<p>To add another anecdote, I failed my first quarter, then my second quarter, and then my third quarter in college. I dropped out, changed my major, and started taking community college classes (without ever supporting myself financially or paying my own tuition) and have gotten straight As ever since. Moral of the story: some students fail because they are unmotivated, and they are unmotivated because they do not see how the coursework relates to what they want to do in life. Sometimes a change of major provides that motivation. For me, it was all about getting to write code in class, since programming has been a hobby of mine since middle school. That push gave me the momentum to motivate myself even in classes without programming assignments.</p>
<p>Which is not necessarily true for all students. Just be aware of how the subject matter of college classes can affect a student’s motivation.</p>
<p>EDIT: I just saw the date the thread was posted. :-/</p>