New Academic Progress Policy:
Part I
This edition of the Advising Essentials details the changes to the Academic Difficulty and Recovery Policy and the procedures that go with it. The next edition of the Advising Essentials will highlight resources and best practices for helping students who are facing academic difficulty.

Starting with the posting of Summer 2019 grades, there is a new Academic Difficulty and Recovery policy. According to the Academic Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual (linked below), these changes are designed to help students identify the barriers to their success, receive meaningful interventions, and determine if their academics can be recovered in a realistic timeline.

Similarities
There are pieces of the former Academic Progress policy that are incorporated in this new policy. They include:

  • Students are placed in Academic Warning if their CGPA dips below a 2.0.

  • Students will have an Academic Warning hold placed on their LionPATH account that will prevent them from making scheduling adjustments during the current semester or schedule courses for the next semester.

  • Students who are in Academic Warning but earn a semester GPA of a 2.0 or higher are allowed to continue to the next semester; if their GPA is still below a 2.0, they will remain in Academic Warning.

  • Students who are in Academic Warning and do not earn a semester GPA of a 2.0 or higher are academically suspended for two semesters (summer counts as one semester).

  • Students may re-enroll after their suspension. If they fail to earn a semester GPA of a 2.0 during their first semester after re-enrollment, they will be academically dismissed for four years.

Changes
Now let's look at the changes to the new policy in the context of the old policy:
The old policy allowed students a grace period of 18 credits; if they earned below a CGPA 2.0 within their first 18 credits, they were not put on Academic Warning.
The new policy stipulates that students are placed in Academic Warning if their CGPA dips below a 2.0 at any credit level. This means a student can be in Academic Warning during their second semester if their first semester resulted in a CGPA less than a 2.0.
The old policy did not have a specific requirement of documenting interactions with students in Academic Warning.
The new policy requires that University personnel document their interactions with students during the academic recovery process. This will be done in Starfish.
The old policy did not have a formal way of determining how long it would take a student to improve their CGPA to at least a 2.0.
The new policy utilizes Recovery Points to determine how long it would realistically take a student to meet that 2.0 CGPA.
The old policy did not allow students to petition their Academic Suspension.
With the new policy , students are able to petition for two types of appeals: an immediate stay of Academic Suspension and a reduction in length of Academic Suspension.
Recovery Points
To determine the number of Recovery Points a student has, use the following calculation:
  • GPA units x [2.0 - Cumulative GPA]
  • There is an online Recovery Points Calculator linked below that can be used when working with students.

The Recovery Points indicate the number of credits a student will need to earn a "B" or better in to achieve a 2.0 CGPA. Example: if a student has completed 40 GPA units and currently has a CGPA of a 1.8, they will have 8 recovery points; this student would need to earn a B or better in 8 credits in order to boost their CGPA to a 2.0.

Recovery Points are used to help students have realistic expectations of how long it will take them to get out of Academic Warning.

Petitions
There are two petition options: an immediate stay of suspension or a reduction in length of suspension.

  • If a student has been actively involved in a recovery plan and has 15 or fewer recovery points after all grades are reported for the current semester, they can petition to prevent their suspension and continue for the next semester. The deadline for this petition is the end of the business day after the last day of final exams.

  • Students who are not able to meet the requirements for an immediate stay of Academic Suspension may be eligible to petition to shorter the length of their suspension from two semesters to one semester. The deadline for the reduction petition is the late drop deadline for a regular session course of their first semester of Academic Suspension.
The DUS Advisers are hosting a variety of events for students this semester. Below is the handout that details all of the events. Feel free to share it with your students!

Please Note : There has been a change to this handout since the initial version was sent in the DUS Semester Happenings at the beginning of the semester. The Honors & Athletes Schedule-Planning Lab will now be on Wednesday, October 2 from 7-8pm in Burke 176.
If you have questions regarding this policy or have an idea for a future edition of the Advising Essentials, feel free to reach out!
Thank you,