My child’s friend was recently notified by her college that she needed to leave due to a low grade in a class towards her major, which is not allowed. I’m not certain of all the details, but from my understanding, she was struggling in her classes due to anxiety and depression, which was later resolved with medication. She was also diagnosed with ADD for the first time and given meds for that as well. Once they did that, her grades were much improved, but it was obviously too late to save the semester, and she fell below the minimum for the class in her major.
With no warning, the college then sent her a letter over the holiday break notifying her that she could no longer major in that subject, and because the law states that she must be making progress towards her major in order to keep receiving funding, she could no longer attend there because she didn’t have enough credits for any other major. They basically told her to come back to school and move out immediately. Her job, housing, and medication were all through the college. Now she has no job, no money, no meds, and no degree.
What can she do in this situation? She’s spoken to the Dean by phone (she lives in another state) who has spoken to whatever organization oversees those decisions, but she’s gotten nowhere. They told her she could write a letter to that panel, stating her opinion, but the decision was already made so it was pointless.
This all seems very unfair to me. How can the college be so callous? Does she have any legal standing?
My sense is that you don’t have the complete story. How many times did she take the course required for her major, had the student been on academic probation in the previous semester and why wouldn’t she be allowed to change her major IF she were in good standing?
I think you are only getting part of the story as to the ‘no notice.’ She does have to make adequate academic progress to keep receiving financial aid. She didn’t do that, and I’m sure it wasn’t from one semester unless she entered the school as a provisional student. I’ll bet she didn’t do well last year either, and the fall was her probation semester.
If she had her insurance through the school, she should get a termination letter and be able to sign up for insurance in her state. This is a ‘change of events’ so she can sign up even if the period is over for 2016.
She was never notified of being on academic probation. That’s why this is so surprising. As far as I know, this was the first time she had taken this course.
As the others have said, we’re only seeing a small part of the overall situation.
On FSA Funding:
To be eligible for Federal Student Aid (FSA) funds, a student must be making satisfactory academic progress (SAP) under the school’s published standards.
Students who fail to:
Maintain the required cumulative grade point average,
Successfully complete the required percentage of attempted coursework,
and/or fail to complete their program of study within the prescribed length of time
will be ineligible for federal, state, and/or institutional scholarship and grant funds. She could have ran into any of these issues, and that would cause her to lose funding.
On Academic Progress Policies
Each University has it’s own set of regulations for academic probation and dismissal that follow the academic standards of the university. These usually require the maintenance of grade point averages and reasonable conformance to a program of study.
Universities, in most if not all cases, have a readmission policy. She should look into it. I had a friend who was dismissed from Georgia Tech (way too much beer, and way too little studying). After a year or two at the local community college, he was able to get readmitted to GT and earn his degree. However, one bad quarter and GT would have dismissed him again. There is life after dismissal, but it’s a hard road back.
I didn’t get the story from her parents. I don’t even know them. The student was blindsided by this - didn’t see it coming at all. She told her parents after she attempted to speak with the Dean, and they left it up to her as to what she wanted to do. If it were my kid, I would be in the president’s office the next day!
The story as you described defies credibility. The fact that her parents are taking a hands off approach tells me they know their daughter, and her history, better than you do.
See likely had a semester/quarter where her grades/performance put her on probation. She should have received counseling at that point, when she was place on probation. They don’t typically dismiss after one bad semester/quarter. She and her family need to review the colleges academic progress policies. If she was placed on probation, without being notified, she may have a valid reason to petition for re-instatement.
I can’t imagine the university doesn’t have some type of process they are required to follow, if for no other reason than to preempt potential lawsuits. Having been married to a professor for many years, and seen many friends and family members kids who crashed and burned in college, I join the majority in the belief that you haven’t heard the whole story.
If the school did not follow any process, she may have means to fight. If they did follow a process, and she didn’t read/follow up on communications from the school, then there isn’t really an argument to make.
I’ve seen many cases where students only gave parents/friends part of the story, and professors/school administrators could do nothing about it because FERPA law prevents them from breaching the student’s privacy. Often it’s the spiral of they try to cover up an earlier issue, such as being put on academic probation, and then end up not wanting to admit the full truth when they’re forced to leave, so they blame the school.
I agree with the above posters that you have not heard the whole story. Students are given a warning when they are placed on academic probation and are given at least one semester or more to improve. This dismissal do not come out of no where.
Story is incomplete. There are certain majors that require grades better than a C in order to continue that major. But a student could switch to a different major within the university.
Was she perhaps receiving a merit award that required a certain GPA for continuation?
Is she a freshman, sophomore, junior?
Why nit just take one semester off, and transfer to a different four year school? If she has not met satisfactory academic progress (one failed course would not be the culprit…there likely is more to the story), then this would mean no aid at another school until she satisfied their SAP requirement.
I agree with the above. You know the school in question. Often the student handbook (or similar) is accessible on the internet). The academic rules are usually clearly spelled out in that document. You could read it to get a better idea about whether the information you have aligns with the rules for the school. Naturally if they depart, you won’t know if you are getting a story from the school or if the school does not follow its own rules. That does happen unfortunately. I know a school that routinely ignores its own grievance processes but most schools are more honest and geared towards assisting rather than harming those at the school.
Thanks for all the insight! It sounds like maybe she should have spoken to the Dean before she ended up at this point. I feel bad for her, and I hope she figures out her next step. Her parents sound way more laid back than I would have been!
Is she a nursing major? Most nursing programs have rules like this or similar. Fail one class and you are done. It doesn’t matter if you fail the first one in the program or if you are one class from graduating. It is harsh but it is harsh for a reason and every single nursing student who enters the program knows these rules before they begin.
I thought it sounded like a nursing major as well. They have so many students bursting to get into nursing programs that they can’t make exceptions. The rules are spelled out at the beginning of the program.
^^^^^This tells me a lot. She reached out for help earlier, so someone must have recommended testing and intervention.
She, at some point, was told that she needed help. Most schools are more than accommodating when it involves their students who are failing their school.
I am guessing that there is more to this story, but it is plausible to me, especially if she is an upper-classman.
Each school will have its own regulations regarding standard progress towards a major, number of semesters a student is permitted, and even the number of credits a student is permitted to accrue as an undergraduate. Individual departments also have their own rules, that can cover which and how many classes can be repeated, and minimal GPA required in each class and in the major.
Usually in this type of situation a school will attempt to find out if there is another department that will admit a student, and if the student could complete a major in that department while meeting minimal GPA and without running over the amount of time or number of credits allowed by the school. It appears that this has happened, and that the student could not be retained in another major.
If the student had been diagnosed with ADD and ALSO registered with a disabilities center, it is possible that the student could petition for a retroactive medical withdrawal that would allow for reinstatement. If she had not yet been registered (more likely), this is less likely to happen. It is possible that a medical withdrawal was recommended, but that the student unrealistically thought she could finish the semester with acceptable grades.
@compmom has written about this type of situation and might have some suggestions.
Also, it is possible that the parents are hands-off because they do not know where to begin, or who it is ok to contact, or what information they might be given.
OP - I am sorry this has happened to your D’s friend, and hope that she is able to get back on track. It can be difficult to attend college with an ADD diagnosis, and more difficult still if the diagnosis is not acquired until college.
If she suffers from anxiety, depression and ADHD and has been in treatment, she has protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act and should have had accommodations. Did she register with the Office for Disabilities? Does a dean know of her struggles and diagnoses? Is the therapist, psychiatrist or counselor on staff at the college and therefore could help with advocacy (well, any provider can document and help advocate, but it is always a little easier if the professional works at the school).
The best course of action would have been to do a medical withdrawal, and try to get the low grades wiped off the record for the future. The school would then have conditions for return, such as successful treatment for x number of months, a full time job for x number of months, that kind of thing.
Since treatment was mid-semester, AND there was a new diagnosis mid-semester, this does seem like a scenario for appeal or even retroactive fixing- as long as there is documentation and professional involvement.
p.s. I wrote this before frazzled posted but delayed posting I just heard privately from a student who did manage to clean up a similar situation after the fact.