On July 1, the university adopted new student financial aid standards in order to comply with new federal guidelines, and to encourage students to progress towards graduation faster. The changes to the policy affect all students who receive Federal Title IV financial aid.

“This new policy was specifically made to help move students forward,” said Mary Lacour, director of the office of financial aid. “This is an update on the old policy, which passed in 2007, to meet new regulations.  There are some small changes as far as requirements to receive aid, but the biggest change is that this new policy was made to be clearer and easier to be interpreted by students.”

The 2007 policy required all undergraduate students to maintain a 1.75 GPA to receive Title IV financial aid funds. Students now must maintain a 2.0 GPA. The policy also shows that aid providers now takes the number of withdrawals and failed classes under consideration more seriously than before.  Basically, if over one-third of classes taken are withdrawn from, failed or a combination of both, students will be ineligible for Title IV aid despite GPA.

“For serious students this shouldn’t be a problem,” said English Professor and English Department Undergraduate Coordinator Dr. Joan Faust. “But this will present a challenge to students who basically exist on financial aid and neglect being a student.”

The goals of the new policy seem to fall in line with those of the LA GRAD Act, which also was updated recently and  seeks to improve graduation rates. However, according to Lacour the two are unrelated.

“This policy was drawn up without the GRAD Act in mind, but I can see how they would effect each other,” said Lacour.

The Office of Financial Aid mailed letters to every student enrolled whether they receive Title IV aid or not. The letter itself gives a general outline of the policy but doesn’t give as much detail as the policy itself, which was included in the letter. An electronic copy of the policy can be found at www.selu.edu/financialaid.