Impact on Financial Aid

College Credit Plus and Financial Aid

How Does CC+ Affect Scholarship Eligibility?

Any student admitted to Ohio University as an incoming freshman will be considered for freshmen scholarships including the OHIO Excellence Award Program for students on the Athens campus. Credits earned through CC+ will be considered in determining the student’s academic level (freshman, sophomore, etc.), but will not exclude a student from freshman scholarship consideration.

How Does CC+ Affect Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)?

CC+ credits count as college credit earned for a student. As an incoming freshman, these CC+ credits will not affect a student’s SAP standing. All incoming freshmen will be considered as meeting SAP requirements, which include a 2.0 GPA, 67% successful completion of all credits attempted, and within maximum timeframe standards for their degree program. All students are evaluated in the annual SAP review after grades are posted for the spring semester of their first year at Ohio University.

In the annual SAP review following the students’ freshman year, the student’s cumulative Ohio University GPA will be evaluated. This cumulative GPA will include any CC+ courses taken at Ohio University. Therefore, a low GPA in CC+ courses will negatively impact a student’s cumulative GPA. At the end of spring, a student’s cumulative GPA must be at or above a 2.0 GPA. Typically, first-year students are only required to achieve a 1.75 GPA. However, since these students will have taken courses prior to their first-year, they must meet the 2.0 GPA requirement.

Students will also be evaluated for minimum completion percentage. Any CC+ courses that were attempted, but not successfully completed will negatively impact the completion percentage. At the end of spring semester, a student must have successfully completed 67% of all credits attempted, including CC+ courses. For example, a student attempted 12 CC+ credits, but earned an F in all 12 hours. The student then attempted 30 hours as a first-year student, but earned an F in six hours. The completion percentage would be 57%. Since a 67% completion is required, the student in this example would be ineligible for financial aid for the subsequent year.

Completion Percentage: 57%

If the student in this example earned all 30 credits attempted as a first-year student, the completion percentage would be 71% (30/42), which would allow the student to be eligible for financial aid in the subsequent year.

The third component of SAP is maximum timeframe. Maximum timeframe limits the number of credit hours a student can attempt and be eligible for financial aid to 150% of the normal allotted time to complete the degree. The following are the maximum timeframe limits for undergraduate degree programs:

90 semester hours – associate degree
111 semester hours – associate degree in nursing
180 semester hours – bachelor's degree

CC+ courses do count in the total number of courses attempted and, therefore, impact maximum timeframe calculations.