The allowance for mitigating circumstances should not be looked upon by students or the appeals committee as a means of setting aside progress standards, but rather as a method for consideration of defi nite and legitimate circumstances which make the failure to meet the criteria humanely understandable and allow the student to continue to receive aid on a probationary basis. The arrival by the committee or the director at a conclusion of mitigating circumstances must be clearly stated in the record and must fall within the purview of one of the above conditions.
Students will not be allowed to abuse their financial aid privileges by continuing to claim mitigating circumstances when there is insufficient evidence thereof and when an optimistic projection for future progress appears doubtful or inappropriate.
As the committee (or in some cases the Director of Financial Aid) reviews the individual cases of students not meeting the satisfactory progress standards as stated, certain options are open to them in disposition of these cases. Essentially, the options are as follows:
A. Disallowance of the appeal on grounds of mitigating circumstances and denial of financial aid during the student’s next or further enrollment periods.
B. Acceptance of the declaration and supporting indications of mitigating circumstances and allowance of aid eligibility for the next ensuing enrollment period on a probationary basis. During the probationary period, the committee may choose to restrict the number of credit hours that will be funded with Title IV Aid or may choose to restrict eligibility to exclude certain types of Title IV Aid.
C. Deferment of a decision or recommendation pending the collection of additional information and/or indicators, then taking one of the two previous actions at a later time within these and any applicable federal guidelines.

Standards of Satisfactory Progress

A. During a regular semester a full-time student must complete a minimum of twelve (12) semester hours or 75 percent of the course credit hours of initial enrollment upon which fi nancial aid calculations were based with an average grade of “C” (2.00).

B. During a regular semester or a summer session a part-time student must complete no less than 75 percent of the number of credit hours in which he/she was initially enrolled (and upon which the level of award was based) with an average grade of “C” (2.00). However, because of the awkwardness of a percentage application to limited enrollments, a student who has met the 75 percent completion and 2.00 grade-point requirement cumulatively for the last two enrollment periods will be considered to have met this criterion

C. During a summer session a full-time student must complete a minimum of six (6) semester hours or 75 percent of the course credit hours of initial enrollment upon which aid was based, with an average grade of “C” (2.00), or meet the 75 percent criterion cumulating for the last two enrollment periods as indicated in subsection B for part-time students.

D. As required by federal regulations, the student must have a 2.00 cumulative GPA at the end of the second year of attendance (48 credit hours).

E. Students are expected to complete the requirements for an associate degree within 150 percent of the published length of the program. This standard will be applied using credit hours; thus, for a 62-hour program the maximum time frame allowed is 93 credit hours. For a 70-hour program the maximum length allowed is 105 credit hours. All withdrawals, audits and failed courses will be counted toward fulfi lment of this maximum time length. An evaluation of cumulative progress toward goal completion within these frames will be made at the beginning of each award year or after three (3) semesters (or equivalent) for the full-time student and six 6) semesters for the part-time student and any period hereafter deemed appropriate by the Director of Financial Aid. For transfer students, hours attempted at the previous institution(s) will be considered in this evaluation.

Students who fail to meet the criteria outlined above will be placed either on fi nancial aid probation or suspension. They will be notified of the action taken by means of a letter. Federal regulations allow the institution to make exceptions from its criteria for mitigating circumstances. The college’s normal procedure is that all students who do not meet these criteria and claim mitigating circumstances shall provide a written appeal and documentation to the Financial Aid Appeals Committee, although the Director of Financial Aid is authorized to apply the above criteria and to make decisions on appeals without convening the committee. The following conditions may be viewed as mitigating circumstances meriting some special consideration:

A. Personal and/or family emotional trauma, whatever its nature, impacting upon ability to perform.
B. Severe social problems in adjusting to college life, independence and self direction, which now appear to have been corrected through maturity and social growth.
C. Absence from class (or withdrawal from courses) because of illness or accidental injury to self or immediate family.
D. Redirection of academic goals when such is assisted by counselors or other professional staff with an optimistic projection for future progress.
E. Discovery of academic deficiencies in basic tool or pre-requisite disciplines, when such is countered by current enrollments and/or specific plans for remediation of these defi ciencies.
F. Other conditions which in the view of the committee or director placed the student under a discernible handicap in academic performance.