A friend’s daughter was just accepted, along with a <100 member group, as a provisional student at TCNJ. They will be moving in and starting classes, (and presumably paying full costs). If they keep a 2.3 GPA or higher, they will be admitted in the spring as a student. Does anyone have experience with this program?
"Along the lines of improving the quality of the College’s students, the trustees announced an opportunity for students placed on the wait list, known as the Provisional Student Pilot Program. This program allows students who were not admitted to take three courses at a reduced fee, according to Robert A. Altman’s address to the Board of Trustees.
If these students perform well, they will become “regularly matriculated students in the spring,” Gitenstein said. She explained that the program is designed to fill rooms left over from students who decide to study abroad in the spring."
Many universities do this. (e.g., Boston U College of General Studies)…they want to have students to fill in housing that is empty when students study abroad in the spring. Also the students are not full time and therefore are not included in the stats for full-time fall students (like would be shown in the Common Data Set).
So for your friend’s daughter, they may not have quite the scores/grades for a regular fall admit but they get the chance to prove themselves and then become “regular” students if they do well.They probably also get more support in the transition to college.
Also look at:
https://parents.tcnj.edu/files/2013/07/2013-Provisional-Student-Parent-Presentation.pdf
Thanks @bopper
I’m interested by the inference that she will be commuting and taking 3 classes. I wonder how large the discount is, and what the value would be rather than just doing community college and transferring.
If I look on the website it seems like there is housing…but I am not really sure.
“First year students who have been classified as provisional are done so by the Office of Admissions. However, these students are eligible to live on campus with the other first-year students.”
https://housing.tcnj.edu/provisional/
She could of course, go to CC…might be good to look at the cost differential…but this is then a guaranteed admittance (assuming she does well) plus support and a cohort that might make the transition to college easier.
I think the provisional program is fantastic. My niece did it as well as my daughter’s friends. For my daughter’s year, you were not able to live on campus but that changed and you live on campus like any other freshman. You take one less class than other frosh and there is a program to support the student’s study skills and assist with tools to help them to meet success. After one semester, you are fully matriculated. All my daughter’s friends graduated and were happy to be involved in the program. The downside is you don’t get financial aid the first semester and you do need to catch up on the class you missed.
@goldendog1
Thanks for the response! Was your niece able to graduate in 4 years (so 8 semesters, and I’m counting the first provisional semester as one of them).
She is a current junior and is on track to graduate in four years. My daughter’s friends (four guys), who started with her, did the program and all graduated in four years.