Process Overview & Responsibilities

To be eligible for Title IV aid, a student must maintain satisfactory academic progress (SAP) as per section 668.16(e) of HEA 1965. New SAP definitions were created in 668.34 that go into effect on July 1, 2011. The school developed policies determine the academic standards that students are expected to meet and built a means and schedule of measuring the achievement of those Pace and qualitative standards. If the student has made acceptable Pace and qualitative progress for that particular increment, then the school reviews the 150% of the maximum allowable time frame criterion to measure student’s SAP.

SAP standards are established by the Office of Academic Affairs. The relevant SAP policies are summarized below.

All students must maintain Satisfactory Progress according to the following standards in order to continue enrollment. Satisfactory Progress is measured at the end of each payment period, and will be checked prior to disbursement of aid.

Same As or Stricter Than:

The school’s SAP policy for Title IV students is the same as the school’s standards for students enrolled in the same educational programs who are not receiving Title IV aid.

The Director in the financial aid office reviews the Title IV SAP policy to ensure it meets all federal requirements. The Director of Academic Affairs notifies financial aid office if the school changes its academic policies.

Financial Aid Warning:

The school evaluates Satisfactory Academic Progress at the end of each payment period. If a student falls below a 84% average or if the student is not completing the required amount of hours to keep Pace with the requirements for graduation within the 150% time frame; the student will be placed on financial aid warning for one payment period. If they are still not meeting SAP at the end of the warning period, the student may be placed on Financial Aid Probation. (See “Financial Aid Probation” below.) A student who is put on a Financial Aid Warning can continue to receive Title IV aid for the next payment period after they receive the warning status. The status will be conferred automatically without the student appealing their SAP status.

If the student does not make SAP at the end of the financial aid warning period, they lose their financial aid eligibility. The student has the opportunity to have their financial aid eligibility reinstated by appealing the decision and being placed on Financial Aid Probation.

Financial Aid Probation:

When the student does not make SAP at the end of the next payment period, the student is now informed that they can appeal and must win the appeal to be placed on Financial Aid Probation. The student must advise the school as to why his/her grades have fallen below SAP and devise a plan to improve grades during the next payment period.A plan must be developed to assist a student to achieve success in the coming payment period.

A student may file an appeal due to a death in the family, illness, or other serious reasons. The appeal must be in writing to the Dean explaining what caused the problem. The student would have to submit how circumstances have changed that will allow him/her to attain satisfactory academic progress once the probationary period is over.

The student will receive a written decision as to the status of their appeal and any SAP plan that may be attached to it.

Students on financial aid probation, who fail to make satisfactory academic progress by the next payment period, will lose their financial aid eligibility.

Pace Measure of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

The school’s satisfactory academic progress policies must contain a Pace (quantitative) measure. The policy defines the pace that our students must progress to ensure educational program completion within the maximum timeframe of 150%. For clock hour schools, the maximum time frame is no longer than 150% of the published length of the educational program as measured in the cumulative number of clock hours the student is required to complete.

Timeframe – All students must satisfactorily complete their program within 150% of the normal timeframe.

Maximum Program	Total Program	Normal	Normal
Diploma	Hours	Timeframe	Timeframe
Practical Nurse	1080 hrs	46 weeks Approx	69 weeks

At the midpoint of the maximum timeframe, students must have successfully completed 1/2 of the program’s hour requirements. For example: The maximum timeframe for the Practical Nurse program is 69 weeks. The total hours needed for completion of this program is 1080 hours. By the time the student has been in the program for 34.5 weeks (1/2 of the maximum time frame), they must have earned at least 540 hours. This time frame is applicable for all students including those who did not receive financial aid.

To calculate PACE take the cumulative number of hours the student successfully completed divided by the cumulative number of hours the student attempted. So if we take the PN program with a 1080 hours, at the end of each payment period the student is expected to have attempted 540 hours and completed 540 hours to complete the program within the allotted normal time frame of 46 weeks. If the student only completed successfully 362 hours we would divide 362 by 540 or 67%. Based on this, we must determine if a student could complete the program within 150% of the time allotted for the program, or 69 weeks. The student has 27 weeks remaining and could complete the remaining 718 hours within the time frame. So the student is making satisfactory pace progress.

The students who have failed to meet the Pace standards are placed first on Financial Aid Warning; if no improvement over the next payment period, they may appeal the decision and be placed on financial aid probation. The Director of Financial Aid in coordination with the Office of Academic Affairs monitors Pace progress

Qualitative Measure of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

As per sections 668.16(e) (2) (i) and 668.34 of HEA 1965, the XYZ follows a qualitative measure. The measurement is graduated. The following policy provides a detailed description of how qualitative progress is monitored and by whom. The school realizes that, oftentimes, students must make an adjustment to the academic demands of pursuing an education. . The financial aid office receives quantitative information about Title IV recipients from the Office of Academic Affairs. The quantitative SAP is reviewed manually and a copy of the latest transcript is kept on student file. The office of financial aid notifies students in writing their progress or lack of progress at the end of each payment period. The student must be at a high enough grade point average to be able to reach graduation standards.

Grading System.

The grading scale for the Programs is as follows:

Numerical Scale	Letter Grade
92 – 100%	A
84 – 91%	B
76 – 83%	C
70 – 75%	D
69% and below	F
W	Withdrawn

 

Pass – Satisfactory completion of non-graded Externship.
Fail – Unsatisfactory completion of non-graded Externship.

The student must maintain a 84% average at the end of each payment period to maintain Qualitative academic progress.

The students who have failed to meet the Qualitative standards are placed first on Financial Aid Warning; if no improvement over the next payment period, they may appeal the decision and be placed on financial aid probation. The Director of Financial Aid in coordination with the Office of Academic Affairs monitors qualitative progress

Financial Aid Probation may be for one term or multiple terms based on an academic plan.

Transfer Students:

Verve College does accept transfer students. Completed course work must be from an accredited institution only. Please read thetransfer policy for students who wish to transfer to Verve College. In order to transfer, a student must have the following:
1. Submit your official transcripts of PN program attended, which must reflect pre-requisites and coursework completed. The transcripts will be reviewed and evaluated by Verve College Administration. (This Step must be completed prior to progressing through the transfer process).

2. Attend scheduled meeting with the Nursing Administrator/Associate Dean of Nursing/School Director to determine if submitted PN Coursework and pre-requisites are compatible with Verve College’s curriculum and coursework. You may schedule an appointment via telephone, 630-705-9999 or email inquiry@vervecollege.edu

3. Successfully pass written/online Verve College Exam and a clinical Exam, which should reflect competency and knowledge level of content in previous courses. Additionally, this will serve as the Final exam for previously completed coursework. The final exam is required in progressing forward and being registered into the Verve College course you are entering. For example, if you will be transferring into the 2nd Semester N102 of the program, you will be required to take the final exam for Fundamentals and Pharmacology for the end of the 1st quarter. There is one seating of this exam which is scheduled at  the same time with the current students who will be completing that quarter.

4. Upon Successful completion of the final exam and prior to beginning the program, transfer students must submit required paperwork as our regular PN students. (This includes but is not limited to: High School Diploma or GED, immunizations, CPR, Drug testing, physical, background check).

5. Transfer students can enter the PN program based on availability only. Students must complete at least two semesters (N102 & N103) at Verve College inorder to become a graduate of Verve College.

6. As N101 books are used throughout the PN program, transfer students will have to purchase the Foundations of Nursing, Nursing Interventions and Clinical Skills, and Basic Pharmacology for Nurses books.

Withdrawals:

A student who withdraws from a module/semester and receives a “W” in the module will have that module/semester counted in the Pace component of Academic Progress.

Repeated Courses:

If a student repeats a module/semester only the highest grade will be counted and previous grades will be deleted. The previous grades will be excluded when considering the qualitative progress standard, but the clock hours will be counted when determining the Pace SAP standard.

If a student receives a “C” grade or better, and the student retakes the module/semester to obtain a better grade, that module can be counted for the enrollment period. However, a full-time student may only take one repetition of a previously passed module or any repetition of a previously passed module due to the student failing other coursework and still receive title IV aid.

If a student receives an “F” grade in a module and retakes the module so he/she may obtain credit for the module, if they receive a passing grade after the retake, the module is counted for the enrollment period and may be counted for financial aid purposes.

Increments

To ensure the student is making sufficient progress both quantitatively and qualitatively, the school’s SAP policy divide the maximum time frame into equal evaluation periods called increments. These increments generally coincide with payment periods. But in any case it cannot be longer than half the program or one academic year, whichever is less. The PN program is 1080 clock hours and an increment must not exceed 456 clock hours. See sections 668.16(e) (2) (ii) (B) and 668.34(e) of HEA 1965 for details on the federal regulations.

Attendance Policy

Effective as of the 6/22/2015 class and any PN class starting thereafter, students are allowed to miss only 24 clock hours in N101 and N102, and 12 hours in N103 of combined lab, clinical and theory per semester. For students exceeding 24 hours of unattended classes for significant medical reasons, an exception may be made as long as substantial documentation is provided. In this case, unattended hours beyond 24 must be made up with tutoring at $35 per hour.

Student Appeal Procedures:

A student, who wished to appeal a disciplinary action and/or decision made in reference to the Satisfactory Academic Progress policy, must submit a typed letter to the Program Director. This letter must contain information about the student’s reason regarding the action and/or decision and reasons why the student is wishing to appeal. Students must provide supportive documentation along with their letter in order to support their position and any mitigating circumstances that may have existed. The Program Director will hear any student who disagrees with a SAP decision, on an appointment basis only.

The student will be notified of the Program Directors decision within fifteen (15) business days following the receipt of the student’s appeal letter, additional time may be taken to thoroughly review student’s appeal. A student, who wishes to appeal any SAP decision made by the Program Director, must submit a typed letter to the President with supportive documentation explaining the reason why the student is wishing to appeal the decision. The President will notify the student within fifteen (15) business days of the receipt of the letter, additional time may be taken to thoroughly review student’s appeal. The Presidents decision shall be final.

Reinstatement:

A prior student requesting to be reinstated as an active student, based on whatever reasons or circumstances, should do so in writing. Supportive documentation and/or information concerning any mitigating circumstances should be noted in the request. The requesting prior student shall be notified of the Reinstatement Review within 5 days following the decision of School Director.

Remediation Policy:

The student s Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) will be measured at the end of N101, 102, and 103. If the student meets the qualitative progress of an 84% or higher and the quantitative pace measurement of attendance, the student will be considered making SAP for the semester. If the student does not meet the qualitative progress of an 84% or higher and the quantitative pace measurement of attendance, the student will be considered not making SAP and  be placed on “Financial Aid Warning” for the payment period.

Since Verve College offers remediation, to be considered eligible for remediation, students must have achieved a minimum average of 76% but less than 84%. Remediation exams will be given in an effort for the student to achieve an 84% or higher to make SAP.

The student s SAP progress is re-evaluated at the end of N101, 102, and 103 remediation. If the student meets the qualitative progress of an 84% or higher and the quantitative pace measurement of attendance, the student will be considered making SAP for the semester and be taken off “Financial Aid Warning”.