Federal regulations require all institutions to establish Reasonable Academic Progress (RAP) standards. These standards apply for all:

• Federal, state, and institutional programs,
• Grade levels,
• Part-time and full-time students, and
• All terms of enrollment (even those when financial aid was not given).

Academic progress for students who attend the College of Veterinary Medicine is monitored by the College independently and is the same as the financial aid Reasonable Academic Progress Policy.

Reasonable Academic Progress standards call for two components of measurement:

• Qualitative
  • Measured by using the student's cumulative GPA.
  • Graduate and Professional (Veterinary Medicine) students must have a 3.0 or greater and Undergraduate students must have a 2.0 or greater to be eligible for consideration of continued aid. Undergraduate GPA will be evaluated after four terms of enrollment; however, progress is reviewed annually according to the University's Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy.
• Quantitative
  • Measured by using the maximum time frame. Students are no longer eligible to receive aid once they have attempted more than 150% of the hours it takes to complete the program.
  • For example, a student who needs 120 hours to graduate would no longer be eligible for financial aid after the 180th credit hour attempted.
  • All attempted hours are counted, including transfer hours, whether or not financial aid was received or the course work successfully completed.
  • Passing and failing credits received for pass/fail courses count towards the measurement of attempted and earned credit hours
  • Audit courses are not considered credits attempted or earned, nor is financial aid awarded for audit courses.

Virginia Tech includes a third component in measuring Reasonable Academic Progress:

• Completion Rate
  • Measured every spring semester by comparing the number of attempted credit hours with the number of credit hours earned, according to the student's class schedule on the last day to add classes.
  • A student must earn 75% of their attempted credits in order to maintain Reasonable Academic Progress
  • Official withdrawals and unofficial withdrawals, incomplete's, and failures are all considered attempted but not earned hours.
  • If a student changes majors, all hours from the previous major(s) will be included in the GPA and the calculation of attempted or earned hours
  • Transfer credits, including those received during consortium study, do not count in the calculation of the student's GPA but do count in the calculation of attempted and earned hours.

The treatment of incomplete's: Students assigned an incomplete in a course must complete all requirements for the class by the first subsequent term of enrollment. Incomplete's turn to an "F" if no grade is reported at the end of the subsequent term. The Office of University Scholarships and Financial Aid (USFA) is not notified of grade changes nor does USFA reassess progress mid-year. Therefore, students should resubmit their RAP appeal when informed of grade changes.

Students who do not meet RAP standards will receive an academic progress notice to their Virginia Tech email account. The letter will outline:

• The academic standards
• The reason(s) the student failed RAP
• The appeal procedures the student must follow
• Recommendations and resources on how to improve academic performance