Financial Aid Opportunities

All students are encouraged to apply for financial aid online at https://studentaid.gov. When the Financial Aid Office (FAO) receives your application, an email will be sent to your Panola College email address explaining any other documents that are needed. Please allow plenty of processing time for your file to be completed before you register. Financial aid will cover only courses that are included on your degree plan. It is your responsibility to ensure all courses are included.

Students are encouraged to submit all necessary paperwork and have their financial aid file complete by June 1.

Panola College receives both state and federal funds. Because of this, the entrance requirements and satisfactory academic progress requirements for financial aid eligibility may be greater than those stated in other sections of this catalog.

Satisfactory Academic Progress

The Panola College financial aid academic award year is defined in this order: Summer II, Fall, Spring, Summer I, and Summer II. Enrollment status is defined as:

If a student does not make SAP for one semester, the student is considered on a Financial Aid Warning Status for one semester. If the student does not make SAP for the next semester or any future semesters, the student is considered on Financial Aid Suspension. One appeal can be requested for an additional semester for financial aid. The financial aid appeal must have an academic plan from the Advising Office to be considered. If the appeal is approved, the student will be on Financial Aid Probation.

Financial Aid Probation (FAP) will allow a student to receive financial aid in the next semester. After the Probation period if the student did not complete the academic plan, this will result in Financial Aid Suspension (FAS). A student on FAS is not eligible to receive financial aid and is not able to appeal the FAS. FAS will be removed and eligibility reinstated after the following conditions have been met and the student has contacted the FAO at Panola College in writing. It is the student’s responsibility to request the form for the FAO to re-evaluate financial aid eligibility.

1. Raise the cumulative GPA to a minimum 2.00.
2. Complete the appropriate number of hours with a minimum 2.00 GPA to satisfy the minimum hour completion requirement.

Definitions

• Warning status - the first semester the student does not meet the satisfactory academic progress
• Suspension - the semester after the warning status
• Appeal - a ONE time only written request to override financial aid suspension for one (1) semester

Note: There is no time limitation to a warning status.

The United States Department of Education guidelines require the FAO at Panola College to monitor a student’s satisfactory academic progress. Satisfactory academic progress (SAP) will be evaluated at the end of each fall, spring, and summer semester. SAP is measured in three different ways:

1. GPA
   0.00-1.99 Financial Aid Warning (FAW) for one semester. The cumulative GPA (CGPA) must be at 2.00 at the end of the Warning semester in order to continue to receive federal financial aid. If the CGPA is not a 2.00 at the end of the Warning period, the student will be on financial aid suspension (FAS). A student on FAS is not eligible to receive financial aid and FAS will be removed and eligibility reinstated after the following conditions have been met and the student has contacted the FAO at Panola College in writing.
   1. The student must raise his or her CGPA to a minimum 2.00.
   2. The student must have completed the appropriate number of hours with a minimum 2.00 CGPA to satisfy the minimum hour completion requirement.
   3. A waiver of financial aid suspension must be granted by the Financial Aid Director.
   4. Financial aid ineligibility decisions made by the FAO at Panola College may be appealed. The student must submit a written request explaining the reason(s) for not making satisfactory academic progress as well as an academic plan from an academic advisor. The Financial Aid Director will review appeals as needed and notify the student of his/her decision via student email. The decision of the Director is final and is not subject to further appeal. It is the student’s responsibility to request the form for the FAO to re-evaluate financial aid eligibility.
2. Minimum Hour Completion
   Students must successfully complete 75% of attempted hours at the end of each semester as indicated on the chart below. Students not successfully completing 75% of the courses attempted will be placed on financial aid warning (FAW). If the student fails to meet the 75% after the warning period is complete, he/she would then be placed on financial aid suspension.

3. Maximum Time Frame
   This is a quantitative measure that provides a maximum time frame to complete a degree or educational objective. Regulations specify that for an undergraduate program, the maximum time frame may not exceed 150% of the published length of the program measured in academic years, academic terms, credit hours attempted or clock hours completed, as appropriate. Panola College uses its longest program, 60 hours, as a basis for determining the 150% amount for all programs. Therefore, the maximum time frame for a student at Panola College may not exceed 90 attempted and withdrawn credit hours (60 hours x 150%). Hours attempted will be counted toward the 90-hour limit, regardless of whether financial aid was received or not. Taking extra courses may exhaust financial aid eligibility prior to the completion of a degree or certificate. A second degree or certificate does not renew the 90 attempted hours.