<p>My daughter has completed her freshman year at Florida Atlantic University and as a mom I feel very frustrated for the lack of information. She ended this first year with a very low GPA (1.89). She did not fail any class, but her grades were low. My question is: her status is "student in probation", what does it mean? Is there any possibility that she will not be allowed to keep being an FAU student?</p>
<p>Satisfactory Academic Record
To graduate from Florida Atlantic University, an undergraduate must achieve a satisfactory academic record. A satisfactory academic record is defined as an average of “C” or better on all work attempted (2.0 on a 4.0 scale). Certain majors may require higher standards.</p>
<p>Freshman Warning and Academic Probation
At Florida Atlantic University, freshman warning and academic probation mean that either a student’s cumulative grade point average or grade point average in any specific term has fallen below a 2.0. These designations are intended to alert students of the need to improve their academic performance.</p>
<p>Freshman Warning
Freshman warning applies only to freshmen who fail to earn a 2.0 average in their first semester. Students on freshman warning are required to meet with their advisors in Freshman Academic Advising Services for special assistance in improving their academic performance.</p>
<p>Academic Probation
Except for first-semester freshmen, all other undergraduate students who fail to earn a satisfactory average (2.0 or higher) on all work attempted in any term are considered to be on academic probation. Students on academic probation who fail to earn a 2.0 average on all work attempted in any term but have a cumulative average of 2.0 or higher at FAU will be continued on academic probation. Students on academic probation who earn a 2.0 average or higher in the next period of enrollment but whose cumulative average at FAU is lower than 2.0 will be continued on academic probation. Undergraduates on academic probation should seek assistance from their academic advisors in improving their academic performance.</p>
<p>Academic probation is removed when an undergraduate student earns at least a 2.0 average in all work attempted during the next period of enrollment and has a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or higher at Florida Atlantic University.</p>
<p>Suspension and Dismissal
An undergraduate student on academic probation who fails to earn a 2.0 average in all work attempted in any term and who has a cumulative average of lower than 2.0 at Florida Atlantic University will be suspended from the University. If at any time after having once been suspended, an undergraduate student fails to earn a 2.0 average in all work attempted in any term and has a cumulative average of lower than 2.0 at Florida Atlantic University, the student will be dismissed from the University.</p>
<p>Returning After Suspension
A suspended student is eligible to re-enroll after a minimum of one semester and will return on academic probation due to previous suspension. All students returning from suspension are required to meet with an academic advisor, at which time the terms of re-enrollment will be specified. Students suspended with 59 or fewer earned credits will meet with an AcCESS academic advisor. AcCESS Program information may be found in the Student Services and Activities section of this catalog. Students with 60 or more earned credits will meet with an academic advisor in their college.</p>
<p>Returning After Dismissal
A dismissed student, after a minimum of one year away from the University, may seek re-entry by reapplying to the University and petitioning for approval from the student’s last college/major. If a student is seeking admission to a college different from the original college, the petition process will include notifying the new college regarding the student’s intent. If at any time after having once been dismissed, an undergraduate student has a term and cumulative average below 2.0, the student will be dismissed from the University permanently.</p>
<p>[FAU</a> Catalog - Academic Policies and Regulations](<a href=“http://www.fau.edu/academic/registrar/FAUcatalog/academics.php]FAU”>Academic Policies and Regulations | Florida Atlantic University)</p>
<p>It looks like she will be suspended if she doesn’t get at least a 2.0 in the next semester. It appears that two semesters below 2.0 except for the first freshman semester will get her suspended. If you are paying for her schooling, then demand to see her grade reports - the stick is that you won’t pay for the sophomore year. A GPA less than 2.0 implies that she will have to take courses over again for them to count towards her degree so she is potentially wasting money.</p>
<p>BTW, FAU seems to be a fairly affordable place in-state outside of room and board which seem excessive for a low-cost state like Florida. I wasn’t aware of this university before.</p>
<p>She will be able to return to FAU for the Fall semester but must do well enough to raise her overall gpa to at least a 2.0 by the end of the Fall semester.</p>
<p>It looks like she needs at least a 2.22 GPA for the fall semester assuming she’s taking the same number of credits each semester. The usual approach is to figure out what went wrong and then see if it is fixable in the fall. Ideally, you would have had her grades over the winter break so that you could have caught this earlier to work on a remediation plan.</p>
<p>@BC Yes, FAU’s housing is overpriced. It’s $1,000 under UMiami’s housing and meals!</p>
<p>Being in Boca Raton, FAU is definitely not in a low cost area.</p>
<p>I believe the dorm costs are more related to the condition of the dorms rather than the location of the university. Those dorms are nice!</p>
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<p>FAU is in Boca Raton, a very expensive area.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your interest and information. We’re paying in full for her education since she doesn’t qualify for any financial aid. We’re very disappointed.</p>
<p>Nancy, hopefully she will get a GPA fall term that will bring her overall GPA up to where it needs to be. Some kids do get a wake up call their freshman year of college!</p>
<p>In our family, we also paid a hefty chuck of change for our kids to attend expensive private universities. However, we were very clear with them. They had to maintain a 3.0 GPA or they would be returning to our state to attend an instate public university at a fraction of the cost. They were both very motivated to do well because they wanted to stay at their colleges.</p>
<p>Do you know why she had difficulty? Was it mastering the material, completing assignments, tests? Did she seek tutorial help when she was having difficulty? Most schools have some kind of tutorial services available…or a study skills center. </p>
<p>Most of all, does she understand that these grades are not acceptable and does she have a plan for improving this coming year?</p>
<p>Perhaps your daughter needs to know that you are funding her education and that you expect a certain minimum standard from her for that funding to continue.</p>
<p>She should plan to take an easier courseload too because she has to get the GPA up. She should try to work on this as soon as possible if her adviser is available. Someone should do an analysis on her major and any grades in major courses or supporting prerequisites. Changing to a different (easier) major might be in order too.</p>
<p>I like BCEagle91’s idea about trying to plan an easier courseload for the coming semester.</p>
<p>Another thing to look out for, in terms of her planning for the next semester, is courses that are given in sequences, with each course being a prerequisite for the next. If she got a poor grade in one course in a sequence, she may not understand the material well enough to pass the next course. Are there any courses like that in her schedule for the next semester? If there are, are they essential? If they’re essential, she may need tutoring to pass. If they’re not essential, she should take something else.</p>
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<p>Eventually, you may need to have this sort of conversation with her. But it might be better to start with an approach that emphasizes working together rather than making demands. She may not understand why her grades were so poor. Or even if she does understand, she may not know what she could have done differently. I wouldn’t make the immediate assumption that all she needs is a threat. A threat won’t solve the problem if she doesn’t know how to solve it.</p>
<p>When S2 was a freshman he had a horrible first sem.(far worse than the Nancy1961’s D) that put him on Academic Probation. His gpa was .80! He re-took three classes in the spring sem. so that the failing grades would no longer be averaged into his gpa.<br>
He made a 2.5 in the Spring which brought his gpa up to 2.1 getting him off academic probation. His gpa went up every semester from then on until graduation last year. HIs last sem. of college he made a 3.75…Dean’s List!</p>
<p>S2 says the key to his resurrection was simple…Go to class every day, pay attention,participate and take a few notes. He was an average student in h.s…just smart enough to skate through w/ out much effort. He became a much better student in college after reality smacked him in the face. He had to learn “how to do college”.</p>
<p>After the bad semester S2 started choosing his classes/instructors based on Rate My Professor reviews. It really helped a lot. Sometimes he had classes at odd hours but it was worth it.</p>
<p>Marian, my suggestion about maintaining a certain college GPA does not need to be presented as a demand. I asked my daughter last night whether she felt like this was a “demand” and she said NO. She felt it was reasonable because we were footing the bill to have a bottom line for her too.</p>
<p>At this point in time, I would suggest that the discussion be about how the schedule can be adjusted to improve the GPA. In addition, helping the student understand WHY things went south and having her understand how she can turn this around is crucial.</p>
<p>The student does need to know that there IS a minimum GPA required by the college…or she will be asked to leave. The parents need to make sure this student understands THAT. </p>
<p>Also, if this student eventually needs to transfer elsewhere, most schools do not take D’s as transfer credits. With the GPA the OP presented, there had to be one of those…at least. </p>
<p>I would say that this student needs to carefully look at her courses and grades from last year. Were ALL of her grades in the low range, or did she have some higher grades sprinkled in with the lower ones? Was her schedule an issue? Did she miss too many classes? Did she seek help from the professors or tutorial center? Were here grades the same both terms or was one term much worse than the other? </p>
<p>What went wrong? And what will the student do to fix this? If the student doesn’t take ownership of this, next year could well be a repeat of this past year.</p>
<p>I think that the parent should demand access to timely grade reports. If the problem is time management or distractions, then I would also demand weekly progress reports on courses.</p>
<p>BC…college isn’t like high school where they use Power School, and there are interim progress reports and the like. The parents will need to rely on the student to provide any grades she receives. The professors are unlikely to discuss this on a weekly basis with the parents, even if FERPA permission is given.</p>
<p>But the parents do need to have this student understand very clearly that there is a minimum GPA that the college requires for her to stay there (guess its ok for the college to be demanding with regards to minimum GPA…but not the parents…). Otherwise, the student will be asked to leave this school. Period.</p>
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<p>I do know what college is like. I also know what college students are like. Lots of them. And I understand how classes work.</p>
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<li>Get the syllabus and note deliverables and deadlines. Put the deliverables and deadlines on a shared electronic calendar such as google calendar.</li>
<li>Record homework, quiz, test scores and grades on papers on a shared spreadsheet and keep running grade estimates by course</li>
<li>On long assignments, record intermediate progress reports</li>
<li>Note topics and readings on the syllabus and checkoff reading assignments when done.</li>
<li>Track visits to the tutoring center and prof office hours</li>
<li>Do postmortem analysis on poor scores or grades</li>
</ul>
<p>The student would ideally do this on her own but having someone watching over this could mean the ability to nip potential problems before they become catastrophic. I use all sorts of electronic tools at work to track progress and document the details of the work that I do in case a manager wants to know what I’ve done or the details about a project. It also allows me to keep track of my projects visually. There’s no reason why business tools can’t be used in college.</p>
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<p>Yes, but if a student’s college work has to be micromanaged by a parent to the extent that you describe, the student will never make it at a residential college and is wasting time and money. Such a student should be living at home and attending CC if the parent is going to treat the experience as a high school one.</p>
<p>The parent has the right to set expectations but if the student can’t or won’t perform to the minimum standard, the parent can’t “make” the student do so.</p>
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<p>The student only need go through this process for one semester to see get their management skills up to where they need to be. Electronic tools make this possible to do with a residential experience too.</p>
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<p>The parent can demand this. The student may or may not comply. It gives the parent a view into what is going on and the ability to make recommendations for early course correction. This only works with cooperation.</p>
<p>The alternative is no guidance and we know how that can end.</p>