Standards of Academic Progress, Schedule Changes & Grades

Standards of Academic Progress Policy

Students using VA educational benefits are required to meet the Standards of Academic Progress Policy. Failure to meet the policy will result in termination of benefits. SVCC's Standards of Academic Progress Policy may be found here.

Schedule Changes

Students are responsible for notifying the Veterans Certifying Official of changes in enrollment. Failure to report changes in enrollment may result in overpayments. Students required to complete monthly verification of enrollment (Ch. 30, 1606 and 1607) must report the correct hours when completing their verification. See below to understand how changes in enrollment will affect your benefits.

Students need to be aware that:

for both Federal and State benefits, courses reported as "Never Attended" are ineligible for benefits and will result in all benefits for these courses being removed. This may result in an overpayment. If you register for classes and decide not to attend, make sure you withdraw before the end of the add/drop period.
prior to dropping courses, students should meet with the Veterans Certifying Official to ensure understanding of the consequences of dropping courses.

During Add/Drop Period (first 2 weeks of school for Fall/Spring Term):

Federal benefits: Courses dropped prior to the add/drop period will be paid at the certified rate, up to the last date of attendance.
State benefits:
- Benefits will be removed and unused for courses dropped during 100% drop period (1st week of classes)
- For courses dropped during 80% drop period (2nd week of classes), student must notify Veteran's Certifying Official of choice of:
  - using benefits to pay the 20% balance due, however will be charged for full unit, per credit hour, of their benefit, or
  - having benefit removed and paying 20% balance due out of pocket.

After Add/Drop Period:

Federal benefits; Courses dropped after the add/drop period will result in an overpayment retroactive to the first day of the term. The VA allows an automatic one-time exception up to 6 credit hours under assumed mitigating circumstances. Under this exception, benefits will be paid up to the last date of attendance. The student is responsible for contacting the VA regarding this exception.
State benefits:
- Benefits will be removed for courses reported as "Never Attended"
- For courses dropped during 0% drop period (after 2nd week of classes), student must notify Veteran's Certifying Official of choice of:
  - using benefits to pay the balance due, however will be charged for full unit, per credit hour, of their benefit, or
  - having benefit removed and paying balance due out of pocket.

Mitigating Circumstances (Federal Benefits):

If there are "mitigating circumstances" involved in the reduction of credit hours, the student must provide documentation and a statement. This documentation may be submitted directly to the VA or to the Office of Student Financial Assistance to be forwarded to the VA.

Grades

The VA pays for the following grades: "A", "B", "C", "D", "F", "P" and "G". Grades not covered include "W", "WF", "WP", "Q", "R", "S", "X" and "Z".

Students receiving an Incomplete "I" grade in a course must complete the course by the end of the next semester that the course is offered. The instructor will assign a letter grade for that semester regardless whether course is completed or not. Students may not receive any of the grades not payable by the VA, or payments will be retroactively reduced back to the first day of the term. Students with an "I" grade for a course may not certified for re-registering for the course unless payment has already been reduced