On Academic Probation? Here’s How To Appeal
You had a couple of rough semesters and dropped below the GPA requirement. To make matters even worse, you’re about to lose your financial aid, and you need it in order to keep attending school. What do you do? File a Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Appeal.
A SAP Appeal gives you the chance to provide your school with an explanation for why you should have another chance to redeem yourself before they suspend your financial aid. If you endured some sort of extenuating circumstance that prevented you from doing well in your classes, this can save you a lot of time and money. These circumstances often include, but are not limited to, a death in the family, a serious medical condition or injury, or an unexpected financial hardship.
Your school should send you a formal notification (such as an email, letter, or notification in your portal) to let you know that you are on academic probation. This usually includes information on how to get back in good standing. They may also include information on how to file a SAP Appeal. If they don’t, a simple Google Search of your school’s name followed by “SAP Appeal” should pull up their policy.
Many schools will ask you to submit documentation proving your situation along with with your appeal letter. This can be medical records, doctor’s or therapist’s notes, a death certificate, letters from professors or staff members you have been working with, accident/police reports, etc. This will back up the information you include in your letter and give you extra credibility.
There are several components to an appeal letter that give them a personal touch and encourages staff members to give you another chance.
1) Explanation of situation
This is where you can include the specifics of your situation. I know sometimes it can be uncomfortable to be vulnerable and share when you’ve gone through a tough time, but this provides staff members with more context for why you didn’t do well. For example, if you had a death in the family, you could explain when this occurred during the semester, the level of support you had to provide to your family during this time and how this may taken away from class time, and how this affected your mental health and academic performance.
2) Plan to do better
This is where you can include what you didn’t do well in previous semesters and how you plan to improve, so you can be successful in upcoming semesters. This can be anything from seeking out additional help through tutoring and professors, going to therapy, or working less hours at a job to better manage your time. If you had a situation that has resolved itself, you can also state how it was a one-time occurence that affected you, but wouldn’t occur in upcoming semesters. For example, if you had gotten into a car accident in which you were injured and unable to go to class, you could mention how you’ve recovered since then and have also secured reliable transportation again.
3) Express gratitude
This is where you could discuss why you chose your current school, what you plan to do upon graduation, and why you want to continue to attend that school. This shows them you have a desire to do well and that you are not taking your education for granted. You can also thank the staff members for their time and consideration.
Once you’ve completed this and sent over the necessary documents, it’s good to confirm when you’ll receive a decision from your school. If school is starting, but the process will take at least 2-3 weeks, you will have to figure out how to pay for classes until you get approved. In the event that your appeal is denied, you’ll have to figure out how to pay your classes out of pocket until you can get back into good standing.
If you do get approved, they’ll more than likely give you some conditions you have to meet, like passing a certain percentage of classes or bringing your GPA up to a specific requirement. Then it will be up to you to follow through and get back in good standing.
