Course Program of Study (CPOS)

Students will be notified by the Office of Financial Aid if their Federal Financial Aid is impacted due to enrollment in classes that do not apply to their degree program. They will be able to see the courses that are not applicable on the Financial Aid tab on the Banner Student Landing Page and in the header on DegreeWorks. 

• Student registers for courses other than instructed by advisor and are not required for the declared program.
• Course is a substitution, but the official substitution process is not complete.
• Courses are not required in the student's catalog year and are not appropriate to the program of study/major.
• Course was previously repeated and no longer qualifies for aid.
  • If the course is already repeated twice, with passing grades, it is not eligible for financial aid. The student may register for a different eligible course.
• Course is an elective and the student already fulfilled all electives.

We will start running CPOS during registration fro the Fall 2026 semester.

A student’s course registration will begin being reviewed one week after registration opens.  We will continue to review their courses if they add or drop any sessions.

Once enrollment has been “frozen” at the end of roster verification, a student’s registration will be reviewed one final time.  The only time this would be reviewed again was if a student adds or drops a course for 2nd session.

We highly encourage continuing students to officially declare their added major by the first day of priority registration. At the very least, all major changes should be completed prior to the first day of classes.

Students receiving financial aid are welcome to take classes that are not required for their program of study. However, they will need to pay for those classes out-of-pocket or with excess financial aid.

Electives must satisfy a requirement of your declared major. If you have been notified that an elective is not counting toward your Federal Financial Aid eligibility, contact your academic advisor. If an advisor determines that the elective is satisfying a requirement and will count toward your declared major, they will submit a course substitution request. Course substitutions cannot be submitted until you are registered for the course, and they should be submitted prior to the first day of class.

Scholarships do not require that students enroll in courses in their program of study. Scholarship awards will not be based on classes counted in the student’s major.

Do NOT begin modifying your schedule without consultation with an academic advisor! An advisor will be able to review your registration and determine whether the system is accurately assessing your enrollment. If not and your enrollment has been approved to count as part of your declared major, contact your academic advisor to discuss options.

First, the term “financial aid” refers to any funding designed to assist with your educational expenses. Most financial aid flows through the school and is applied directly to your student account.

FEDERAL Financial Aid: This financial aid is generally determined based on the information included on your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Examples include the Pell Grant, SEOG Grant, Direct Loans, and PLUS Loans to name a few. CPOS DOES impact these awards.

STATE Financial Aid: This financial aid may also use information included on the FAFSA to determine eligibility, but sometimes require an additional application. The primary difference is that the source of funding is from the state government. Examples include the HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarship. CPOS DOES NOT impact any of these awards.

Satisfactory Academic Progress is based on total hours taken and not federal aid eligible hours taken. All hours will continue to count towards Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP).

If a student believes a course should count, but it isn’t, they should contact their academic advisor.

Learning support (classes below the 1000 level: ENGL 0999, MATH 0999, etc.) are eligible for financial aid funding up to a maximum of 30 attempted remedial hours. As long as the student is otherwise eligible for federal financial aid, the credits for the remedial courses will be considered as in-program and eligible for federal financial aid.

The override process is completely manual and requires action from multiple departments. Please allow 7-10 business days for your financial aid to reflect the override.

The CPOS automated review process happens nightly. It can only review updates that are reflected on your account. If the updates have been fully processed and your course is determined to be eligible, the CPOS alert/flag will be cleared within 2-3 business days of the overnight CPOS process.

NOTE: Requests for major changes and course substitutions are not immediate and require manual updates in the system.

Double majors must be officially declared and reflected in the student’s DegreeWorks by the end of the Drop/Add period. Courses counting toward undeclared majors will not be included in the program of study.

NOTE: Requests for major changes and course substitutions are not immediate and require manual updates in the system.

Two separate evaluations affect whether a course counts for Federal financial aid: program of study evaluation and repeated coursework evaluation. A course will count toward the program of study if it appears in the student’s degree evaluation, even if it’s a repeat of a previously taken course. However, to be eligible for Federal financial aid, the course must also meet repeated coursework evaluation guidelines.

For example:
• If a student fails a course (‘F’), they can retake it unlimited times until they earn a
passing grade (‘D’ or higher).
• Once a student earns a ‘D’ or better, they can retake the course only one more time
with aid.
• Even if a ‘D’ doesn’t meet academic program requirements, it is considered passing for
federal aid purposes.

No, classes for your minor will not count for CPOS unless it fulfills a requirement for your major. If your major includes elective credits, you may use those electives to take courses that count toward a minor as long as those courses also count toward your degree program. In that case, they would be eligible for Federal Financial Aid.

If you're a student receiving VA Benefits, these benefits are generally paid for courses required by your degree path, although a few exceptions may apply. If you have questions about course eligibility, please contact ABAC’s VA Certifying Official.

To stay eligible for full-time federal financial aid, any courses you take while abroad must meet your degree requirements or electives.

Contact your academic advisor to see if a different course could be substituted for the unavailable course in your program of study.

International students are not affected by this regulation, as you do not qualify and/or receive federal or state financial aid.