Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
- Robert Lenk
- Chris Barrett
- Nate Parsell
About Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) is a requirement that students meet certain academic performance metrics to receive federal financial aid. Campus Cafe includes reports to assist institutions in identifying students who fail to meet SAP. The reports are informational only and have no effect on whether a student’s aid may be packaged or disbursed.
Student finder reports
You can use the student finder to view high-level information about students' SAP, including the student’s term and cumulative GPA, percentage of classes passed in a specific semester and the percentage of classes passed overall.
When calculating percentage of courses passed, Campus Cafe looks only at class enrollments for which the student has received a final grade. If the final grade is empty, the class isn’t factored into the percentage. For example if Keith Gilligan enrolled in three classes in the fall semester and has passing grades for two and no grade for the other, Campus Cafe returns a 100% completion rate.
Calculate data
Campus Cafe updates GPA and credit information displayed in the student finder nightly. However, we recommend you initiate this process manually prior to reviewing SAP to ensure you see current information.
Go to Registrar > GPA Processor.
Select All people enrolled based on the semester and site chosen below.
In Semester select the semester for which you plan to review SAP.
Click Submit.
Review SAP
Run finder
Once you’ve updated the GPA data, you can use the student finder to see the data you need to determine who meets SAP.
Your filter wording may vary because your institution can replace the word “semester” with a word of its choosing. For example, you may use trimester, quarter or module instead of semester. The wording is set in custom control LABEL_SEMESTER.
Go to Filters > Students.
Click Expand Filters.
In Single Semester select the semester for which you wish to review SAP. If you don’t see this filter, click Hide/Show Fields and select it.
Click Column Visibility and select the columns Single Sem GPA, Single Sem Cum GPA, Single Sem Credits Percentage, Single Sem Cum Credits Percentage and Cum Credits Percentage.
The GPA fields show you the student’s GPA in the selected academic period as well as their cumulative GPA at the end of the period. Your institution determines a minimum GPA for SAP, but typically this is 2.0.
The Single Semester Credits Percentage looks only at all courses with a final grade the student enrolled in during the semester you selected. The field returns the earned credits divided by attempted credits as a percentage. Put another way, this is the percent of graded classes the student passed.
The Single Semester Cumulative Credits Percentage looks at all courses with a final grade the student enrolled in during and prior to the semester you selected. The field returns the earned credits divided by attempted credits as a percentage. Courses enrolled in semesters after the semester you selected aren’t included.
The Cumulative Credits Percentage looks at all courses with a final grade the student is enrolled in over all semesters, past, present and future. The field returns the earned credits divided by attempted credits as a percentage
Example
Keith Gilligan has enrolled in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 and the spring semester has just concluded. In Fall 2023, Keith attempted two 3-credit classes for a total of 6 credits and passed both. In Spring 2024, Keith attempted one 3-credit course and one 4-credit course for a total of 7 credits. He passed the 3-credit course but failed the 4-credit course. Overall, Keith has attempted 13 credits and passed 9.
Using the student finder, you select Single Semester Spring 2024 and see the below.
Single Sem GPA shows Keith’s GPA for Spring 2024 because you selected that semester in Single Semester.
Single Sem Cum GPA shows Keith’s cumulative GPA at the end of Spring 2024. This factors in his spring and fall grades.
Single Sem Credits Percentage shows the percentage of Spring 2024 credits he passed. He attempted 7, but only passed 3, so 3/7 x 100 = 42.86%.
Single Sem Cum Credits Percentage shows the percentage of credits Keith passed for classes taken during and prior to Spring 2024. He attempted 13 credits but only passed 9, so 9/13 x 100 = 69.23%.
Cum Credits Percentage shows the percentage of credits Keith passed up to and including Spring 2024, the semester you selected. Because this time frame includes his entire record, you see the same percentage as shown in Single Sem Cum Credits Percentage. If you instead selected the semester Fall 2023, you would see 100% because Campus Cafe would look only at Fall 2023 and prior, a period of time when he passed all his classes.
Whether Keith meets SAP depends on your institution’s policies. Often students must maintain a 2.0 GPA and pass two-thirds of their classes. While Keith has passed two-thirds of his classes overall, he didn’t this semester. And he doesn’t have a 2.0 GPA for the semester or overall. As such, Keith is likely at risk of losing his federal financial aid or, at the least, being put on financial aid probation.
Save your columns
If you use the finder often to review SAP, you may want to show the key columns and then save the layout saving you from having to show the columns each time.
When the columns are visible, under Results click the disk.
In Name of Table Configuration enter a way to identify this column arrangement. For example, SAP.
Click Save.
When you want to show the columns in the future, under Results, select the table configuration you created.
Base reports
The base reports offer different detail than the Student Finder reports.
Go to Faculty/Staff > Base Reports.
Log in using the institution's report credentials that are different than your credentials.
Click Registrar Reports.
Two SAP reports are available. The Term Based Satisfactory Academic Progress report is designed for credit-based semester institutions. The Satisfactory Academic Progress report is designed for clock-hour institutions.
Term-based satisfactory academic progress report
This report is designed for institutions with credit-based academic programs that run on semesters, trimesters or quarters.
The report relies on GPA and credit data updated overnight by the GPA Processor. The processor may be manually initiated at any time. Directions.
You can set the following filters in the report:
Term for SAP: Student credits and GPA will be shown as of this semester.
Student Site: Limit the report to students associated with the selected degree site(s) during the selected Term for SAP. To identify a student's site, the report evaluates the student's degree rows and each degree row's degree start date and degree end date. The report returns the most recent degree row the student participated in during the selected Term for SAP. If no degree start and degree end dates are present, the report assumes the student was associated with site 1.
School Department(s): Limit the report to students in academic programs associated with selected department(s) as configured on the Major Detail page. To identify a student's department, the report evaluates the student's degree rows and each degree row's degree start date and degree end date. The report returns the most recent degree row the student participated in during the selected Term for SAP. If no degree start and degree end dates are present, no data will be returned.
Resulting information
After you run the report, you’ll see the below information.
First Name: The student's given name.
Last Name: The student's surname.
ID Number: The student's Campus Cafe ID number.
Major/Program: The student's academic program during the selected Term for SAP. To identify a student's program, the report evaluates the student's degree rows and each degree row's degree start date and degree end date. The report returns the most recent degree row the student participated in during the selected Term for SAP. If no degree start and degree end dates are present, no data will be returned.
Cum. Credits Taken: The total number of credits attempted by the student.
Cum. Credits Earned: The total number of credits passed by the student that count as earned credits.
Academic Rating: Cum. Credits Earned divided by Cum. Credits Taken resulting in the percentage of credits passed.
Semester GPA: The student's grade point average for the selected Term for SAP.
Cum. GPA: The student's cumulative GPA as of the selected Term for SAP.
Download the report
The report can be exported to Excel for filtering or analysis.
Optionally in the filter selection Format For Export to Excel (N/Y) select Yes to eliminate the title and header information for easier filtering in Excel.
Click the blue disk.
Click Excel.
Save the report to your computer and open in Excel or other spreadsheet software.
Clock-hour satisfactory academic progress report
This report is designed for institutions with clock-hour academic programs.
You can set the following filters in the report:
Start of Enrollment Date Range: Limit the report to students enrolled in classes that started on or after this date.
End of Enrollment Date Range: Limit the report to students enrolled in classes that started on or before after this date.
Start Value for SAP Semester/Term Range: The enrollment date range may encompass multiple semesters. Select the first semester for the report to evaluate.
End Value for SAP Semester/Term Range: The enrollment date range may encompass multiple semesters. Select the last semester for the report to evaluate.
School Department(s): Limit the report to students in academic programs associated with selected department(s) as configured on the Major Detail page. To identify a student's department, the report evaluates the student's degree rows and each degree row's degree start date and degree end date. The report returns the most recent degree row the student participated in during the selected timeframe. If no degree start and degree end dates are present, no data will be returned.
Student Site: Limit the report to students associated with the selected degree site(s) during the selected timeframe. To identify a student's site, the report evaluates the student's degree rows and each degree row's degree start date and degree end date. The report returns the most recent degree row the student participated in during the selected timeframe. If no degree start and degree end dates are present, the report assumes the student was associated with site 1.
Enter/Select Earliest Program Start Date: Limit the report to students who started their academic program on or after this date based on the student's degree row degree start date.
Enter/Select Latest Program Start Date: Limit the report to students who started their academic program on or before this date based on the student's degree row degree start date.
Resulting information
After you run the report, you’ll see the below information.
First Name: The student's given name.
Last Name: The student's surname.
ID Number: The student's Campus Cafe ID number.
Major/Program: The student's academic program during the selected timeframe. To identify a student's program, the report evaluates the student's degree rows and each degree row's degree start date and degree end date. The report returns the most recent degree row the student participated in during the selected timeframe. If no degree start and degree end dates are present, no data will be returned.
Pgm. Start Date: The date the student began the academic program based on the student's degree row degree start date.
School Department: The department associated with the student's academic program. To identify a student's department, the report evaluates the student's degree rows and each degree row's degree start date and degree end date. If no degree start and degree end dates are present, no data will be returned.
SAP Term: The term associated with the credit and GPA information displayed. Students may be enrolled in multiple terms during the selected timeframe. The system will use the highest (most recent) term.
Cum. Credits Taken: The total number of credits attempted by the student.
Cum. Credits Earned: The total number of credits passed by the student that count as earned credits.
Academic Rating: Cum. Credits Earned divided by Cum. Credits Taken resulting in the percentage of credits passed.
Semester GPA: The student's grade point average for the shown SAP Term.
Cum. GPA: The student's cumulative GPA as of the shown SAP Term.
Download the report
The report can be exported to Excel for filtering or analysis.
Optionally in the filter selection Format For Export to Excel (N/Y) select Yes to eliminate the title and header information for easier filtering in Excel.
Click the blue disk.
Click Excel.
Save the report to your computer and open in Excel or other spreadsheet software.
