Columbus School of Law

Financial Aid >FAQ >SAP

Qualitative Requirement
Eligibility for federal student aid requires a student to maintain satisfactory progress in his or her course of study according to the school's published standards of satisfactory progress. The academic rules at the Columbus School of Law define satisfactory progress as "good standing" including up to two semesters of academic probation. Good standing requires a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 2.15 or better as determined at the end of each academic year and a minimum 1.82 GPA in any single semester. Eligibility is extended for up to two semesters of academic probation as defined by academic rules, except for students who have been readmitted following an academic exclusion. Readmitted students in this circumstance are not eligible for probation.

Students must repeat a required course, or may voluntarily repeat an elective course, in which he/she receives a grade of F. Both grades will be included in the computation of the cumulative GPA.

For students readmitted following exclusion, all required courses for which the student did not received a grade of C or better must be repeated. Good standing determination will be based on course work following readmission and earlier courses in which the student received a grade of C or better. Good standing is assessed at the end of the first year following readmission using the standards outlined in paragraph one of this section.

First-year students may elect to have grades from either first or second semester, or both, officially recorded on a pass/unsatisfactory/fail basis, subject to approval of the dean. A letter grade will be assigned by the professor and maintained by the dean's office for the purpose of determining "good standing," but will not be revealed to the student.

The determination of "good standing" excludes prior courses for students who transfer into the school of law. All course work, other than transfer credits, are considered for the determination of "good standing" for dual degree students.

Quantitative Requirement
A student must earn 84 credit hours to be eligible for graduation, and are normally earned in six (full-time) or eight (part-time) semesters. Under exceptional circumstances and subject to approval by the dean, a student may take up to 16 semesters to complete graduation requirements. Normally a minimum of eight credit hours are required for enrollment each semester except in the final semester of enrollment if fewer than eight are needed to meet graduation requirements. Financial aid eligibility is lost after 16 semesters of enrollment.

For a complete description of all academic rules, please refer to the annually published Announcements which is available in print and online at: http://www.law.cua.edu/academic/announcements/lawannouncementsbook.pdf

[Back to Top]