By Ashley Mowreader
Academic probation, while designed to be a notice to students of poor performance, can be a significant barrier to student success.
Around 8 percent of graduating college seniors have been on academic probation at least once during their time in college, and this rate increases to 9 percent among first-generation students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
A 2022 analysis of academic probation on four-year graduation rates at one university found placing students on academic probation based on overall GPA reduced their odds of completing in four years by 40 percent. Research from California Competes also found that a majority of students who stop out of college were placed on academic probation.
As national conversations around higher education put pressure on institutions to better support retention and completion, campus leaders have shifted their attention to policies that unintentionally harm student success, including academic probation.
Leaders are now advocating for changing language around poor academic performance to improve the student experience as well as giving learners targeted resources to improve their performance rather than leave them feeling stuck.
A 2020 study from California State University, Fullerton, surveyed learners on academic probation and found 93 percent felt “scared” by the phrase “academic probation”; the survey also found this language was more troubling to Latino and Black students.
A 2017 survey from the College Transition Collaborative asked students their perception of academic probation and found that they interpreted the process as a punishment, rather than a connection to helpful resources or a way to denote concern. Respondents also said they felt embarrassed, ashamed and sad and that the experience made them want to disengage from school and hide the news from their loved ones.
“While most schools want students to feel supported and informed after being placed on probation, students often feel the opposite,” according to CTC.
The research pushed Cal State Fullerton to change its terms around academic probation to “academic notice,” reducing the association with criminality and opening conversations for support and guidance.
A September brief from California Competes suggests higher education institutions in the state utilize the phrase “academic notice” instead of academic probation, revise notification letters to use strengths-based language and offer education to improve students’ academic skills. The organization also advocates for a statewide academic probation task force to examine policies systematically.
The College Transition Collaborative has a resource for institutions to improve their communication with students around academic probation.
The 2022 analysis of one university found probation based on semester GPA reduced the chances a student would graduate in four years by about two-thirds, compared to peers who were very close to the GPA cutoff but not placed on probation.
California Competes’ study of stop-outs found that nearly every student who was placed on academic probation did not receive follow-up from their institution after their initial notification, other than a generic email that lacked guidance or resource connections.
“Many students were unaware of the options and resources available to them, resulting in their hastily making decisions that impeded a timely return to college or progress toward degree attainment,” the report says.
Some students lost access to financial aid, which also pushed them to drop out. “For students who had a high number of college credits, raising their GPA above the 2.0 threshold took multiple terms; for those who did not have financial aid, this came at a significant cost,” researchers wrote.
Colleges and universities can improve their systems not only by reframing academic notice, but also by providing tailored interventions that keep students enrolled.
Adviser support: In 2018, data at Columbus State University in Georgia found that, among students who fell into academic probation, fewer than 2 percent ever finished a degree or credential, says Melissa Young, assistance vice president for student success.
“We decided to move away from that penal code sort of system where students are placed on probation and ultimately excluded from the institution, and move more toward a support model,” Young says.
Now, Columbus State places students on “university support status” if their GPA falls below 2.0, and students complete an assessment that staff call a student success inventory. This helps learners identify where they may need additional support and how the institution can help bridge that gap.
“Once they’ve completed that inventory, they’re required to meet with their academic adviser to discuss the inventory, to kind of dig into the weeds about what was found,” Young says.
From there, the adviser submits a plan to the appropriate office, which could include basic needs support, mental health resources or academic assistance, and outlines some action steps for students to take. “They need to have completed 50 percent of that [list] in order to register for the subsequent semester,” Young says.
Students meet with their adviser again at midterms to re-evaluate their grades.
“We have seen a lot of students are able to continue and recover because they’re being supported, versus students that are just never coming [back] from that,” Young says.
Similarly, York College in Pennsylvania assigns students on academic probation a mentor for a program called Back on Track. The student meets with their mentor five times over the term, identifying ways to improve their GPA, creating personalized goals, building a success plan and reflecting on the semester.
York College’s Back on Track participants have raised their GPAs by one grade point on average for that term and half a grade point over all, compared to their nonparticipant peers, who saw no change term to term.
Giving students credit: One strategy to help improve students’ standing is to enroll them in a credit-bearing course that can positively impact their GPA while providing them academic success skills.
A 2019 study from Indiana University Bloomington found students who enrolled in a required course for those on academic probation were 20 percent more likely to persist and graduate, compared to their peers in poor standing who did not.
Goucher College in Maryland in 2022 launched Learning to Learn, a two-credit course that meets weekly with students on academic probation or academic warning. Course content addresses cognitive-based study techniques, executive functioning skills, self-motivation, self-management and lifelong learning topics, among others.
The course has the greatest impact on students’ academic standing if they passed or remained enrolled in the course, with over half achieving good academic standing and around one-third progressing to a less serious infraction, such as academic probation to academic warning.
Virginia Tech offers a one-credit course, LAHS 1014: Academic Success Through Personal Investment and Responsibility, which helps students identify their motivations, goals and what success means to them to help them develop and apply college-level skills and utilize campus resources. Learners also meet regularly with an adviser and jointly create an academic success agreement.