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Financial Aid Requirements and Appeals

In order to keep receiving your financial aid, you must stay in good academic standing, and maintain "satisfactory academic progress." Here are the requirements for satisfactory academic progress:

Completion Requirement

You must have earned hours equal to at least 67% of the total hours attempted for the enrollment period to remain in good standing. Students not earning 67% of the hours attempted will be placed on immediate denial status for future financial aid consideration.

Attempted hours are defined as the hours for which the student is enrolled and charged tuition (10th day of the semester). Earned hours are defined as the sum of hours for which a student has earned a grade of A,B,C or D. Withdrawals, incompletes, audits, no-credit, repeats and failures are not earned hours.

Grade Point Average (GPA) Requirements

Financial aid recipients must maintain the following cumulative grade point averages in order to meet satisfactory progress requirements:

Minimum GPA requirements
Cumulative Hours Earned Minimum Cumulative GPA
1-16 1.50
17-32 1.70
33-48 1.85
49+ 2.0

Maximum Time Limit Requirements

Your eligibility for financial aid will be terminated at the point where 96 credit hours have been attempted for the associate degree and, for a certificate, when 150% of the total hours required, as stated in the College catalog, have been attempted. Hours attempted are the sum of all Heartland Community College hours for which tuition was charged (10th day enrollment) whether or not financial aid was received.

Denial Status

Denial status will prevent you from receiving any financial assistance until satisfactory academic progress is achieved.

Repeat Credit Hours

If you fail a class, financial aid will cover the cost of tuition and fees for a maximum of one repeat attempt of any given course. You must pay tuition and fee costs for repeat attempts of two or more.

Developmental Courses

Financial Aid will cover the cost of tuition and fees for a maximum of 30 hours of developmental course work. Developmental course work is defined as any course that is below the 100 level courses.

Appeal and Reinstatement

You may appeal your denial status by submitting a written request to the Financial Aid Appeals Committee. The appeal must include an explanation of exceptional circumstances that prevented you from meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards, as well as documentation to support the appeal. The following may be considered:

  • Medical problems
  • Serious illness
  • Death of a family member
  • Relocation or employment

The deadline for appealing for satisfactory academic process denial status is the day before classes begin each semester. Appeals received after this day will not be considered until the next semester.

The Committee will review the appeal and provide a written explanation of the decision to you. If this decision is not satisfactory, you may appeal to the Dean of Student Services for further review.

If the decision of the Dean is not satisfactory, you have the right to appeal the decision to the Vice President of instruction. The Vice President's decision on the appeal will be final.

The policy does not prevent a student from enrolling in following semesters and having financial aid reinstated by the Financial Aid Office once all progress standards are met.