Satisfactory academic progress guidelines are instituted to ensure that students are making progress toward meeting graduation requirements. To make satisfactory academic progress, a student must (1) achieve a minimum semester and cumulative grade point average during each semester of full-time enrollment (qualitative progress) and (2) successfully complete a minimum number of credit hours each semester (quantitative progress). Based on his or her academic performance each semester, a student will be considered at one of the following levels: good academic standing, academic warning, academic probation, academic suspension, or academic dismissal. In order to maintain eligibility for federal financial aid, a student must maintain satisfactory academic progress; recipients of federal financial aid who maintain satisfactory academic progress may receive assistance for as many as twelve semesters, depending on the specific parameters for each federal financial aid program. A student’s academic standing affects his or her financial aid eligibility, as explained below.

Good Academic Standing
Each semester, to be considered in good academic standing, a student must achieve minimum grade point averages and earn a minimum cumulative number of credit hours. The requirements for the first four semesters of enrollment at OVU are shown in the chart below.
Semester at OVU     Min. Semester GPA     Min. Cumulative GPA     Min. # Credit Hrs Earned (Cum)
First                         1.6                        1.6                            9
Second                     1.8                        1.7                         19
Third                        1.9                         1.9                          29
Fourth                      2.0                        2.0                         40

To remain in good academic standing during the fifth semester of enrollment at OVU and each subsequent semester, a student must earn a minimum GPA of 2.0 and successfully complete at least 12 credit hours. If a student in good standing does not make satisfactory academic progress, he or she will be placed on either academic warning or academic probation, as explained below.

Academic Warning
If a student in good academic standing fails to achieve either the minimum GPA requirements or fails to earn the minimum number of credit hours required, he or she will be placed on academic warning. (However, if a student in good academic standing earns a semester GPA below 1.0, he or she will be placed on academic probation, not warning.) Students on warning may be limited in the number and/or variety of extracurricular activities in which they may participate and the work-study jobs to which they may be assigned. Also, a student on academic warning will be placed on warning for financial aid eligibility.

If a student on warning earns the required minimum GPA and minimum number of credit hours, he or she will be returned to good academic standing. If a student on warning does not make satisfactory academic progress, he or she will be placed on either academic probation or academic suspension, as explained below.

Academic Probation
If a student on academic warning fails to achieve either the minimum semester or cumulative GPA requirements or fails to earn the minimum number of credit hours required, he or she will be placed on either academic probation or academic suspension. If the student’s semester GPA is below 1.0, the status will be academic suspension; otherwise, the status will be academic probation. In addition, a student in good academic standing who earns a semester GPA below 1.0 will be placed on academic probation.

Students on academic probation may be limited in the number and/or variety of extracurricular activities in which they may participate and the work-study jobs to which they may be assigned. Furthermore, as the purpose of probation is to encourage students to concentrate on their studies to avoid suspension, a student on probation may not hold an elective campus office, may not represent Ohio Valley University in public functions off campus unrelated to an academic course, and may not compete in intercollegiate athletics. Students on probation are limited in their academic load to fifteen credit hours (sixteen if a laboratory science course is included). Also, a student on academic probation will be placed on probation for financial aid eligibility.

If a student on probation earns the required minimum GPA and minimum number of credit hours, he or she will be placed on academic warning. If a student on academic probation does not make satisfactory academic progress, the student will be placed on academic suspension, as explained below.

Academic Suspension
If a student on academic probation fails to achieve the required minimum GPA requirements or fails to earn the minimum number of credit hours required, he or she will be placed on academic suspension. If a student on academic warning earns a semester GPA below 1.0, he or she will be placed on academic suspension.

A student on academic suspension will not be permitted to enroll at Ohio Valley University as a full-time student, nor will he or she be permitted to represent Ohio Valley University in public functions. The student will be marked as withdrawn.

Students on academic suspension may enroll for up to six credit hours per semester at Ohio Valley University, but they are not eligible for federal or institutional financial aid; in other words, the cost of those credit hours will be the responsibility of the student. In addition, a student on academic suspension may not be eligible to receive federal financial aid in future periods of enrollment.

Readmission Following Academic Suspension
Students who wish to reapply to the university after academic suspension may do so after at least one fall or spring semester. To be readmitted after academic suspension, one of two conditions must be met: (1) The student must have completed a minimum of 6 credit hours at a regionally accredited college or university with a minimum term GPA of 2.0;the course work must be approved by the vice president for academic affairs. (2) Three or more calendar years must have passed since the suspension. A student readmitted after suspension will return on either academic warning or academic probation. The status will be academic warning if, since suspension, the student has completed a minimum of 12 credit hours with a minimum term GPA of 2.0 at a regionally accredited college or university. Otherwise, the status will be academic probation. A student readmitted on academic warning can return to good standing after one semester of satisfactory academic progress; a student readmitted on academic probation can return to good standing after two consecutive semesters of satisfactory academic progress. Until a student admitted after academic suspension has been returned to good academic standing, any course in which he or she earned a failing grade must be retaken (if those courses are being offered).

A student readmitted after academic suspension might not be eligible for financial aid. If a readmitted student is denied financial aid, an appeal may be filed with the director of financial aid in order to renew financial aid eligibility (see Appealing a Financial Aid Suspension below).

Appealing a Financial Aid Suspension
A student whose financial aid eligibility has been suspended as a result of a failure to maintain satisfactory academic progress may appeal in writing to the director of financial aid to have his or her financial aid eligibility reinstated. Written appeals will be considered on an individual basis. Special circumstances such as the death of an immediate family member, a student’s serious injury or illness requiring lengthy recuperation, or other potential situations beyond the student’s control will be considered. If eligibility is reinstated, the student must continue to maintain satisfactory academic progress. Failure to do so may result in a permanent loss of eligibility for assistance. Students whose appeals are denied may continue on a cash-only basis until good academic standing has been achieved.

Academic Dismissal
If a student who has already been placed on academic suspension once receives a second academic suspension, the student’s status will be academic dismissal. An academic dismissal is permanent.
Students Admitted on Academic Warning or Probation
Provisionally admitted students are admitted on academic warning, and they may be required to sign a contract that imposes additional requirements for satisfactory academic progress. A provisionally admitted student who fails to complete required developmental concept courses within the first year may lose eligibility for federal financial aid.
A transfer student’s academic standing is determined by the cumulative GPA and hours transferred to the university from all previous institutions and will be assessed using Ohio Valley University’s satisfactory academic progress guidelines. If a transfer student was suspended from the institution most recently attended, he or she will be placed on academic probation for the student’s first semester at Ohio Valley University. The student’s academic standing after the first term completed at Ohio Valley University willbe based on the student’s cumulative hours from all institutions, but the student’s GPA will reflect only the credit hours earned at Ohio Valley University.

Course Incompletes
When figuring a student’s GPA, a grade of I (Incomplete) is equivalent to a grade of F until a course instructor has submitted a grade change form. The submission must occur prior to the end of the sixth week of the following term (ten weeks in the School of Professional Studies). In the absence of a timely submission of a grade change form, the registrar will change an I to an F and record the F as the final grade in the course.

Withdrawals
A grade of W (withdrawal) does not affect a student’s GPA. A W, however, can cause the student to fail to earn the minimum number of credit hours required each semester and thus cause a student’s academic standing to be lowered.

Repetitions
To determine whether a student meets the minimum requirements for GPA and for the number of credit hours completed, Ohio Valley University will compute only the most recent grade for a course that has been repeated to remove a lower grade. If a student has already earned credit hours for a course, repeating it to earn a higher grade will not earn additional credit hours.

Semesters
For the purposes of this policy, a semester is defined as any term in which a student is enrolled in at least twelve credit hours on the last day to add a class. Course work completed during the summer or winterim does not affect academic standing. Part-time students will be considered to have completed a semester for each period of time in which sixteen credit hours have been attempted.

Satisfactory Academic Progress in the Professional Accounting Certificate Program, Special Education Endorsement Program, and School of Graduate Education
Maintaining satisfactory academic progress and continuing eligibility for Title IV financial aid are just as essential in the Professional Accounting Certificate program, the Special Education Endorsement Program, and the School of Graduate Education as in each of the university’s baccalaureate programs. However, due to the unique nature and purpose of these programs, there are some differences in the programs’ satisfactory academic progress standards as compared to the traditional undergraduate programs (see Satisfactory Academic Progress above).

Students in these programs take courses as they are offered on a pre-determined schedule during the fall, spring, and summer terms. The minimum grade requirement for satisfactory progress in each program is given in the section of the catalog describing the program. A student who fails to achieve the minimum grade standards will be placed on warning until he or she has repeated (with a higher grade) the course(s) in which minimum standards were not met. While on warning, if a student again fails to meet the minimum standard, the student will be placed on probation until he or she has repeated (with a higher grade) the courses in which minimum standards were not met; while on probation, any future course grade below the minimum standard will result in both a permanent suspension from the program and a suspension of Title IV eligibility at the University.

Also, students wishing to maintain eligibility for federally-funded financial aid must complete the 30 semester hours of Professional Accounting Certificate course requirements in no more than eight terms following the first term of enrollment. Students enrolled in the Special Education Endorsement Program who wish to maintain their aid eligibility must complete the 27 hours required in the program in no more than nine terms. Students in the School of Graduate Studies will have a maximum of ten terms to complete the required 36 hours in the program. Students who fail to complete their programs within the specified limits may be allowed to continue without the assistance of federal financial aid.

The University’s policies regarding the effect of Incompletes (I) and Course Repetitions in determining satisfactory academic progress are equally applicable in each of these programs. Students who withdraw from a course prior to completing it may receive a grade of W. Because these programs are offered only periodically on a rotating basis, it is advisable for students to do everything they can to avoid withdrawing from a course. Since all courses in these programs are required for program completion, students must repeat those courses in which they receive a W. In such instances, students may not be able to complete their course work within the specified time limits.