A complete appeal must include signatures from both student and academic adviser in all applicable areas, a written explanation of the circumstances that caused the student to fall below Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) standards, and official third-party documentation to support the explanation.
FAQs Related to Receiving Aid
Students on Probation SAP status will remain on Probation until they naturally meet SAP, graduate, or fail to meet the terms of their Probation SAP status. To stay on Probation SAP status students must show academic progress at the end of each semester. Specific terms of Probation will be sent in the student’s appeal approval email, but in general, to remain on Probation students must do the following each semester:
- Follow approved Academic Plan
- Raise completion ratio
- Raise GPA
Note: Failure to follow any terms of Probation will result in immediate termination of Probation status and status will revert to Not Meet. Students in this situation have the option to re-appeal but may not use the same reason provided in initial appeal approval and must address the circumstances that caused them to be unable to meet the terms of the Probation status.
Outcome will be determined and sent to the student via their UCF email address within 2-3 weeks of submission of a complete appeal.
Note: Incomplete submissions should expect a longer time frame as they will be pended until requested documentation is received. Once student submits all additional required documentation, outcome will be determined within 2-3 weeks from that time.
Students with approved SAP appeals will be placed on Probation SAP status. Students on Probation are eligible to receive financial aid only for coursework that is required for completion of their degree program. Please allow 7-10 business days from the date of approval for your aid eligibility to be reviewed and placed on your account.
Students with a denial outcome will receive the specified reason for the decision in their denial outcome email. Students have the option to re-appeal a denied outcome with a maximum of three appeal submissions per semester. Please keep in mind that a re-appeal without new information or documentation from the original denial will not be accepted.
Students who do not wish to re-appeal or have their re-appeal(s) denied will need to seek alternative payment methods that do not require them to meet SAP until they either meet SAP again naturally or graduate, whichever occurs first.
You can review whether your appeal has been received on your myUCF Student Self Service Center by selecting the “View Financial Aid Status” link. The SAP appeal is listed as “Petition for Reinstatement” on this screen and will show as Pending once received.
Pay out of pocket:
- The Office of Student Accounts can be contacted for information on payment plans studentaccounts.ucf.edu.
Private aid that does not require SAP:
- Private Scholarships
- Private Loans
Completion awards:
- Students who are nearing graduation may be eligible for additional funding through the Registrar’s Office registrar.ucf.edu/completion-grant/kggi/. Please note: To qualify for these awards students must go through the SAP appeal process first and receive a denial outcome.
Acceptable supporting documentation must verify the circumstance described and correlate the circumstance with the term(s) of unsuccessful coursework. Documentation must also be provided by an official third party.
Examples of acceptable documentation include:
- Medical records
- Police records
- Signed letter on official letterhead from a therapist, counselor, member of religious organization, or other person with professional relationship to student who was aware of circumstance
Examples of unacceptable documentation include:
- Letter from family and/or friends
- Pictures
Outcome will be determined and sent to the student via their UCF email address within 2-3 weeks of submission of a complete appeal. Note: Incomplete submissions should expect a longer time frame as they will be pended until requested documentation is received. Once student submits all additional required documentation, outcome will be determined within 2-3 weeks from that time.
If your appeal submission is incomplete, you will be sent an email notification to your UCF email account detailing what we are missing. We will also place a SAP Appeal Pending item on the To Do list on your myUCF Student Self Service Center.
Examples of why an appeal may be pending:
- Missing signatures
- No explanation or explanation doesn’t address term(s) in question
- No documentation provided
Note: If pending items are not received within 45 days of initial request the appeal will be cancelled due to inactivity.