What to do?! Is it too late??

Hello I am currently enrolled at a 4 year university. This will be my third year in the fall. I did well my first year and got all of my main classes out of the way. At this time I was staying on campus. I had financial aid as well as a scholarship to pay for school and I was doing this completely on my own without the help of my parents. During the fall semester of my sophomore year I got an apartment with my friends close to campus, using the stipend I received to pay for rent. I enrolled with 5 classes, but I dropped one, leaving me with 4. Everything was going good as far as life and my classes, but around 2 months into the semester I discovered that I was pregnant. This changed everything completely. I somehow got lost in everything. My family stopped talking to me, I was ashamed to tell anyone else. I just kept thinking about how life changing things would be now, and God knows I didn’t want to have a child at this time of my life. I tried to keep up with my grades, but I just could not. I didn’t act quick enough to withdraw from my classes as the deadline was right around the corner. I tried talking to my professors,but got nowhere. I came out with one D and 3 Fs. This devastated me because I knew that I could do much better. I was now on financial aid warning, but unfortunately I lost my scholarship. I told myself that I would work EXTREMELY hard the upcoming semester to bring my GPA back up and to earn this degree, not only for myself but for my child as well. I had to take extra classes to try to earn my scholarship back, leaving me with 6 classes and 19 credit hours. I knew this was a lot, but I had to get my scholarship because I could not afford school out of pocket. Everything was fine for about a couple of weeks. After that everything went downhill. I became severely exhausted from the pregnancy causing me to miss class often. I tried to ask my doctor for help, but she refused to give me excuses for school or medication for the exhaustion. She stated it was a normal symptom of pregnancy. Though I wasn’t attending class as often as I should, I still studied my notes and passed all my tests and assignments. Things became worse as far as personal issues because I could not afford rent without my stipend, causing another burden. I fell into a deep depression because everything was hitting me at once. I stayed in, didn’t do anything or go anywhere. I know this was not the right action to take, but I was completely overwhelmed. I still tried to finish the semester being that I HAD to. My grades in my classes were good, but the attendance killed me. I missed way too many days to pass any of them resulting in 6 Fs on my transcript for the semester.

My question now is, is it too late? I messed up big time, but I know I can do better. Things are back on track in my life now. I’ve delivered my beautiful son, my family has come around, and I’m financially stable. I don’t want this mistake to hinder me from obtaining my degree. Please help

First off, I’m very sorry you had to go through that. I’m glad your family came around, you have your son, and that you are financially stable, and bravo for having all of that worked out.

Regarding school… this is a tough situation. You can’t take back your poor performance, but you might be able to retake classes and replace your Fs. Does your school have such a policy? It would be the long way around and you’d probably have to pay out of pocket and go part time, but, if it’s allowed, you could retake some of the failed classes, raise your GPA that way, and then possibly be able to reapply for scholarships or have a good enough GPA to transfer to a school where you could receive aid.

I think your first step is to call the academic advising center on campus and make an appointment. Explain your situation and see what they can do to help. If you were on probation and you got all Fs, you very well might not be allowed to enroll at your school for next term. If that’s the case, then you might want to considering enrolling at a community college and get back into the school grind there, or work until you’re able to return to school.

It’s really hard to offer advice because every school is so different with their policies, so you’d best check with them and see what your options are.

Best of luck to you.

Talk to your dean of students at the college and see if you can get a retroactive medical withdrawal.