PROCEDURES FOR ADVISING UNDERGRADUATE
PROBATION AND SUSPENSION STUDENTS
College of Business, Stephen F. Austin State University
November 16, 1997

OVERVIEW

Undergraduate students with an academic status of "probation" or "suspension" (see definitions below) have a hold placed on their academic records that prevents them from registering for classes. Such students can be registered after removal of the hold, which can only be done at the department chair level for probation and at the Dean's Office level for suspension. Ordinarily, a probation or suspension hold will not be released until after a student has been advised in the appropriate office. This document describes probation and suspension advising procedures currently in effect in the College of Business.

HOW PROBATION AND SUSPENSION WORK

Each student's academic status is one of "good standing," "probation," or "suspension." Good standing requires a GPA (see calculation below) of at least 2.0. A student who falls below the minimum in a regular semester is on probation for the next semester. A student who fails to bring up his/her GPA in the next regular semester after going on probation will go on suspension. From suspension, the student either stays on suspension or moves to good standing (there is no intermediate return to probation). Academic status may improve in summer school, but may not get worse. That is, a student in good standing at the end of spring will still show as good standing at the end of summer regardless of grades. A student on probation may move to good standing if he or she makes good summer grades, but will not move to suspension if the grades are poor.

Once a student goes on suspension, he or she is not normally permitted to enroll for the next regular semester after he or she enters suspension status. For example, a student who ends the spring on probation and who fails to raise his/her GPA to 2.0 by the following December will be required to sit out the subsequent spring semester. Following a first suspension, all students are permitted to enroll in summer school without regard to academic status. It becomes possible, therefore, for a student to go on first suspension after the spring semester, attend summer school and raise his or her GPA to 2.0, and be back in good standing for the fall semester. A second or subsequent suspension requires an absence from the university of one year or longer (including the summer terms).

Students whose academic status is "suspension" can still attend SFA during a regular semester under one of three conditions. In all cases, the student must be advised in the Dean's Office:

--by sitting out one regular semester or longer. Such students must re-apply for admission, which is automatically granted.

--if the student entered suspension status in the spring, by earning at least a 2.0 GPA over at least nine hours of summer school work (applicable to first suspension only).

--follow procedures established by his/her dean.

GPA CALCULATION

The student's GPA is calculated strictly from SFA work. On transcripts (including screen 136) and on academic probation and suspension reports, there is an item labeled "QHRS" or "quality hours." This is the number of hours of coursework attempted at SFA excluding passed pass/fail courses, developmental courses, courses dropped with a W or WP, courses with a WH grade, and courses that have been repeated. (Note that if the course has been repeated only once, only the attempt producing the highest grade counts for repeats. If two or more attempts are made, all attempts are counted in the GPA calculation. For each course passed (except pass/fail courses, developmental courses, and the uncounted attempts of a repeated course), the student earns quality points: one point per hour for a D, two per hour for a C, etc. The result is totaled into "QPTS," "quality points," or just "points" depending on context. The GPA is then just QPTS divided by QHRS. Note that failed pass/fail courses, QF grades and WF grades are counted as F's.

GRADE POINTS LOW CALCULATION AND INTERPRETATION

Both the advisor and the student need to know what grades are needed to return to good standing. The easiest way to find out is to first calculate "grade points low," sometimes called just "points low." The number, which appears as "LW" on some reports, is calculated by first multiplying the student's QHRS (see above) by 2 and rounding up. The result is the number of grade points (QPTS) that the student should have earned to be in good standing. From that number, subtract the student's actual QPTS. The result is "grade points low," which is the number of additional grade points that the student would need to be in good standing now.

As the student takes more courses, both QHRS and QPTS change. "Grade points low," however, changes in a manner that is very easy to predict. The effects are:

--if the student takes a new course and makes a C, points low does not change.

--if the student takes a new course and makes a D (or F), points low will get worse (go up) by 1 point (2 points for an F) per credit hour. This is often called "losing" points.

--if the student takes a new course and makes a B (or A), points low will get better (go down) by 1 point (2 points for an A) per credit hour. This is often called "gaining" points.

--if the student repeats a course and makes the same or worse grade as before, there is no change in points low.

--if the student repeats a course and makes a higher grade, points low will get better (go down) by 1 point per credit hour per letter grade improvement.

--if the student repeats a course more than one time, grade points low will usually get worse (go up). This is often called "losing" points.

In summary, points low will change by 1 point per hour for each letter grade above or below C in new courses, and it will change by 1 point per hour for each letter grade above the old grade in repeated courses. This provision will not apply if this is the second repeat.

It is usually easier for a student to improve points low by repeating courses. For example, repeating a 3-hour F and making a C will result in 6 points improvement, while the student would have to make an A to gain 6 points in a new class. This provision may not apply if this is the second repeat.

WHO SHOULD BE ADVISED WHERE

All students in a suspension status must be advised in the Dean's Office. A department chair may also direct a student to the Dean's Office if the chair feels that the student has special needs that can better be addressed in the Dean's Office. Otherwise, students on probation are advised in the academic departments. Such students fall into two categories:

(1) students who are attempting to preregister, and

(2) students who are attempting to register, late register, or add/drop classes.

A student in category (1) could only be that way if he or she began the current semester on probation. Such a student will change to suspension status if he or she fails to bring up the GPA in the current semester. Such students are not currently allowed to preregister, but they may be advised with respect to their status, grades needed, etc.

Students in category (2) will always be in that status because of deficient grades in the immediately-preceding semester. These are the students who can be helped the most by advising, since they will move to suspension status if the GPA is not cleared in the current regular semester. Such students are always permitted to register after being advised.

One odd effect of the SIS student records system is that GPA (and, consequently, academic status) for a particular semester can change if the student repeats a course. For example, a fall 1996 entering freshman who makes one A and 3 F's would show as probation for that semester with a 1.0 GPA. If he/she repeats the F's and makes higher grades, the F's are deleted from the fall 1996 GPA calculation, giving the student a 4.0 (and good standing) for that semester in subsequent transcript printouts. This effect sometimes causes a suspension student's record to show "probation" in error. A department chair who suspects that this is the case should direct the student to the Dean's Office for advising.

RECOMMENDED ADVISING PROCEDURES

STEP 1: CONFIRM STATUS

Many students will arrive at a department or the Dean's Office for advising because they have tried unsuccessfully to telephone register. Some of these may have problems other than probation/suspension, e.g., parking tickets. The quickest way to confirm a student's status is to pull up his/her record on SIS screen 148 and check for holds. Probation and suspension status are also indicated on the last page of the screen 136 transcript display.

STEP 2: EXPLAIN THE STUDENT'S STATUS

Students, particularly those having their first brush with probation or suspension, often don't understand their situation. It is helpful to explain clearly to probation students that suspension is the next step, and that suspension means that they will have to sit out a semester. It is also helpful to explain the GPA calculation, their points low, and the desirability of repeating courses.

STEP 3: FILL OUT THE PROBATION/SUSPENSION ADVISOR'S SLIP

A written advising slip should be prepared for each probation or suspension student. It is helpful to list the un-repeated classes with a grade of D or F, since these are the most obvious candidates for repeat work. It is also quite useful to make note of (but not write down) the student's general grade history, i.e. does the student appear to be at least capable of C work, B work, etc. It is also often useful to ask the student whether he or she has made any lifestyle adjustments, e.g. working less hours, studying more, etc.

Taking into account the points low, the student's grades, and the student's apparent potential for success, the advisor will decide how many hours the student should repeat and write the number in the appropriate block on the form (for example, "none," "6," or "3 or more"). Some things to consider:

--all other things equal, a student with a worse grade history should repeat more classes than one with a good (but perhaps spotty) history. A student who has never made an A before probably won't make one now.

--some courses may be inappropriate to repeat. For example, many students accidentally take a course that is far too difficult, making it unlikely that they will ever pass the course. Others may have changed majors, while others may have taken classes for which they lack prerequisites.

--if a student has a poor grade in math or English, try to ascertain whether the student might benefit from taking a developmental course prior to attempting a repeat.

--except for conditions noted above, always encourage the student to immediately repeat required courses in which he or she has an F. A grade of D in ENG 131 or 132 falls into the same category, since a C is required in both of those to graduate. Repeating such courses allows the student to improve the GPA and make progress toward graduation at the same time.

--avoid allowing the student to take several difficult classes at one time (the student is often a good judge of what is "difficult").

--be wary of students who say "I'll take that next summer," or "I don't want to repeat anything." Getting off probation/suspension should be the student's first goal, and it needs to come ahead of everything else including the desire to make rapid progress.

--students who are less than 3 grade points low and who seem capable of making B's or higher may not need to repeat anything, especially if they have no F's in required courses.

--the normal recommended maximum load is 15 hours, or 16 if a KIN activity or lab is included in the schedule. Advisors may raise this to a higher number if circumstances warrant but should do so cautiously. If the student anticipates heavy work obligations, he or she should be advised to take less than the normal maximum.

--the advice can be made more restrictive or less restrictive according to how the advisor reads the student.

After deciding how many hours that the student should repeat (if any), the advisor may optionally write in additional suggested courses in the blank space above the signature line. The Dean's Office makes these restrictive, i.e., suspension students are not be allowed to register for any course that is not listed somewhere on the advisor slip. Departments may choose to be more flexible with probation students.

After the form is complete, go over it one more time and ask the student if he or she has any questions, then sign the form and obtain the student's signature. Give the original to the student and retain the copy for office records.

STEP 4: RELEASE THE HOLD AND REGISTER THE STUDENT

Once the student has been advised, the hold can be removed by typing a "D" in the far right field ("Del") of the academic probation/suspension line on screen 148 (if there is more than one screen of holds, press Enter repeatedly until the screen showing the hold appears). The Dean's Office always replaces the hold after registration to ensure that the student does not change his/her schedule. Departments have the option of replacing the hold or simply releasing probation students to register by phone or Internet.

Note: students should be strongly discouraged from dropping repeated courses. Even one letter grade improvement will improve the student's points low, and a repeated course can never cause a student to be worse off. Conversely, dropping a repeated class while staying in one or more new classes has the potential for making the student much worse off if he/she does poorly in the new classes. If a student feels that he or she must drop a class, therefore, it would usually be much more desirable to drop a new class than one being repeated.

QUESTIONS?

Contact the College of Business Dean's Office if there are questions about either procedures or how to handle a particular student. Improvement suggestions for this document should be directed to Dr. Warren W. Fisher, Associate Dean and MBA Director.

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