The Federal Department of Education requires that Federal Title IV Financial Assistance recipients meet Satisfactory Academic Progress standards each year. Federal Title IV Financial Assistance includes the Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Work-Study, Federal Stafford Loan and Federal Graduate PLUS Loan programs. Each university determines its own policy regarding sufficient progress standards.
Federal academic progress standards must include two elements: cumulative QPA and cumulative units. At Carnegie Mellon, graduate students (excluding graduate students in Tepper School of Business and The Heinz School) must pass 80 percent of all cumulative units attempted at Carnegie Mellon and have at least a 2.00 cumulative QPA.
Carnegie Mellon realizes that extenuating circumstances may contribute to a student’s inability to achieve Satisfactory Academic Progress, and thus we encourage students to appeal after receipt of progress failure notification.