.
At UdeM : To know the program requirements, students must check with their Department. The academic regulations regarding the standards of success and program progression for undergraduate studies are available at: http://www.etudes.umontreal.ca/reglements/ReglEtud1erCyc.html#Point12
For graduate studies, regulations are available at: http://www.etudes.umontreal.ca/reglements/fes_RegPed.pdf
Quantitative
Undergraduate students must be enrolled for a minimum of 12 credits during the trimester to be considered full time. Half-time enrollment is 6 credits. Graduate students can be registered full-time, half-time or part time (for a minimum of 6 credits), regarding their status in the program. That status is set by each Department in accordance with the program progression and the Department’s regulations.
In order to meet the quantitative standard, students must complete and pass a minimum of 67% of courses attempted each academic year. The minimum and normal time frame for a program completion is indicated on the program description. The maximum time frame permitted for graduate studies is indicated in the regulation (see link above).
Financial aid will be disbursed 5 working days after the course cancellation deadline specific to each Department (see Department calendar). Students who withdraw after that will have their eligibility to retain part of their financial aid calculated on the percentage of the trimester attended. Students who attend more than 60% of the term may retain all of their aid. See the section on Return to Title IV (R2T4).
Abandon and Annulation
Course cancellation (« annulation d’inscription ») can only be made before the deadline determined by the university’s academic calendar, usually 2 weeks after the beginning of the trimester. The cancellation results in a cancellation of tuition fees. The student who cancels his registration becomes ineligible for Federal Student Aid.
Abandon des cours, is a withdrawal with tuition fees remaining. The student is still considered full-time registered even if he has opted out all his courses. To maintain eligibility to financial aid with abandon for all his courses of the trimester, the student would have to submit a justification to the FAO. All abandon will be taken in consideration when assessing the quantitative standard of our SAP policy. Abandon must be made one month prior to the end of the trimester.
http://www.etudes.umontreal.ca/payer-etudes/abandon-cours.html
Deadlines for Abandon and Annulation for graduate studies are available on the FESP regulations:
http://www.etudes.umontreal.ca/reglements/etudes_superieuresPostdoc.html
A student who is re-admitted to his program may apply for financial aid as soon as he is registered back in the program.
Transfer Students
Transfer students’ transcripts will be evaluated by the Program Director. Those courses which are applicable to the degree requirement will be accepted and will be used to measure the quantitative SAP requirement. Only those grades earned at our institution will be used to compute the qualitative requirements.
Change of Program or Degree
Students who decide to change their degree will be evaluated similarly to Transfer Students with the exception that the grades previously earned at our university will be used to measure the qualitative requirements.
Concurrent Degrees
Although it is unlikely to occur, students may pursue two degrees concurrently. They are charged the tuition for each program and the Cost of Attendance (COA) for one degree will be adjusted to reflect both tuition charges. Students must meet the Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements for both programs to retain eligibility. The two sets of courses will be viewed as one program. Loans will be processed to the maximum yearly eligibility for that student.
Additional Degrees
Students who have completed a graduate degree program and wish to pursue another degree must apply for admission to that program as would any other applicant and meet the admission requirements for the new program. Federal loan eligibility will be limited to the aggregate program maximums under Federal Regulations.
Service(s)
Bureau de l'aide financière