Written by: Alissa Flores
Students at Southern Adventist University who wish to receive federal financial aid are facing the enforcement of regulations regarding the courses they can take. The university began enforcing the Course Program of Study (CPOS), a federal requirement of the Department of Education, this semester. CPOS mandates that the courses a student takes must count towards their actual degree to determine their eligibility for federal aid.
Paula Walters, director of Student Finance for Southern Adventist University, said students face CPOS regulations when they take courses outside of their first program of study, which consist entirely of classes leading to a degree, she said.
Karon Powell, director of Records and Advisement, added that the “Student Planning” section of students’ MyAccess pages is set up to reflect what students need to obtain their current degree.
“Whatever you see in Student Planning, all those different sections should generally be in your first program of study,” she said. “Where students tend to maybe run into issues is in elective hours.”
Powell provided an example. If a student registers for 11 credit hours and needs at least 12 to be considered a full-time student in a single semester, they might decide to take an elective that is unrelated to their degree.
Powell explained that although it is alright for students to take electives or general classes that don’t pertain to their degrees, they should keep track of the amount of unrelated credits they are taking. If they don’t, their federal financial aid might change.
“Usually when people do that, they’re not checking to see if they have enough electives, either left or coming up. And then [students] go to Student Finance saying, ‘I should be getting full-time financial aid,’” Powell said. “And financial aid will say to you, ‘Well, is that one credit hour actually something that you need?’”
Walters said the development of this issue is situational, as it depends on the students’ unique financial situation and whether or not they receive federal aid. Institutional aid, merit scholarships and renewable scholarships are not affected by CPOS. It is only when using state and governmental aid, such as the Tennessee Promise Scholarship, HOPE Scholarship and federal Pell Grants, that students must be careful to ensure their schedules are CPOS-approved, meaning their course load includes at least 12 credits that count toward their degree.
“I think there is an impact overall to our students because we have so many who are receiving some sort of federal or state aid,” Powell said about CPOS regulations.
CPOS does not negate students’ eligibility for federal financial aid, she added.
“[If your course load is not CPOS-approved,] it doesn’t mean that you’re not going to be eligible for your Pell Grant or your HOPE Scholarship for the entire semester,” Powell said. “It just means the amount you’re going to qualify for could be different based on your course load and the number of courses you’re taking, whether they’re going towards your program of study or not.”
“Overall, we want students to pay attention to what they’re taking.”
CPOS is less restrictive in regard to federal loans, Powell added.
“If you have a student, for example, who has only loans, and they’re in the 11 credit hours, and 11 of those credit hours are towards their program of study, that’s okay,” Powell said. “ … As long as at least six of your credits are going towards your major, you’re locked in; you’re fine.”
Powell said students should take time to understand CPOS and other course load requirements, as well as take initiative in making smart decisions for their future.
“Overall, we want students to pay attention to what they’re taking instead of maybe randomly enrolling in classes and not looking at or taking ownership of what they’re doing.” she said.“[We want them] planning ahead.”
Powell recommends students use the timeline feature of Student Planning and pre-registration to help them obtain the credits they need and start being proactive about the future.
Walters said students often ask Student Finance how they can take electives outside their major requirements. CPOS requires that students receiving governmental aid must take 12 credit hours to obtain their degree in a single semester, but those students are free to explore unrelated electives past the 12-credit mark. In addition, most students need to take more than 12 credit hours each semester to graduate in four years, Walters said, so advisors encourage their advisees to take 15-16 credit hours.
Although the Department of Education recently began regulating CPOS, Southern has been very intentional in reaching out to students in an effort to inform them of the new stipulations in a timely manner, according to Powell.
“What we’ve been doing through the summer is going through student registrations and calling students, so we’ve reached out to people personally. If we haven’t called them, we’ve emailed them,” Powell said. “For each student who appears in our report as potentially having a course or courses that are not covered, we’ll reach out to them. And we’ll say, ‘Hey, this potentially isn’t going to be covered by financial aid. You need to contact your advisor.’”
CPOS restrictions are new to students and faculty, Walters said.
“I think it was on August 14 that Karon and I presented to faculty and advisors about this, and just tried to train with them and tried to help them understand what this is [and answer]: ‘How does it impact me?’ and ‘How does it impact my students?’” Walters said.
Powell added: “The faculty has been extremely responsive. I’ve received a lot of questions, and they’ve been super proactive in asking. They’re very aware, and they’re taking the initiative to try to train students as well.”