GW will adopt stricter academic standards for financial aid to comply with new federal guidelines.

Under the new criteria, students will receive one warning if they drop below the minimum 2.0 grade point average before their award is revoked. GW previously allowed students up to three warnings.

“We estimate that there will be an increase in students who will not meet the satisfactory progress requirements,” Associate Vice President for Financial Assistance Dan Small said.

About 0.5 percent of students who receive awards will not meet the requirements most years, Small said.

These standards stem from a Federal Board of Education policy – announced in October 2010 – ordering universities to publish requirements for students who obtain federal loans, grants and work-study funds.

The change formalizes older standards, Sara Gast, a press officer from the Department of Education, said.

“We are just clarifying the rules,” she said.

Gast said reviews revealed that some schools gave aid to students who didn’t meet standards. She declined to say whether or not GW fell into this category.