Satisfactory Academic Policy (SAP)
The SAP Policy specifically addresses the qualitative and quantitative standards used to measure student progress. An overview the standards is set forth below.
Qualitative standard
The qualitative standard assesses the student’s academic performance level. All Aston students must meet the minimum level of academic performance to maintain his/her student status at Da Vinci. Generally, the academic performance minimum required level is a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 2.0 (C) on total enrolled credit hours. Letter grades of A, B, C, and D are counted in the earned credit hours. Grades F, W, and I and repeated courses are not counted in the earned credit hours. The grade “I” can be changed to A, B, C, D or F if the student completes the course upon the instructor’s permission. The converted grade will then be included in the student’s earned credit hours.
Any student requesting an “I” grade must complete a Student Petition and Contract for a Grade of Incomplete and submit it to the Chief Academic Officer prior to the final day of the term/semester. The Petition will specify a deadline by which the coursework must be completed. An incomplete (“I”) automatically becomes an incomplete/failure (“IF”) if work has not been completed and a grade has not been submitted by the specific deadline.
Aston’s quantitative standard is comprised of the total credit hours earned and the time allotments for completion of total credit hours earned.
Total credit hours earned
Da Vinci awards students one semester hour of credit for each 45 hours of student work. For example: Student completion of each Da Vinci undergraduate and graduate online course earns 3 credit hours. Accordingly, for each 3 credit hour course, the student is expected to perform a total of 135 hours work in the course. DBA courses are 4 credit hours.
Maximum completion times
All students are expected to finish degree and certificate courses in a timely manner to help ensure they are moving toward successfully culminating their program(s) of study. The maximum amount of time for a full time student to complete each of Da Vinci’s programs of study for the Bachelor degree is up to 8 years for completion. Master is up to 5 years for completion. Doctorate is up to 10 years for completion. Any student that has not completed their degree program by the maximum completion time will need to sign an addendum to the enrollment agreement.
Program increments and student compliance with minimum progress standards
Da Vinci’s SAP Policy sets out the division of completion increments for each program of study. Under each of the increments, Da Vinci compares the amount of work a student has attempted to the amount of work the student has successfully completed. The percentage of hours a student must have completed at the end of each increment of his/her program of study is great enough to enable the student to successfully complete the entire program of study within the allowed maximum time frame.
Da Vinci’s SAP Policy takes into account that a student enrolled part time will not attempt as many credit hours as a student enrolled full time. Any student that has not completed their degree program by the maximum completion time will need to sign an addendum to the enrollment agreement.