Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards

To remain at Knox, all degree-seeking students are expected to make satisfactory academic progress. Satisfactory progress is defined in terms of both the accumulation of credits toward the degree and the maintenance of a grade point average consistent with graduation requirements.

With regard to continuing eligibility for financial aid, the federal government requires that Knox define Satisfactory Academic Progress in the following way: students must maintain at least a 2.0 cumulative gradepoint average and be accumulating credit at the rate of at least 6 credits per 3 terms of enrollment, designed so that students earn at least the 36 credits required for graduation in 18 terms (which, consistent with the federally-mandated calculation, is 150% of the normal time of 12 terms). Courses graded S/U and ESL courses do count toward satisfactory progress. Transfer, summer study, and exam credits count toward the credit accumulation requirement, at the rate of 1/3 of a Knox term per Knox course credit. Satisfactory progress is reviewed by the Academic Standing Committee at the end of each year. Simply sitting out a term or paying for classes cannot allow the student to remove sanctions unless the conditions above for satisfactory progress are met.

Students not making Satisfactory Academic Progress at the end of the academic year will not be awarded financial aid in the subsequent year unless they submit a successful appeal to the Academic Standing Committee. Such an appeal must explain the circumstances that led to the unsatisfactory progress and present a plan for how the student will overcome those circumstances and return to Satisfactory Academic Progress within the next three terms of attendance. If the appeal is approved by the Committee, the student will be placed on "Financial Aid Probation" for the duration of the plan and may continue to receive financial aid. Failure to meet the requirements of the approved plan in each term until the end of that probationary period and achieve Satisfactory Academic Progress will result in the loss of further financial aid.

For purposes of determining satisfactory academic progress, terms in which a student receives all grades of W for reasons of verified illness or other conditions beyond the student's control may be excluded if the student successfully petitions the Academic Standing Committee.

For part-time students (i.e. enrolling in fewer than 2.5 courses per term), a term of partial enrollment counts as part of a term. Thus, each course credit for which the student enrolls counts for 1/3 of a term toward the satisfactory progress rule.