Academic Progress

In compliance with the Department of Education regulations for federal student aid, the academic performance of law students will be reviewed annually to determine whether they are maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP).  This review will occur during the month following the end of the spring term each year. All students who might be eligible to apply for federal financial aid will be reviewed and evaluated. This requirement applies to all continuing graduate degree seeking University of Pittsburgh students. Components of the SAP requirement include a measure of cumulative GPA, Total Attempted Credits and Pace of Completion.

  1. GPA Requirement:  Graduate students must achieve a 2.00 cumulative GPA to be considered to be meeting SAP standards.  Transfer credits will not be considered in the calculation of cumulative GPA.
  2. Attempted Credits/Program Lenght:  Credits attempted by a student cannot exceed 150% of the credits required as defined by the University's published length of program.  All courses with a passing or failing grade will be counted as credits attempted.  All courses with a grade designated as G, I or W will be counted as credits attempted.  Credits on all repeated courses will be counted as credits attempted.  Transfer credits from another school will be counted both in terms of hours attempted and hours completd in SAP evaluation.
  3. Pace of Completion:  Pace of completion will be based on cumulative credits attempted and cumulative credits completed.  The pace of completion will be measured annually at the end of the evaulation period.  Cumulative student course completion rate cannot be less than 67%.  All courses with a passing or failing grade will be counted as credits attempted.  All courses with a grade designation as G,l, or W will be counted as credits attempted.  Credits on all repeat courses will be counted as credits attempted.  Transfer credits from another school will be counted both in terms of attempted and hours completed in SAP evaluation.
  4. Satisfactory Academic Progress Designation:  All students who meet the GPA, pace of completion and maximum program length requirements will be assigned a Satisfactory Academic Progress indicator for the upcoming academic year.  The Financial Aid Office will assign a No Progress status to students who do not meet these standards.  Students are not eligible for Title IV federal financial aid if their SAP designation is No Progress.

Appeal Process

The University of Pittsburgh provides an appeals process for students who are determined to be No Progress. Appeals will be limited to students who experienced personal illness or personal accident, death of a member of the student's immediate family or other extraordinary circumstances that prevented the student from attending classes and successfully completing the coursework. Requests for appeal of a No Progress status must be initiated in the Dean's or Associate Dean's Office for the school in which the student is enrolled. The Appeal must be supported by documentation as requested by the Financial Aid Office.

The appeal will be reviewed by the Dean's Office and forwarded to the Financial Aid Office. After review by the Financial Aid Office, if an appeal is reviewed favorably, the student will be granted one term of Probation for financial aid and eligibility will be reinstated for one payment period. Students must be able to demonstrate that they will be able to meet SAP standards at the end of the next payment period. In cases where it is not possible for a student to meet the minimum requirements for pace of progression and GPA in one term, financial aid eligibility will not be reinstated and the appeal will be denied.

Students not meeting SAP may enroll without the benefit of federal or institutional financial aid. Students not meeting SAP may wish to consider the PittPAY Payment PLAN or certain alternative loans that do not require SAP.