TL;DR - I was academically dismissed at a previous CCC 3-4 years ago because of 6 consecutive W’s with a current outstanding balance of about $1000 at that school. I attended another CCC, accumulated 4 W’s, and then upward trend from there. Will paying this $1000 balance put me back at good standing with that school so that I can apply to UC’s this fall?
When I graduated high school in 2012, I attended a CCC with the primary purpose of obtaining financial aid. During that one year period, I accumulated about 6 W’s and was academically dismissed. As of right now, I still have an outstanding balance at that school of about $1000. After being academically dismissed, I found out from a friend that if I applied to a school in another district, I would still be able to receive aid. So I did just that and accumulated 4 W’s from that school and was on academic probation. Because of the academic probation and no financial aid again, there was no reason for me to be attending school so I dropped out. It wasn’t until 8 weeks into the fall semester of 2015 that I realized I was throwing away an opportunity that not many people have so that I can do drugs and party. Since CCC’s don’t officially drop you out until you haven’t been enrolled for more than a year, I enrolled for classes Spring of 2016. Since the start of Spring 2016 all the way up until now, I have been able to maintain a 3.4 GPA. The reason for this post is that it’s finally time for me to start applying to universities and I wanted to ask for advice on what I should do. Am I considered bad standing at that CCC? I am unsure if paying the outstanding balance would clear me or if I would have to go back to that CCC and take courses to bring up my pass/fail ratio. I have 6 W’s at that school which totals up to about 20 units. I am ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED at the possibility of me having to bring that back up to a 69% pass/fail ratio. Has anyone been through this before?
I appreciate any input/advice whether it may be good or bad. I understand that the mistakes I’ve made, whether that be drugs, stealing tax money, or being an all around punk, are inexcusable.
First off, you should never have been allowed to attend CCC2 with that outstanding balance at CCC1. Did you neglect to provide the transcript from the first when you applied to the second? When you enrolled at CCC2, that earlier coursework should have been taken into account in calculating CCC2’s SAP requirement for financial aid eligibility. Formally, if you are receiving federal aid, you must be currently considered to be an AA or AS degree candidate at CCC2 which means that they are supposed to have your records from CCC1 on file.
You do not need to take classes again at CCC1. You just need to settle your debt there. This will release your transcript which you will need for your transfer applications.
What effect your overall attempted/completed ratio will have on admissions at your target universities is up to them. Make an appointment with the admissions office at the place you are most interested in. Bring all of your transcripts. Ask them whether you will meet their admissions requirements, and ask the financial aid office whether your overall attempted/completed ratio meets their SAP for financial aid awards.
I had a similar situation years ago. I had 3 W’s in my transcript. I went back a couple years later and did fine, until I had another couple of W’s because of a couple hard classes. GPA was good. They dropped me for financial aid at the CC, but I transferred to a university, and everything reset. I would just transfer over to the university and you should be fine. Still, make an appt with the financial aid office when you get there. Make sure all of your outstanding balances are paid off, otherwise they won’t send your transcripts to the university.
I wasn’t able to provide a transcript to CCC2l because my account was locked out for the outstanding balance. I remember speaking with someone at CCC2 and being told that I would have to pay off the remaining balance in order to register for classes BUT i logged into my account one day and was able to enroll.
As of right now, I just paid off the remaining balance and am currently waiting for my account restrictions to be lifted. Should I bring in my transcripts from my CCC1 into CCC2 as soon as I am able to?