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Class GradeCALCULATOR

SAP calculator

For federal student aid, your pace is the credits you completed ÷ the credits you attempted, and an undergraduate program must fit within at most 150% of its credits. Your school sets the pace and GPA minimums; enter them with your credits to see where you stand and what next term can hold.

Your credits and your school’s minimums

Example: 36 of 45 credits completed, a 67% pace minimum. Type your own numbers over them, or

Your credits so far

Credits accepted from another school go in both boxes.

Your school’s SAP policy
Optional

Example: pace of completion

80.0%

36 completed ÷ 45 attempted = 80.0%.

At or above your school’s 67% minimum.

Next term, 15 credits: pass them all and your pace is 85.0%. You could leave up to 10 credits of them uncompleted and stay at or above 67%; your school’s policy says whether a W, an F, an incomplete or a repeat counts as uncompleted.

Your 150% maximum timeframe is 180 credits attempted. You have attempted 45, so 135 credits are left, and you need 84 more credits to finish: at today’s pace that takes about 105 credits, within it.

GPA 2.40: at or above your school’s 2.00 minimum.

Your school’s aid office decides whether you keep federal aid; this compares your numbers with the minimums you entered.

The federal rule checked in 34 CFR 668.34 on . Your school’s policy and its aid office decide your status.

How pace and the maximum timeframe work

  1. Pace: the credits you successfully completed ÷ the credits you attempted, both counted from your first term. The federal rule also lets a school count instead the credits you should have completed by now; this page divides, as the rule’s first method does.
  2. Your school sets the minimum pace and the GPA you must reach at each evaluation, and checks them at least once a year. Its policy says how a W, an F, an incomplete, a repeat or a remedial course counts; credits accepted from another school count as both attempted and completed.
  3. Maximum timeframe: for an undergraduate program counted in credits, at most 150% of its published length, so a 120-credit degree allows up to 180 attempted credits. The two numbers fit together: completing two thirds (67%) of 180 attempted credits is the 120 the degree needs, so a pace below that can’t finish inside 150%. A school can set less. A graduate program’s timeframe is the school’s own.
  4. To catch up, the credits to pass in a row are the smallest x with (completed + x) ÷ (attempted + x) at or above the minimum.

A worked example

36 credits completed of 45 attempted is 36 ÷ 45 = 80.0%, above a 67% minimum. A 120-credit program allows 180 attempted credits; 84 are still needed, which at 80% takes about 84 ÷ 0.8 = 105 attempted credits, within the 135 left.

Next term, 15 credits: pass them all and the pace is 51 ÷ 60 = 85.0%. To stay at or above 67% you need at least 0.67 × 60 = 40.2 completed, so up to 10 of the 15 could go uncompleted.

If you fall below

Under the federal rule, a student who misses the GPA or the pace at an evaluation can no longer get federal aid, unless the school gives a warning term first or accepts an appeal. An appeal can rest on the death of a relative, an injury or illness, or other special circumstances, and says what has changed. Your school’s policy names its steps; its aid office decides.

Other calculators

Your GPA from courses and credits: the college GPA calculator, with a target-GPA planner for your next credits. What a GPA means and the lines schools set: the GPA guide.

Sources: US Code of Federal Regulations, 34 CFR 668.34, Satisfactory academic progress.