Eligibility Requirements
Minimum Credit Requirements. Graduate students are required to complete 2/3rds of their attempted credits on both a quarterly and cumulative basis.
A student involved in research, thesis or teaching-assistantship and taking fewer than four credit hours during the quarter may receive aid for reduced hours for a maximum of four quarters. A letter from the department chair must be submitted to Student Financial Services verifying the student is involved in one of the approved exceptions and confirming the student’s satisfactory academic progress.
A masters student’s academic progress as an undergraduate prior to starting the master's program is not considered in determining financial aid eligibility.
A doctoral student's academic progress as either an undergraduate or master's level prior to starting the doctoral program is not considered in determining financial aid eligibility.
Maximum Time Frame for Aid Eligibility. Graduate programs have varying academic requirements. Therefore, a student’s academic progress will be evaluated in terms of the number of quarters expected to complete a given degree program.
Washington State aid programs are awarded a maximum of 125 percent of the academic program’s limit.
The maximum number of quarters for which a graduate student may receive financial aid is as follows:
|
Degree Program
|
Maximum Quarters
|
| Master of Biological Sciences
|
8
|
| Master of Business Administration |
7 |
Master of Initial Teaching:
|
|
| Elementary/State Certification |
11 |
Secondary/State Certification
|
8
|
|
Master of Education:
|
|
| Teaching and Learning |
7
|
| Educational Leadership
|
8
|
| Literary Instruction
|
7
|
| Special Education |
8
|
| Master of Engineering |
8 |
| Master of Social Work:
|
|
| Advanced Standing
|
8
|
| Regular Standing
|
12
|
| Doctor of Social Work |
10 |
Formula to calculate maximum quarters for graduate programs. (Number of quarter hours required to complete the degree + 10%) ÷ 7 hours per quarter (minimum full time graduate load) = maximum number of quarters eligible for aid. This answer must be rounded down. Biology was increased by 1 quarter due to the structure of their program and two summers at Rosario.
Minimum GPA for Aid Eligibility. Graduate students are required to maintain a GPA of at least 3.0.
Quarterly Review. At the end of each quarter after grades are processed, a student’s progress is measured using a series of four tests. The student must pass all four tests each quarter in order to meet the SAP policy.
- Maximum Attempted Terms Test. The total number of terms enrolled must be less than the maximum for the program listed above.
- Minimum Cumulative GPA Test. The student’s cumulative GPA must be at least 3.0.
- Current Earned Units Test. Term credits completed divided by term credits attempted must be at least 2/3rds.
- Cumulative Earned Units Test. Cumulative credits completed divided by cumulative credits attempted must be at least 2/3rds.