FA Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Project Information Guide
Purpose: This guide is organized to provide a walk through of all meetings and background information related to SAP (Satisfactory Academic Progress). The intent is to provide a clear outline of all collected requirement information to aid in framing out next steps in developing a set of project activities to address the college needs associated with SAP.
Audience: Financial Aid College Community.
What SAP Improvements Are Colleges Seeking?
The Financial Aid community has sought to improve the ctcLink system's processes for managing SAP since 2017, through Remediation efforts and Common Process Workshop (CPW) sessions. Now that the ctcLink Project has fully implemented, Financial Aid offices continue to seek key improvements in this area through a set of desired system enhancements.
- (Possible) Changes to Grade Configurations
- Changes to SAP Communications Templates
- Updates to and New Development of Queries for Identifying SAP Conditions
-
Customizations to Delivered SAP 'Test' Code for:
- Attempted Units, Attempted Terms, Cumulative Earned Units, Two Year Grade Points.
- Bug Fixes for SAP Process Handling for Certain Data Conditions
- Fully Custom Secondary Page & Process to Handling State SAP
- Business Practice Impact Discussions on Challenges in SAP
Missed a SAP Special Session? Refer to the Content Below:
Topics Discussed
- Item #1: Two SAP Policy
- Item #4: Excluding ELL/HS 21+
- Item #5: Program Specific Pace of Progression
- Item #6A: Transfer Credits in Calculation (Pace of Progression)
- Item #6B: Transfer Credits in Calculation (MAXT)
- Item #9: Run SAP Before Grade Date for Students with Posted Grade of Withdrawals
- Item #10: Grade Forgives
- Item #14: 2 Year GPA
Webex Recording Link for January 24, 2023:
Presentation Slide Deck for January 24, 2023:
Recording link from January 17, 2023 special session has been edited to remove about 6 minutes of information on variable credits. Please refer to the latest slide deck below on variable credits topic and more. Discard of any previously downloaded versions that do not have "FINAL FINAL" in the title of the deck. Thank you!
Topics Discussed
- Item #7: Pass 2 for Breaks in Enrollment
- Item #8: Summer Drops
- Item #11: S/P Grades Not Showing as "MEET"
- Item #15: Repeat Query for Variable Credits
- Item #16: SAP (Query) for Graduating students
Recording Link for January 17, 2023: https://sbctc.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=54a77cc3-a36e-40e9-b7af-af9301504d17
Presentation Slide Deck for January 17, 2023:
Please NOTE that information provided in the 12/16/2022 Recording is INCORRECT related to the configuration check boxes. (See updated* slide deck.)
Topics Discussed
- Item #6A: Transfer Credits in Calculation
- Item #6B: Transfer Credits in Calculation
- Item #7: Pass 2 for Breaks in Enrollment
Webex Recording Link for December 16, 2022:
*UPDATED Presentation Slide Deck for December 16, 2022 Special Session:
Please pay special attend to slides with the yellow bubble in the upper right have corner noted as "UPDATED CONTENT." Those slides contain corrections to previously provided information on configurations and programming logic behavior.
Topics Discussed
- Item #2: Repeat Grades
- Item #3: MAXT with Developmental Credits over 45
- Item #4: Excluding ELL/HS 21+
- Item #6A: Transfer Credits in Calculation
- Item #10: Grade Forgives
- Item #12: Communication Templates
- Item #17: Query for Probation
- Item #18: Query for Exceptions
- Item #19: Query for MAXT
Webex Recording Link for December 9, 2022:
Presentation Slide Deck for December 9, 2022:
Updates to Remaining SAP Items
Scheduled
In Progress
Original Problem Statement
Ability to have a separate State SAP status from the Federal status. The addition of a new tab in SAP with its own record for state status. Also include the ability to run separate disbursement item type rules by the different sap statuses for state vs fed aid.
Requested Change
Leverage existing custom pages for Washington College Grant and College Bound Scholarship to develop a custom State SAP section or page. Develop a background process to determine if a student retains state aid eligibility. Create a custom process to identify students flagged as having lost their state aid eligibility for the specific award program and administratively “reject” that award from the student for future terms.
- Caveat: Need to review other mentioned programs, such as Passport, National Guard and Bridge Grant.
- Additional Scenario: State aid disbursement is negatively impacted when a student fails to meet Federal SAP standards. Research needed for how to enable state aid disbursement, when federal aid disbursement is blocked.
Status
- ctcLink FA Support met with FAST on 7/17/23 to discuss requirements and explore solution options
- FA Support is reviewing documents provided by two colleges of their current business process for tracking two SAP policy in the system. With FAFSA Simplification to be delivered by Oracle January 31st, 2023, FA Support will be reviewing changes such as Enrollment Intensity, which may impact business process decisions for monitoring State SAP.
Stay tuned for communication from FA Support to the FA Community on this topic.
--Last updated on 2/16/2024
Original Problem Statement
Repeat units are included in attempted but excluded from earned.
Alliance 2022 session# 8576
https://www.alliance-conference.com/p/do/sd/sid=31713
Revised Problem Statement
Classes flagged in ctcLink as ‘Repeated’ using the RPEX and RLMT Repeat Codes are read by the SAP process. Attempted Units are included in the SAP logic, but the Units Earned are excluded.
Background Information
The SAP Process runs the Cumulative Earned Units Test based off of data in the Student Career/Term table (Term History). If the Repeat Code being used to signify repeats is configured to exclude repeats from the Earned Credits value and/or exclude them from the student's GPA in Student Career Term, then this will be true in the SAP calculations, as well. Since federal regulations allow colleges to determine their own SAP policy regarding Repeat Grades, and currently colleges having differing Repeat Code policies, it is difficult to determine a solution at this time.
Requested Change
Colleges have requested the option to override the configurations in the Repeat Code to allow SAP to include the repeated course in the Cumulative Earned Units value in the Pace of Progression calculation.
Status
Awaiting college feedback - regarding local SAP policies for repeated coursework
(Estimated) Deployment Date
TBD
--Last updated on 3/21/2023
Original Problem Statement
(none provided)
Revised Problem Statement
TBD
Requirement Clarifications
- What was the original intent behind the “excluding ELL/HS 21+” SAP Maintenance List item? Is it that a process is excluding ELL/HS 21+ when it shouldn’t, or is the request to provide a way to exclude them? Or is it something else entirely?
- Can you provide specific student examples for us to investigate?
- Can you provide any Service Desk Tickets that have addressed this issue?
- Are all colleges experiencing this issue, or only some? Which colleges?
Requested Change
TBD
Status
Awaiting college feedback - Requirement Clarifications will be sent to FAST for input
(Estimated) Deployment Date
TBD
--Last updated on 3/21/2023
Original Problem Statement
SAP units earned specific to the program they are for
Revised Problem Statement
Information coming soon!
Requested Change
Develop a custom process to assess a unique Pace of Progression isolated to only those classes/grades that are relevant to the student's current, active Program/Plan Stack (PPS).
- Caveat 1: Cannot be executed for students with multiple active PPS in the Undergraduate career.
- Caveat 2: Will not impact general student SAP calculation.
Status
Reviewing solution design feasibility
(Estimated) Deployment Date
TBD
--Last updated on 3/21/2023
Original Problem Statement
transfer and legacy credits aren't included in pace
Revised Problem Statement
If a student returns to a college and has previous enrollment records that were not captured in the conversion to ctcLink, the legacy data manually entered as Transfer Credits is not included in Pace of Progression.
Requested Changes
- Provide clear local configuration documentation and programming logic guidance on the Cumulative Earned Units test that explains how Transfer Credits are read and handled by the SAP processes.
- Provide analysis of the Cumulative Earned Units Test configuration to colleges, highlighting those configurations that lead to incorrect SAP evaluations. Communicate to colleges with problematic configurations what steps are necessary to correct their local configuration to properly pick up the desired Attempted and Earned Unit values for both converted and manually rebuilt students. For colleges who need further guidance after receiving their email, offer support sessions to answer any follow up questions.
Status
- Documentation under development
- Reviewing college local configurations
(Estimated) Deployment Date
TBD
--Last updated on 2/22/2023
Maintenance Item #6 was determined to have two elements, so it has been divided into parts 'A' and 'B', which require different solutions and are subject to different timelines
Original Problem Statement
When student withdraws during the term, SAP runs to MEET (or whatever the status is) until after the “grading date” on SR side. WE have to override the status to SUSP. When we process/approve an appeal, we don’t see if a student needs a contract since Pace doesn’t update until the grading date and SAP is Re-ran.
Status
Requirement gathering and clarification needed from FA community; this item will be brought back up to FAST after FAFSA Simplification PRP has been deployed.
--Last updated on 2/16/2024
Original Problem Statement
When grades are removed from transcripts SAP will never pick up those credits/grades. They must be included to comply with DOE regs. Per federal regulations, we must include grades excluded with an approved amnesty in the cumulative GPA calculations for SAP. We need the system to provide an FA GPA.
Revised Problem Statement
When grades are removed from transcripts SAP cannot read those credits/grades. They must be included to comply with DOE regs. Per federal regulations, we must include grades excluded with an approved amnesty in the cumulative GPA calculations for SAP. We need the system to provide an FA GPA.
Requested Change
- Modify delivered program logic to ensure classes with the Grading Basis of “Grade Forgiveness” have their Attempted Units included in the SAP Calculation.
- Classes with the Grading Basis of “Grade Forgiveness” need to include GPA in total cumulative SAP Calculation for FA purposes.
Status
Requirement gathering and clarification needed from FA community; this item will be brought back up to FAST after FAFSA Simplification PRP has been deployed.
(Estimated) Deployment Date
TBD
--Last updated on 2/16/2024
Original Problem Statement
to much clean up to run daily. When SAP is run for fall before summer, for those who did attend summer, if multiple SAP calculations are completed on the fall term, the override remains in place and must be removed to allow for the actual system calculated results based on summer grades.
Revised Problem Statement
TBD
Requirement Clarifications
- Can you provide the business need for running SAP daily, and what the current business practices are for running SAP daily?
- Are all colleges doing this or only some?
- Does this apply only to the Summer/Fall time frame, or are there other times of the year where running SAP daily is needed, but too cumbersome or problematic?
- What is the specific cleanup needed that is problematic for these colleges? Are they being addressed by the other items on the FAST SAP Maintenance List?
- Can you provide specific examples of what the specific pain points are for running SAP daily? How does this differ from Item #8 Summer Drops?
Requested Change
TBD
Status
Per Fall FAC presentation and discussion, we are not implementing this item. After FAFSA Simplification has been implemented, and once colleges go through a SAP cycle, remaining SAP items will be reviewed and discussed with FAST to assess what, if any, remaining items need review.
(Estimated) Deployment Date
TBD
--Last updated on 2/16/2024
Original Problem Statement
Term count is not correct – does not count non-converted/ legacy records as terms attended. This is significant for calculating 2 year GPA issues
Status
Requirement gathering and development clarification needed for this item which will be brought back up to FAST after FAFSA Simplification PRP has been deployed.
(Estimated) Deployment Date
TBD
--Last updated on 2/16/2024
On Hold
Original Problem Statement
indentify why student is failing and have more specific messaging in the templalte based on testing varaibles.
Revised Problem Statement
ctcLink has relevant data to do a mail merge type communication to students that pull data from the system to provide students specifics on why they did not meet Satisfactory Academic Progress. Colleges don’t currently have the skill, nor the resources, to create a more sophisticated notification to students. The current communication templates do not contain enough information to help students know what they did wrong that put them in danger of losing their aid eligibility due to not meeting SAP.
Status
Per Fall FAC presentation and discussion, we are not implementing this item. After FAFSA Simplification has been implemented, and once colleges go through a SAP cycle, remaining SAP items will be reviewed and discussed with FAST to assess what, if any, remaining items need review.
(Estimated) Deployment Date
TBD
--Last updated on 2/16/2024
Original Problem Statement
track students override status if they have a break in enrollment
Revised Problem Statement
TBD
Requested Change
TBD
Status
On Hold - Will revisit once other SAP items have been resolved
(Estimated) Deployment Date
TBD
--Last updated on 2/22/2023
Original Problem Statement
creat query to pull career and term exceptions data
Revised Problem Statement
TBD
Requested Change
TBD
Status
On Hold - Will revisit once other SAP items have been resolved
(Estimated) Deployment Date
TBD
--Last updated on 2/22/2023
Original Problem Statement
track students with SAP MaxT with state aid
Revised Problem Statement
TBD
Requested Change
TBD
Status
On Hold - Will revisit once other SAP items have been resolved
(Estimated) Deployment Date
TBD
--Last updated on 2/22/2023
Completed
Problem Statement
Delivered SAP functionality generates negative numbers and does not properly exclude remedial course work up to the Max Units to Exclude configuration value for the Maximum Attempted Units (MAXT) Test. The State Board reported this bug to Oracle in 2019, and while Oracle acknowledged it as a bug, they have not indicated that a fix will be delivered.
Requested Change
Modify delivered SAP code to read the correct field in configuration and ensure the functionality is working as designed.
Status
- Solution Demonstration and UAT Kick-Off on April 12, 2023
- College UAT sign off April 18, 2023
- Deployed and communicated to FA Community on April 27, 2023
Deployment Date
April 27, 2023
--Last updated on 6/28/2023
Note: During the review of the Max Units to Exclude functionality in the Course Exclusions setup for the Maximum Attempted Units Test (MAXT), it was determined that there are two primary issues. These have been captured in two separate SAP items: Item #3: MAXT with Developmental Credits over 45 and Item #6B: Transfer Credits in Calculation (MAXT).
Resolution Information
Details about the solution design can be found on the UAT testing page for this SAP Item, as well as in the presentation materials below.
WebEx Demo and UAT Kick-off Session Recording: https://sbctc.webex.com/webappng/sites/sbctc/recording/9ea6b832bb79103b8fff00505681df53/playback
Session Date/Time: Wednesday, April 12, 2023, 9am to 10am
Slide Deck:
Original Problem Statement
does not automatically exclude from MAXT calculation as they are treated like transferred credits.
Revised Problem Statement
If a student returns to a college and has previous enrollment records that were not captured in the conversion to ctcLink, the legacy data manually entered as Transfer Units is not included in MAXT calculations. Remedial units entered manually are not being excluded from the MAXT evaluation (up to the Max Remedial Units to Exclude value set by colleges) under Course Exclusions in their SAP configurations.
Requested Change
Develop a custom SAP solution to account for transfer unit Course Exclusions. (Medium effort, impacts FA only.)
Status
- Solution Design Document approved by ctcLink colleges on October 4, 2023
- Walk-Through and UAT Kick-Off Session on October 31, 2023
- UAT Testing October 31, 2023 to November 13, 2023 (for those college users who have volunteered)
- College UAT sign off November 13, 2023
- Deployment communicated to FA Community on November 28, 2023
Deployment Date
November 27, 2023
Solution Design Document v1.2 (updated 10/24/2023)
Solution Design Document (original version)
--Last updated on 11/28/2023
Maintenance Item #6 was determined to have two elements, so it has been divided into parts 'A' and 'B', which require different solutions and are subject to different timelines.
Resolution Information
UAT testing materials page & additional information about this customization:
UAT Walk-Through and Kick-off Session Recording:
https://sbctc.webex.com/webappng/sites/sbctc/recording/3899b39e5a3d103ca6f2d289e29a95ca/playback
Session Date/Time: Tuesday, October 31, 2023 from 10am to 11am
Slide Deck:
Original Problem Statement
If a student skips a quarter or more it will only read the most recent quarter. Causes issues on students who are on WARN or who should be suspended for having two quarters in a row of warning but then take a quarter off. When they return instead of being suspended they are WARN again. Also if SUSP then WARN should run to SUSP but run to WARN
Revised Problem Statement
Students with breaks in enrollment require manual overrides, because the 'Statuses and Actions' logic is not used to evaluate students who have a break in enrollment (Pass 2). These students should result in a different SAP Status when compared to the previous term’s SAP Calculated Status or Override Status.
Requested Changes
Modify the programming logic for the SAP Process on Pass 2 evaluations for students with a break(s) in enrollment.
- Use Statuses and Actions configurations to determine the final SAP value for the term being processed.
- "Calc SAP Status" on Pass 2 is derived from Student Enrollment Data/Term History.
- Pass 2 "Previous SAP Status" needs to be derived from the Student SAP Status from the term prior to the SAP Processing Term.
- If that Student SAP Status from the prior SAP Processing Term has an override, use that value in place of the Calculated SAP Status on the Student SAP Status page.
Note: This solution is related to the solution for Item #8: Summer Drops.
Status
- Solution Design Document approved by ctcLink colleges on May 26, 2023
- Solution Demonstration and UAT Kick-Off from 10am to 12pm on May 31, 2023
- College UAT sign off June 23, 2023
- Deployed on June 27, 2023
- Communicated to FA Community on June 28, 2023
Deployment Date
June 27, 2023
Solution Design Document (Approved by ctcLink colleges on 5/26/2023)
--Last updated on 6/28/2023
Resolution Information
Details about the solution design can be found on the UAT testing page for this SAP Item, as well as in the presentation materials below.
WebEx Demo and UAT Kick-off Session Recording: https://sbctc.webex.com/webappng/sites/sbctc/recording/d35e2e46e202103ba7fb0050568127c3/playback
Session Date/Time: Thursday, May 31, 2023 from 10am to 12pm
Slide Deck:
Original Problem Statement
manually building summer for some students when a student enrolls in summer and drops (even if before the start) the SAP process read Summer as being Not Meet, when it really is not.
Revised Problem Statement
Summer Term SAP is built with prior term SAP Calc Status, but student drops enrollment, therefore that term’s SAP Calc Status value is not relevant when comparing prior term statuses.
Requested Changes
- Provide capability to exclude a term's SAP Status from being used as the value for “Previous SAP Status” in the Statuses and Actions SAP functionality.
- Develop a process to automatically skip a term's SAP Status from consideration in the Statuses and Actions SAP functionality if the does nto have valid enrollment in that term.
Note: Solution is dependent upon solution for Item #7: Pass 2 for Breaks in Enrollment.
Status
- Solution Design Document approved by ctcLink colleges on May 26, 2023
- Solution Demonstration and UAT Kick-Off from 10am to 12pm on May 31, 2023
- College UAT sign off June 23, 2023
- Deployed on June 27, 2023
- Communicated to FA Community on June 28, 2023
Deployment Date
June 27, 2023
Solution Design Document (Approved by ctcLink colleges on 5/26/2023)
--Last updated on 6/28/2023
Resolution Information
Details about the solution design can be found on the UAT testing page for this SAP Item, as well as in the presentation materials below.
WebEx Demo and UAT Kick-off Session Recording: https://sbctc.webex.com/webappng/sites/sbctc/recording/d35e2e46e202103ba7fb0050568127c3/playback
Session Date/Time: Thursday, May 31, 2023 from 10am to 12pm
Slide Deck:
Original Problem Statement
no GPA for these classes, SAP will fail GPA test if these are the student only credits
Revised Problem Statement
Classes with a Grading Basis configuration of Exclude from GPA = No GPA Earned Units on the Term History > Term Statistics page. For Pass/Fail type classes, SAP is incorrectly failing. If a student ONLY has Graded Units for Pass/Fail classes, the system should not “FAIL” to meet the minimum GPA for the term.
Requested Changes
Modify the programming logic of the Minimum Current GPA test.
- Use the GPA value for students with a Cumulative Earned Units value greater than 0.00 AND and Term Statistics that have a For GPA Graded Units value greater than 0.00.
- If For GPA Graded Units value = 0.00, then use Career Pass Default value (MEET) for the resulting SAP Status value for the Minimum Current GPA test.
Status
- Solution Design Document approved by ctcLink colleges on July 26, 2023
- UAT Walk Through & Kick Off Session from 10am to 11am on August 9, 2023
- College UAT sign off on August 25, 2023
- Deployed to Production on August 31, 2023
- Communicated to FA Community on September 1, 2023
- Post-Migration Configuration Walk-Through sessions on September 5th and 7th, 2023
Deployment Date
August 31, 2023
Solution Design Document
--Last updated on 9/7/2023
Resolution Information
UAT testing materials page & additional information about this customization:
SAP Item #11: S & P Grades Not Showing as 'MEET'
UAT Walk Through and Kick-off Session Recording:
https://sbctc.webex.com/webappng/sites/sbctc/recording/7189adeb1904103cbeb6a6b93edd7ef6/playback
Session Date/Time: Wednesday, August 9, 2023 from 10am to 11am
Slide Deck:
Post-Implementation Configuration Materials
Materials from sessions held on 9/5/23 and 9/7/23
Original Problem Statement
enrolls in 1cr/term, the third term shows as ineligible for financial aid due to 2 attempt limit, shown on query
Revised Problem Statement
Enrolls in 1cr/term, the third term shows as ineligible for financial aid due to 2 attempt limit, shown on query [QCS_FA_REPEAT_CRSES]. Users concerned that they are having to manually compare against the results of the query: QCS_SR_ENRL_MIN_VARIABLE.
Requested Change
Modify the query output to display 2 additional output value sets.
- Variable Credit Indicator on Class (Units Taken, Min Units, Max Units)
- Repeat Grading Basis flag (e.g. RPEX)
Status
Deployed
Changes communicated via FA Weeklyish Bulletin to the ctcLinkFinAidSupport elist on 3/3/2023
Deployment Date
2/10/2023
--Last updated on 3/7/2023
Resolution Information
Service Desk ticket submitted to Data Services to Apply Requested Change (2/2/2023): 158670
QCS_FA_REPEAT_CRSES query update: The following data sets were added to the QCS_FA_REPEAT_CRSES query to eliminate the need to do double work in comparing this query against the QCS_SR_ENRL_MIN_VARIABLE to differentiate between repeat courses and variable credit courses.
- Variable Credit Indicator on Class (Units Taken, Min Units, Max Units)
- Repeat Grading Basis flag (e.g. RPEX, etc) - display if value exists, but do not filter to only those with this value
Original Problem Statement
FA Term is not building for all students who have attended and are graduating, SAP cannot run. These queries do not appear to be capturing students who applied for aid, but only have offers (no accepted awards). Per our SAP policy, we are to notify all financial aid applicants at the end of each payment period if they have a negative SAP status. Plan must be manually activated to run communications
QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_HAD_AID
QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_WITH_AID
Revised Problem Statement
These queries (QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_HAD_AID and QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_WITH_AID) do not appear to be capturing students who applied for aid, but only have offers (no accepted awards). They have similar names, but are pulling very different data. One query relies on award offers; the other query does not pull award data, but instead pulls students who have a Term Activation record.
Requested Change
Description in QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_HAD_AID Query currently states, "Exptd Grd Stdnt by Term." Financial Aid staff asking for improved description, such as "Stu w/FA Trm Actvtn + Exptd Grd Dt" as the description.
Status
Deployed
Changes communicated via FA Weeklyish Bulletin to the ctcLinkFinAidSupport eList on 3/3/2023
Deployment Date
2/10/2023
--Last updated on 3/7/2023
Resolution Information
Service Desk ticket submitted to Data Services to Apply Requested Change (2/2/2023): 158670
QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_HAD_AID query update: The short description for the QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_HAD_AID query was changed to better define its purpose, and to help colleges differentiate it from the QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_WITH_AID query.
- Previous Short Description: "Exptd Grd Stdnt by Term"
- New Short Description: "StuW/FA TrmActvtn + ExptdGrdDt"
SAP Info
The Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) is defined as the successful completion of coursework toward an eligible certificate or degree. Federal and State regulations require the Financial Aid (FA) Offices to monitor the academic progress of students receiving Financial Aid throughout their college career:
- As new applications are evaluated each aid year prior to determining awards
- After grades are posted for the previous term, before the release of funds for the current term being calculated
- As students choose to withdraw from classes in the middle of a term
- When a student declares a change in their intended program of study
Because the regulatory requirements for ensuring a student is and remains aid eligible are complex, SAP cannot be considered a "one and done" process for FA offices. SAP is comprised of these key considerations:
- Verifying a student meets minimum GPA requirements
- Is on "Pace" for completing their certificate or degree (referred to as Pace of Progression*)
- Is receiving aid only for classes within their stated program
- Takes into account grades for ALL classes a student has taken, whether or not they received aid for those classes
- Allows for a student to be on "probation" for a period of time (with limitations)
- Includes professional flexibility to determine whether a student can still receive aid through an appeal process
* Pace of Progression is defined as the ratio of the cumulative number of credit hours completed divided by the cumulative number of credit hours attempted.
Delivered SAP capabilities within PeopleSoft Campus Solutions 9.2 feature eight (8) specific tests to measure whether a student is making progress:
3 Quantitative Tests
- Academic Standing [1 College Active]
- Maximum Attempted Units [25 Colleges Active]
- Maximum Attempted Terms [1 College Active]
5 Qualitative Tests
- Minimum Current GPA [14 Colleges Active]
- Minimum Cumulative GPA [27 Colleges Active]
- Current Earned Units [28 Colleges Active]
- Cumulative Earned Units [29 Colleges Active]
- Two Year GP [12 Colleges Active]
Below you will see which colleges are configured in the FA SAP Local Configuration to actively run a test with the SAP Process is executed. Some colleges may be opting to perform SAP evaluation using an alternate, local method for a test not set to active in ctcLink.
Click the link below view which tests are active for your college. The visual will be small initially. Zoom in by clicking the magnifying glass icon in the lower right side.
Some of the areas colleges are asking for changes that relate to the functionality outlined above, such as the MAXT for Developmental Credits Above 45, but other changes are more efforts to mitigate impacts of business practice changes, such as Grade Forgives.
Evaluation of SAP spans well outside of data available within the Financial Aid module, therefore business practices, processes and data in other modules within Campus Solutions impact SAP. Some system improvements for SAP impact areas outside the Financial Aid module itself and therefore will involve college staff beyond the Financial Aid community.
-
[Complete] Provided Requirement Clarification Decks for Each Item that include:
- Outlining Problem Statement in Detail
- Providing Screen Shots of Issue Areas
- Document Requirement Understandings 'What colleges are asking for in the change request' to receive confirmation
- Document Requirement Clarifications 'What do we see in the request that colleges need to tell us clearly how they are asking we handle it'
- Outcome = Actionable Requirements to Convert to Functional/Technical Design Document
- [Complete] December 9, December 16, January 17, and January 24: Four Special Sessions on SAP Scheduled for Requirement Validation Conversations with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
- [Complete] December 14 & December 28: The College Collaboration Group Meetings following each Special Session on SAP will be provided a synopsis of the progress made during each session
- [In Progress] Draft Solution Design Materials for Approval
- Group Solutions by Type of Development
During Remediation a series of meetings were held to define gaps and seek resolution:
- March-May 2017: Gap Analysis & Solution Design
- April-May 2017: Documentation & Training
- May-August 2017: Query Development for FA SAP
On May 3, 2017 the ctcLink Project Team, focused on Remediation, held the FA: SAP Solution Design Session. The outcome of that meeting was a documented set of actions that were delivered as a part of the Remediation response.
- Review all aspects of SAP configuration and SAP status values
- Committed to develop queries to identify students who had a Repeat Code added to course(s) that are impacted by SAP
- Committed to develop queries to identify students who have a F02 (FA Tuition/Class Hold) Service Indicator and display terminated SAP status
-
Developed the following list of Queries for Production:
- STDNT_AWRD_DISB
- CTC_FA_SB_SAP_NMEET_REPEATS
- CTC_FA_SAP_FALL_HAS_SUMMER_SEL
- CTC_FA_SAP_MAX_ATTEMPTED_LIST
- CTC_FA_NO_SAP_RECORD
- CTC_FA_SAP_PASS_2_LIST
- CTC_FA_SAP_EQUALS_STAT
- CTC_FA_SAP_ZERO_PASS_2_LIST
- CTC_FA_SAP_BASICSKILLS_NTMEET
- Developed and delivered a SAP Business Process Guide.
- Developed and Delivered a 3-day in-person training/workshop on SAP
Attachment Below - Remediation Solution Design document for SAP Session:
While valuable for the Financial Aid staff using the ctcLink system at the time, these efforts did not fully resolve all SAP concerns. At the close of Remediation the following issues remained outstanding for SAP:
• Colleges on ctcLink felt that the delivered PeopleSoft product required crucial modifications, necessitating manual processes and reports to be run each and every time Financial Aid offices ran SAP processes
• Adult Basic Education classes, under the Undergraduate program, complicate SAP issues, as every ABE student has to be checked, researched and manually calculated individually by a staff member
• PeopleSoft automatically calculates SAP and since the delivered SAP processes does not run correctly for different groups of students, Financial Aid staff were having to manually override SAP statuses, which could lead to inaccurate SAP history for these groups of students
A Remediation closure action plan was developed (December 2017), that included development of a Query to read the Transfer Credit Evaluation table and display Application Date from the View FA Status page and the SAP status, if it exists.
As an agreement in Remediation Closure a Common Process Workshop was to be held in early 2018 to further define business practices and gather requirements for additional college needs.
Attachment Below - Full Remediation Closure Document:
Going into the Common Process Workshop (CPW) session on January 23, 2018, the following items were the framework from which the CPW conversations began on SAP:
[January 2018] "Current" State Pain Points
- Missing grades
- Manually tracking students that are on suspension
- Manually reviewing students and their current SAP status
- Tracking students that are on probation, especially if they are on detailed requirements for their probation term
- Manually adjusting for ABE/ESL courses (current & future)
- Identifying students who are on SAP suspension but withdrew prior to withdrawal deadline for Student Records
- Monitoring maximum time frame
- Monitoring repeated courses [for calculating FA eligibility]
- Manually tracking Academic Plans and blocking disbursement
- Anything done manually is prone to error
Benefits
- SAP calculation is automated
- SAP status will automatically stop disbursement of funds
- Keeps track of SAP history
- Ability to track by checklist
- Not having to work with multiple departments to drop students
- Provide view access to SAP status to other departments
- Fund management is more clear because awarded/disbursed levels are all on one screen
Outcomes & Best-Practice Recommendations
The outcomes from that sessions were a set of Best-Practice Recommendations for managing Satisfactory Academic Progress. That included the following action items and areas of focus:
Program Changes
- No limit on number of Program Changes as part of Common Process. College Financial Aid departments should work with Student Services/Instruction to define these limits on Program Changes
- A method should be identified for FA staff to be notified of Program changes (through PS Query or other means)
Repeat Courses
- Recommendation to use federal definition for repeat courses; student may repeat a course 1 time (that they previously passed) and receive financial aid funding
Schedule for Evaluating SAP
- Evaluate SAP status both quarterly and annually (as part of file review)
Federal/State Policy Interaction
- Best-practice to combine federal and state policies into unified policy at the most restrictive level
Pace of Progression
- Pace of progression should be an automated calculation...
- With an option to exclude specific courses in pace of progression (college specific)
- With an option to only include credits that are applicable to program of study
Qualitative & GPA
- Use both cumulative and quarterly GPA
- No program-specific policies for GPA
- Develop a query that identifies students with 6 quarters of enrollment but less than 2.0 college-level GPA
- SAP calculation rules must be able to accurately differentiate between true external transfer credits and rebuilt credits (from non-converted SMS data), or a modification should be built to address this
Maximum Time Frame
- Colleges should have an option to exclude specific courses from calculation. (i.e. remedial, ESL, ABE, transfer credits not applicable to program of study, and HS completion classes)
- Colleges should have an option to include attempted college-level courses and transfer credits applicable to program of study
- Develop query to identify students that have completed a certain percentage of their program of study
Process Recommendations
As part of creating a SAP Common Process, eight recommendations were made that are tracked on the map itself. To ensure those recommendations are tracked, they are also copied below.
- Eliminate as many exception queries as possible
- Have option to read dropped grades for SA
- Option for Maximum Time Frame to be based on current program only
- Option to exclude specific courses from all SAP tests
- Allow SAP process to read statuses and actions for Pass 2
- Option for Maximum Time Frame to include transfer credits applicable to current program
- Batch process to cancel aid by term for Not Meet status once SAP is complete
- Exclude Pass/Satisfactory (or similar) courses from GPA test
With the closure of the ctcLink Project Implementation phase, the Financial Aid Council (FAC) has defined a list of maintenance items that are a priority within that council. From this list, a number of those priority items are focused on solutions related to SAP.
MAINTENANCE LIST:
1. Two SAP Policies:
- Ability to have a separate state SAP status from the Federal status. The addition of a new tab in SAP with its own record for state status. Also include the ability to run separate disbursement item type rules by the different sap statuses for state vs fed aid
- https://www.heug.org/communities/community-home/librarydocuments/viewdocument?DocumentKey=c898ec29-27a0-473b-b892-b493608c72d9
2. Repeat Grades:
- Repeat units are included in attempted but excluded from earned
- Alliance 2022 session# 8576 https://www.alliance-conference.com/p/do/sd/sid=31713
3. MAXT with Developmental Credits over 45:
- Does not automatically exclude from MAXT calculation as they are treated like transferred credits
- REQUIREMENT CLARIFICATION PROVIDED 12/9/2022
4. Excluding ELL/HS 21+:
- Issue: Need for exclusion of English Language Learners (ELL) and High School 21+ (HS 21+) courses from SAP Calculations
5. Program Specific Pace of Progression:
- SAP units earned specific to the program they are for.
6. Transfer Credits in Calculation:
- Transfer and legacy credits aren't included in Pace of Progress.
7. Carry forward sap override status for students that have a PASS2 (Break in Enrollment)
- If a student skips a quarter or more it will only read the most recent quarter. Causes issues on students who are on WARN or who should be suspended for having two quarters in a row of warning but then take a quarter off. When they return instead of being suspended they are WARN again. Also if SUSP then WARN should run to SUSP but run to WARN.
- REQUIREMENT CLARIFICATION PROVIDED 1/24/2023
8. Summer Drops:
- Manually building summer for some students when a student enrolls in summer and drops (even if before the start) the SAP process read Summer as being Not Meet, when it really is not.
- REQUIREMENT CLARIFICATION PROVIDED 1/16/2023
9. Running SAP Before Grade Date for Students with Posted Grade of Withdrawals:
- When student withdraws during the term, SAP runs to "MEET" value (or whatever the status is) until after the “grading date” on SR side.
- Financial Aid office have to override the status to "SUSP" value.
- When we process/approve an appeal, we don’t see if a student needs a contract since Pace doesn’t update until the grading date and SAP is Re-ran. (See 202538193)
10. Grade Forgives:
- When grades are removed from transcripts SAP will never pick up those credits/grades. They must be included to comply with DOE regs. Per federal regulations, we must include grades excluded with an approved amnesty in the cumulative GPA calculations for SAP. We need the system to provide an FA GPA.
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NEXT STEPS DISCUSSED ON 1/24/2023:
- FA Support and CS Core Support meet to review all configuration implications.
- Provide information to FA and CS Core (Enrollment Services) staff on impacts of Grade Scheme table configurations.
- Coordinate Meeting between FA Community and Relevant Enrollment Services Community to discuss impacts of configuration decisions and possible solutions.
11. S or P Grades are Not Showing as Completed:
- No GPA for these classes, SAP will fail GPA test if these are the student only credits.
- REQUIREMENT CLARIFICATION PROVIDED 1/16/2023
12. Communication Template:
- Identify why student is failing and have more specific messaging in the template based on testing variables.
- UPDATE: Per discussion on 12/9/2022 - Colleges would like this discussion tabled until all other items addressed.
13. Business Practice Issue: Daily Execution of SAP Processes:
- Issue: Too much clean up to run daily. When SAP is run for fall before summer, for those who did attend summer, if multiple SAP calculations are completed on the fall term, the override remains in place and must be removed to allow for the actual system calculated results based on summer grades.
14. 2 year GPA:
- Term count is not correct – does not count non-converted/ legacy records as terms attended. This is significant for calculating 2 year GPA issues
15. Variable Credits:
- Enrolls in 1cr/term, the third term shows as ineligible for financial aid due to 2 attempt limit, shown on query.
- REQUIREMENT CLARIFICATION PROVIDED 1/24/2023
16. SAP After Graduation:
- FA Term is not building for all students who have attended and are graduating, SAP cannot run. These queries do not appear to be capturing students who applied for aid, but only have offers (no accepted awards). Per our SAP policy, we are to notify all financial aid applicants at the end of each payment period if they have a negative SAP status. Plan must be manually activated to run communications:
- QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_HAD_AID
- QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_WITH_AID
- REQUIREMENT CLARIFICATION PROVIDED 1/24/2023
17. Queries Needed - Exceptions:
- Need Exceptions Query: Create query to pull career and term exceptions data.
- UPDATE: Per discussion on 12/9/2022 - Colleges would like this discussion tabled until all other items addressed.
18. Queries Needed - Probation:
- Need a Probation Query: Track students override status if they have a break in enrollment.
- UPDATE: Per discussion on 12/9/2022 - Colleges would like this discussion tabled until all other items addressed.
19. Queries Needed - MAXT
- MAXT Query: Track students with SAP Maximum Time Frame with State aid.
- Need Confirmation from Financial Aid Community as to whether the provided solution addresses concerns:
Requirement Definition
Each of the items on the Maintenance List related to SAP need to be assessed for specifically how they can be accomplished within the system. Each item will be documented for how the system is expected to behave in alignment to the stated expectations from the user community.
By gaining this clarity in the requirements we ensure any development work achieves the target from the outset, rather than expending valuable resources creating solutions that do not fully meet the ask and therefore require re-work from technical, functional and testing resources.
Gathering and confirming clear and actionable requirements is the most critical step in any system improvement effort. This work begins with SBCTC staff documenting their understanding of each ask, vetting that understanding and asking clarifying questions of members of the Financial Aid Community and other impact stakeholders by working with the ctcLink College Collaboration Group. Cross-checking with all other impacted areas of the system ensures that these changes won't adversely impact other functional areas (departments), including the data being used for reporting purposes.
Governance
Each of the items on the Maintenance List related to SAP, once the requirement definition is sufficiently formed will have an Enhancement Request sent for governance approval. This ensures that governance has signed off on the impact analysis and effort estimation for each package of work.
Solution Design
The solution design work is a companion activity to requirement definition whereby the requirements are articulated in a solution presentation, with visual representation of layout that provides clear guidance to the development team for any customization work needed. This step is not always required, unless there is customization work that must be executed.
Development
Once the Functional and Technical Design Document are completed the development work will commence. Depending on available resources on the Application Services Team, this development and the corresponding Unit Test work may be contracted out to ensure timelines are met.
Configuration
Any configuration changes made to the system, should they require a specific set of values from each college will be collected in a Configuration Workbook form. If the changes reveal a need to update online materials for Local Configuration Guides, those pages will be updated as well to reflect the revised configuration information.
Testing
Testing activities for all endeavors include Functional/System Integration Testing performed by SBCTC Customer Support Teams and User Acceptance Testing to be performed by college Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). Specific testing materials and instructions will be made available online in the ctcLink Reference Center. Facilitated testing sessions will be offered to provide testing support for SMEs during these activities.
Training & Instructional Materials
Training material development activities will be ongoing through the solution design and internal testing activities. Links to materials related to each release will be provided in the project information area. If Instructor Led Training (ILT) is determined to be needed, scheduling of ILT will be managed by the PMO delivery team in conjunction with the Training Team.
Production Release
Release of each work package into Production will be scheduled around PUM Update activities, as it is not advised to release new feature/functionality for SAP at the same time as a standard PUM release for the CS pillar. Work Packages can be released in small groupings, and will not be held for one single release.
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[Complete] Provided Requirement Clarification Decks for Each Item that include:
- Outlining Problem Statement in Detail
- Providing Screen Shots of Issue Areas
- Document Requirement Understandings 'What colleges are asking for in the change request' to receive confirmation
- Document Requirement Clarifications 'What do we see in the request that colleges need to tell us clearly how they are asking we handle it'
- Outcome = Actionable Requirements to Convert to Functional/Technical Design Document
- [Complete] December 9 & December 16: Special Sessions on SAP Scheduled for Requirement Validation Conversations with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
- [Complete] December 14 & December 28: The College Collaboration Group Meetings following each Special Session on SAP will be provided a synopsis of the progress made during each session
- [Complete] January 17 & January 24: Special Sessions on SAP Scheduled for Requirement Validation Conversations with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
- [In Progress] Draft Solution Design Materials for Approval
- Group Solutions by Type of Development (see sample below)
The 19 items listed on the Financial Aid Council Maintenance List that are being sought to resolve concerns with managing Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) have been grouped below into work packages. Each package will need to go before colleges to review the requirements, ensure all clarifications are secured before proceeding with the Solution Design and Development Phases.
Each request will have a presentation deck prepared that outlines:
- Clearly Articulated Problem Statement
- Screen Samples of Impacted Pages/Components/Reports
- List of Requirement Understandings
- List (if any) Requirement Clarifications
- Requirement Definition Summarization (sign-off)
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Grade Values of "S" or "P" are Not Showing as Completed:
- Problem Statement: SAP will fail the GPA test "S" or "P" grades are the student's only credits. A value of "S" for satisfied or "P" for passed does not generate a grade point value. Due to this, when these are the ONLY classes a student has enrolled in, there is no Grade Point Average value that can be calculated to determine that the student meets a minimum of 2.0 GPA
- WARNING: While this can technically be configured to establish a GP value, it would need to be decided a school policy that these grades grant a standard value. This could negatively impact students who currently have a higher GPA (4.0) and can have an adverse impact to students. While this items is listed as capable of being resolved by configuration, it may need to be moved to the develop custom SAP process after requirement validation session, depending on the outcome of the SME conversation
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Communication Templates:
- Problem Statement: SAP Communication templates currently do not contain merge fields or conditional regions to indicate why a student is failing SAP
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SAP After Graduation:
- Problem Statement: FA Term is not building for all students who have attended and are graduating. Without an Active FA Term, SAP cannot run for that term.
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These queries do not appear to be capturing students who applied for aid, but only have offers (no accepted awards)
- QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_HAD_AID
- QCS_FA_EXPTD_GRAD_WITH_AID
- A college's SAP policy requires that they notify all financial aid applicants at the end of each payment period if they have a negative SAP status. Plan must be manually activated to run communications (above)
-
Variable Credits:
- Problem Statement: When a student earning variable credit enrolls in 1 credit per term, they are treated as repeats, and the third term shows as ineligible for financial aid due to a 2 attempt limit
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NEW Queries Needed:
- Exceptions Query: Create query to pull career and term exceptions data
- Probation Query: Track students override status if they have a break in enrollment
- MAXT Query: Track students with SAP Maximum Time Frame with State aid
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Daily Execution of SAP Processes:
- Problem Statement: There is too much clean up to run SAP daily. When SAP is run for fall before the summer quarter ends, the fall SAP value has to be manually adjusted once Summer grades are posted. If multiple SAP calculations are completed on the fall term, the override value remains in place and must be manually removed to allow for the actual system calculated results based on summer grades
-
Running SAP Before Grade Date for Students with Posted Grade of Withdrawals:
- Problem Statement: When a student withdraws during the term, SAP runs to a "MEET" type value. If SAP is run prior to the grading date, the Financial Aid office has to manually override the SAP status. It is only after reaching the grading date, designated in the Student Records module, that the SAP process will calculate and provide the pace calculation in order for staff to determine and communicate to the student if they will need a contract
-
Grade Forgives:
- Problem Statement: When grades are removed from a student's transcripts SAP will never pick up those credits/grades. These grades still must be included in the cumulative GPA SAP calculation in order to comply with federal regulations. Per the Department of Education, colleges must include grades excluded with an approved amnesty in the cumulative GPA calculations for SAP
-
Maximum Time-frame (MAXT):
- Problem Statement: The maximum time-frame (MAXT) calculation, specifically with transfer credits, does not exclude the remedial credits in excess of 45 credits. Current SAP functionality treats Maximum time-frame is a SAP status, and only allows a student to have one SAP status per term. Colleges need the ability to indicate both a SAP status and that a student is exceeding the maximum time-frame simultaneously in one term. Maximum time-frame should only impact federal aid eligibility, and not state aid eligibility
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Excluding ELL/HS 21+:
- Problem Statement: English Language Learners (ELL) and High School 21+ (HS 21+) courses need to be excluded from SAP Calculations. SAP currently only excludes these designated courses from the maximum time-frame calculation. They are still included in the other SAP calculations
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Repeat Grades:
- Problem Statement: When SAP calculation runs it is picking up 'earned' repeat classes as units attempted, but is excluding them from units earned. 'Earned' repeat units should be included in the units earned SAP calculation
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Transfer Credits in Calculation:
- Problem Statement: Transfer and legacy credits aren't included in Pace of Progress. Program specific pace functionality development should include these credits as well
Two SAP Policies:
- Problem Statement: There is only one SAP process, which is used to indicate a student's Federal SAP status. Colleges want the option to have a separate SAP tab with its own record to indicate state SAP status. Disbursement Item Type Rules should allow for different rules depending on the student's State SAP status and Federal SAP status
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2 year GPA:
- Problem Statement: Term count is not correct as the system does not count non-converted/ legacy records as terms attended. This is significant for calculating 2 year GPA issues
- Cross-Module Team Assessment Needed - Determine whether a programming logic change could read the prior term counts properly, or if a different way of handling non-converted legacy terms is required
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Summer Drops - Bug Fix:
- Problem Statement: Manual work is required to manage students' SAP statuses if they were enrolled for summer and then dropped. If the student's summer SAP status was calculated prior to when they dropped Summer courses, those credits are still being included in Fall SAP calculations. If the student dropped prior to census, these credits should not be included in SAP calculations for Fall. If a student dropped prior census, then the Summer SAP status should not be included in the SAP logic to determine Fall SAP
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Carry Forward SAP Override Status for Students with a PAS2 Break in Enrollment:
- Problem Statement: If a student skips a quarter or more, SAP will only reference the most recent term in order to use a previous SAP status to determine the students current term status, per the Statuses and Actions configuration logic. If the student has a break in enrollment, there will be no previous SAP status to use in the calculation. In many cases, depending the colleges' SAP policies, this causes students to remain at a WARN status, when they should have calculated to a SUSP status
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Program Specific Pace of Progression:
- Problem Statement: SAP includes all units earned in its calculations, regardless of program. In addition to these "overall" type calculations, colleges also need Pace of Progress values for the student's earned credits in each program
- Draft Functional & Technical Design Documentation
- Submit for Development & Unit Testing
- Schedule SIT & UAT Testing Activities (around competing priorities)
- Develop/Modify Training Materials
- Schedule Release
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