This policy establishes the standards for Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) at Richmindale College to ensure students are making adequate progress toward completing their degree or certificate programs

This policy applies to all students of Richmindale College

Richmindale College requires a student to move towards the completion of an educational program using a scholastic standard in accordance with the Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy. This policy includes all periods of enrollment in a degree or a certificate program. Students will be evaluated using the standards described below.

Standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) will be evaluated at the end of each semester. Students who have not attended Richmindale College will not have their SAP status determined from previous terms attended and any credit transferred in from other schools of higher education.

There are three measures of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). The three measures are outlined below. Failure to meet any of the standards will result in a student being placed on academic probation, or in the case of not entering into satisfactory academic progress after two consecutive terms of being placed on academic probation, a student will be dismissed from Richmindale College. A student may appeal the decision; however, the student will not be permitted to enroll in courses during the appeal process.

Courses not yet graded are considered attempted. They are counted in the denominator and not in the numerator, which has a negative impact on the GPA. If within 7 days of the term ending, a course grade is recorded, the GPA will be re-calculated, and the SAP status will reflect the new calculation. If the new SAP calculation shows the GPA to be less than 2.0, the student will be sent an email notification containing the updated information and if any student action is required. See the Academic Status section more details about the requirement in maintaining a minimum cumulative GPA.

Satisfactory Academic Progress requires students to successfully complete 66.67% of all credits attempted at Richmindale College.

Students must complete their degrees within 150% of the program’s published length. Students who have attempted more than 150% of the published length needed to complete their degree or program plan will have reached their Maximum Time Frame (MTF). Students who have reached their MFT are considered to not be meeting SAP.

The following coursework taken during the term is also included in the SAP evaluation:

The following coursework is not included in the SAP evaluation:

Students who fail to satisfy the SAP requirements are placed on academic probation for one term. If the student does not regain SAP at the end of this probationary period, the student may have their probationary period extended for one additional term. If a student has not regained SAP after the two consecutive term probationary periods, the student is dismissed from Richmindale College.

Students are notified of their SAP probationary status through an email delivered to the students’ official email address. The notification explains the actions taken by Richmindale and reports any action items for the student. Action items for the students could be their right to file an appeal with an explanation. Students being dismissed, due to not regaining SAP, are notified through their official email address that they have been dismissed from Richmindale for such reason, along with their rights to appeal the dismissal. The email contains instructions for the appeal process.

Students who are dismissed due to not making student academic progress are given 7 calendar days from the date of the email notification to submit an appeal on RIMS > Dashboard > Academics > Performance > SAP Appeal, or copy and paste the link www.richmindale.com/rims/sap/appeal in a web browser. Upon submission, a notification email is sent to the student confirming receipt of the appeal.

Richmindale provides an email response within 10 business days of receiving the appeal. The response states the result of the appeal, whether the school will waive the SAP requirements or not. Students whose appeals are denied are informed that they can re-apply for admission after one term.

Richmindale may waive the SAP requirements for students who are dismissed and submitted an appeal with a valid reason. Valid reasons may include, but are not limited to:

Richmindale may also waive the SAP requirements if the student is one term away from graduation, and the college believes that the student will make satisfactory progress and actually graduate at the end of the next term.