[Oasfaa] SAP and COVID-19

[Karen Jeffers]

Greetings OASFAA -

If you're anything like me, your head is about to explode due to all the uncertainty in our world at the moment.  I tried to watch the NASFAA webinar today on the COVID-19 situation but was pulled into a meeting that was not nearly as important!

Anyway, are any of your institutions considering a P (pass)/ NP (not passed) grading option for students due to COVID-19?  If so, is the student required to document their COVID-19 hardship?  How are you treating those grades in the SAP calculation?  Are you assigning any quality points to either grade?  If you assign quality points, is this different than what your Registrar Office is doing?

Also, from what I gather SAP guidance is pretty sparse at this point.  The CARES Act literally says,
SEC. 3509. SATISFACTORY ACADEMIC PROGRESS.
Notwithstanding section 484 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1091<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fuscode.house.gov%2Fquicksearch%2Fget.plx%3Ftitle%3D20%26section%3D1091&data=02%7C01%7Ckaren.jeffers%40tulsacc.edu%7C3920c2c84379456bd72f08d7d58fa924%7Ceb5d9dc493c645578c2390ef7fa05b96%7C0%7C0%7C637212685622454357&sdata=Fa%2B2pljxTfHoPIily7W8dbncGEOnUdKufDQEku276es%3D&reserved=0>), in determining whether a student is maintaining satisfactory academic progress for purposes of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fuscode.house.gov%2Fquicksearch%2Fget.plx%3Ftitle%3D20%26section%3D1070&data=02%7C01%7Ckaren.jeffers%40tulsacc.edu%7C3920c2c84379456bd72f08d7d58fa924%7Ceb5d9dc493c645578c2390ef7fa05b96%7C0%7C0%7C637212685622454357&sdata=tRDcSeI7z7XjAXWNcNdBQfhQa5cK4bOn3bsq7VcDMc4%3D&reserved=0> et seq.), an institution of higher education may, as a result of a qualifying emergency, exclude from the quantitative component of the calculation any attempted credits that were not completed by such student without requiring an appeal by such student.

And, that's it!  I do not read that as an opportunity to exclude the quantitative component (PACE) from every student because of COVID-19 but rather on a case-by-case basis.  Am I off base on this one?

Hope everyone is staying safe!

Karen


Karen Jeffers
Director of Financial Aid & Scholarships
Tulsa Community College
3727 E Apache St
Tulsa, OK 74115

Northeast Campus  SU 205D
918-595-7362
karen.jeffers at tulsacc.edu<mailto:karen.jeffers at tulsacc.edu>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.onenet.net/pipermail/oasfaa/attachments/20200402/e9f42fc8/attachment.html>