Hello all. First off, this might not be in the right section. However, I’m not exactly sure what counts as a non-traditional student.
One of my best friends had some trouble in school in his first semester. Unfortunately, he was a victim of the HS-college transition crash. At some point, he had some kind of life crisis, and just up and left school. And by “left”, I mean he just stopped going, in the middle of the semester. As a result, he failed his all 4 of his classes, and then took a leave of absence. And so, he just wallowed around in depression since then.
Recently, I’ve managed to convince him that he can have a second shot at higher education. I suggested maybe going to a CC near our home community, and retrying there before transferring somewhere else.
My question here is, does this count him as a non-traditional student? I know there are certain criteria for non-traditional students, but I’m not sure his situation matches? Just to recap: he was an entering freshman, right off of HS, but up and left in his first semester (Fall 2014), and now is considering re-applying to a CC in Fall 2015 semester, but he’s on the fringe right now.
Also, is there anything he can do about his grades? I know that his grades will most likely follow him around, and academic renewal can’t be done before 2 years (I think). Can he retake those classes at a CC and replace the grade? I wanted to suggest applying for academic renewal after his Fall 2017 semester, but the classes he failed contain important pre-requisite classes, so I don’t think that’s a good course of action, nevermind if AR can be done while attending school, which I don’t think can happen.
Any help/advice/guidance would be greatly appreciated. I’ve known him for 8 years, I know he can do better than he thinks, I just need help setting him on the right path to make a comeback.