Financial Aid

Students admitted into a bachelor's degree or Professional Health Careers PDPs may be eligible for federal and state grants, student loans or SCS awards. Some employers offer tuition assistance plans; students should check with their employers before starting any program of study to see if tuition assistance is a part of their employee benefit package.

The Financial Aid Office in Chicago administers the financial aid program for students enrolled in an SCS bachelor's degree or Professional Health Careers PDP. To access financial aid guidelines, forms and application deadlines, visit their website at http://chicagofinancialaid.northwestern.edu/scs/ or contact them at:

Office of Financial Aid
Abbott Hall, Room 629
710 North Lake Shore Drive
Chicago 60611-3078
312-503-8722

Satisfactory Academic Progress Requirements for Financial Aid

Federal and state regulations require recipients of governmental financial aid to maintain satisfactory academic progress in their programs of study. It is the University's expectation that students will make progress towards completion of the degree or credit professional development program in which they are enrolled. These requirements apply to part-time as well as to full-time students for all terms of enrollment within an academic year, including those terms for which no financial aid was granted. In rare situations involving unusual circumstances, students who are not making satisfactory progress may be granted one term of additional aid eligibility.

SCS students must demonstrate satisfactory academic progress in three fundamental ways:

• by maintaining a GPA of 2.0 or higher
• by completing a specified number of courses per academic year
• by completing their program within a specified period of time

In order to meet the minimum standard of academic progress each academic year, students must complete at least two-thirds of the credits attempted. Courses dropped after the second Saturday of each term will be counted towards credits attempted. In order to see a more detailed scenario about how withdrawal dates impact your progress click here. Please note that this requirement is more stringent than the school's Drop policy, which may be found at http://www.scs.northwestern.edu/ugrad/tuition/withdrawal.cfm.

The annual minimum requirements refer to the 9-month period from September through the following May. Attendance during Summer Session normally is not required but may be necessary to meet satisfactory academic progress standards (for example, if the required number of courses is not completed during the nine-month academic year, or if the cumulative GPA falls below 2.0).

Students must complete their programs within a set number of terms to maintain financial aid eligibility. This number is determined by the number of hours required for the program and enrollment status (i.e., part- or full-time).

If a student receives transfer credit for work done at other academic institutions, the assistant dean for student services will determine the number of required terms. Specific term limits for the various degree and credit professional development programs can be received from SCS Student Services.

Current federal regulations permit students to exceed by 50 percent the number of terms required to complete their degree or professional development program before losing eligibility for further financial assistance. For example, it is possible to receive aid for 12 semesters for a program for which eight semesters is the determined length for completion. All periods of enrollment, including Summer Session, are counted in the total. Periods of academic leave will not be considered when determining financial aid eligibility.

Evaluation of satisfactory academic progress is made each academic year at the end of the spring term. If a student is not making satisfactory academic progress, additional review will occur until satisfactory academic progress is attained.

If a student attends Summer Session to maintain satisfactory academic progress, files will not be evaluated until grades for that term are posted, and thus the student may not be eligible to register early for fall-term classes.

As a result, students are entitled to appeal a determination that satisfactory academic progress is not being maintained. The written appeal should explain any relevant extraordinary circumstances, address the reason(s) for failing to meet the minimum academic requirements, and offer some solution to the problems that affected prior academic performance. Supporting documentation, such as statements from academic advisers, professors, professional health care workers, etc., is also required. The appeal will be reviewed by a committee chaired by the assistant dean for student services.

If an appeal is granted, the student will be eligible for aid during one additional academic term. If eligibility during that probationary term is not established, no further aid can be offered until all satisfactory academic progress requirements have been met. Normally, this involves completing courses that cannot be funded with federal or state grants or loans.

If students have not met the minimum GPA requirements, they may appeal only if they have maintained a cumulative GPA of 1.75 to 1.99. If the cumulative GPA is 1.74 or below, students are not eligible to appeal their status. However, students would regain financial aid eligibility when the GPA is raised to the minimum requirement of 2.0 and all other satisfactory academic progress requirements as outlined in this section are fulfilled.