Updates to Academic Restriction and Academic Suspension - Spring 2024

 

From: Peanort, Marcus E
Sent: Friday, December 22, 2023 5:01 PM
Cc: Mason, Tonya R <tonya.mason@montgomerycollege.edu>; McFadden, Janee K <janee.mcfadden@montgomerycollege.edu>; Peanort, Marcus E <marcus.peanort@montgomerycollege.edu>
Subject: Updates to Academic Restriction and Academic Suspension
Importance: High

 

To:	Counseling and Advising Department Office of Records and Registration Raptor Central Raptor Central Call Center
From:	Dr. Tonya Mason, Collegewide Dean of Student Success and Rockville Student Affairs Ms. Janeé McFadden, Collegewide Dean of Student Engagement      and Takoma Park/Silver Spring Student Affairs  Mr. Marcus Peanort, Interim Collegewide Dean of Student Access      and Germantown Student Affairs
Subject:	Updates to Academic Restriction and Academic Suspension
Date:	December 22, 2023
At the recommendation of the Academic Regulations and Standards Committee, Dr. Sharon Fechter, interim senior vice president for Academic Affairs, approved changes to the Academic Restriction (AR 7.3) and Academic Suspension (AR 7.4) academic regulations.  For many, the changes should look familiar because they have simply been restored to the pre-pandemic policy. The following changes will be enforced at the end of the fall semester once student academic standing is updated, which should occur today:      Academic Restriction – Students who have accumulated at least 12 Grade Point Average (GPA) hours with a cumulative GPA below 1.75 will be placed on academic restriction. Such students will have a registration hold and must consult with a counselor for review of all course registrations. Such students are limited to enrollment in up to two college-level courses or up to six hours per semester.  The academic restriction status will be removed when the student achieves a cumulative GPA of 1.75 or higher.     Academic Suspension – Students who have accumulated at least 30 Grade Point Average (GPA) hours and whose GPA falls below 1.25 will be placed on academic suspension. Such students are prohibited from enrolling in college-level courses at Montgomery College for an entire fall or spring semester. The academic suspension status will be removed when the student achieves a cumulative GPA of 1.25 or higher. Students who return from a period of suspension will have their academic standing updated to academic restriction and will be subject to the guidelines of AR 7.3 – Academic Restriction.  Students may appeal academic suspension to the Dean of Student Affairs.    Considering this change, students will receive an email via Starfish informing them of their current academic standing for Academic Restriction and Academic Suspension, as well as for Academic Alert.  Below are samples of each notification.   In addition, the online Academic Suspension Appeal form has been reactivated to allow students the opportunity to appeal their academic suspension, after meeting with a counselor.  As noted in Image 3 – Academic Suspension Starfish Notification, students will get a referral to the online form through Starfish; refer to Image 4 – Academic Suspension Appeal Starfish Referral.

 

Image 1 – Academic Alert Starfish Notification

 

Image 2 – Academic Restriction Starfish Notification

 

Image 3 – Academic Suspension Starfish Notification

 

Image 4 – Academic Suspension Appeal Starfish Referral

 

 

 

 

Transcript Holds

Please be advised that that a new law went into effect on July 1, 2023.  CH0748 Prohibits an institution of higher education from refusing to provide a current or former student with a transcript or taking other punitive measures regarding a student's transcript request because the student owes a debt to the institution of higher education.

In response to this legislation, the Banner AR hold settings that prohibit release of transcripts have been eliminated.  Banner has been reset so that the cashier (CA), delinquent account (DA), bad debt (BD), child care (CC) and collections (CL) holds no longer prohibit receipt of transcripts.  Students should be able to request transcripts now, even with these holds on their accounts. 

 There are other holds which prevent the release of transcripts, as shown below, but these fall outside of the AR purview and may not fall under the legislation as the legislation pertains to indebtedness.   Student Information systems has been asked to review these holds.

Please share this information with colleagues as needed.

 

Regards,

 

Natalie Thompson, MS

Accounts Receivable Manager

Montgomery College

9221 Corporate Blvd., 3^rd Floor

Rockville, MD 20850

 

Phone: 240-567-5314

Natalie.thompson@montgomerycollege.edu

Academic Holds - "Short" v. "Long" Runs Explained

	When?	What Happens?
Short Run	Every night, beginning about halfway through the term	1.      rolls grades 2.      checks for repeats 3.      updates GPAs Does NOT update academic standing or apply holds!
Long Run	Typically when 95+% of the grades for a term submitted	1.      rolls grades 2.      checks for repeats 3.      updates GPAs 4.      updates academic standing 5.      applies AR holds
Continuing Short Run	continues for a week or two after the long grade run	1.      rolls grades 2.      checks for repeats 3.      updates GPAs 4.      updates academic standing Does NOT apply holds!

Academic Restriction Hold Process Explained

Student Information Systems Process 

1. Initial short grade runs every night: beginning about halfway through the term, this process rolls grades, checks for repeats, and updates GPAs.  This does not update academic standing or apply holds.
   
2. Long grade run: This is run typically when we have 95+% of the grades for a term submitted.  This process rolls grades, checks for repeats, updates GPAs, updates academic standing, and applies the AR holds.
   
3. Continuing short grade runs: this process continues for a week or two after the long grade run to roll any grades that were not submitted at the time of the long grade run.  This process rolls grades, checks for repeats, updates GPAs and updates academic standing but does not apply holds.

There’s been a lot of variations of the grade run schedule over the years, but we’ve been following this one for 3-4 years and it seems to be working relatively well.  There’s still some flaws in it, and we are always discussing potential improvements.

We have not yet run the long grade run for SSI as we are not yet at 95% grades submitted due to the fact that there are still a number of classes running.  At this point the plan is to do the long grade run around Aug. 23, which will also be the date we plan to do the long grade run for SSII.

Academic Standing Issues

To:	Montgomery College Counseling and Advising Departments
From:	Dr. Jamin Bartolomeo, Collegewide Dean of Student Access and Germantown Student Affairs Dr. Tonya Mason, Collegewide Dean of Student Success and Rockville Student Affairs Dr. Clemmie Solomon, Collegewide Dean of Student Engagement and Takoma Park/Silver Spring Student Affairs
Subject:	Academic Standing Issues
Date:	June 25, 2018
Due to the implementation of Course Program of Study (CPOS) beginning in the fall 2017 semester, Academic Standing now includes both institutional credit hours (credit and non-credit) attempted at Montgomery College and any accepted transfer credit hours.  Prior to that semester, Academic Standing was based solely on the number of attempted institutional credit hours.  It is important to note that the Academic Standing Academic Regulation has not changed, but only what is included in overall attempted credit hours.      This change has become most problematic for students whose records reflect they are on Academic Suspension and believe they must sit out for a fall or spring semester when that is not the case.  For example, consider a student who transfers in 26 credits from another institution and enrolls in 4 hours in one semester at the College.  If the student earns a grade of ‘F’ in those 4 hours, resulting in a 0.0 overall GPA, he or she would be put on Academic Suspension per Academic Regulations because he or she has 30 overall attempted hours (institutional and transfer credits) and an earned GPA of less than 1.25.  Since the student only attempted 4 hours at MC, he or she should really be on Academic Alert (attempted less than 12 hours and overall GPA below 2.0).  Developmental education courses and courses in English Language for Academic Purposes (ELAP) program can also affect Academic Standing because they count as institutional attempted hours.  Please note that this issue is not limited to Academic Suspension, as some students have also inadvertently been placed on Academic Restriction and Academic Alert statuses due to this issue.  The deans received a list of 248 students collegewide that were on Academic Suspension at the end of spring 2018 and after further review it was determined that 69 of those students needed their Academic Standing updated.  Mr. Ernest Cartledge is working to update each record for fall 2018 and our offices will inform those students of this.  In the event that you see any other students in this situation, please refer them through the Academic Suspension Appeal process in Starfish.  The deans would like to use this to track any other cases, so this can be reported Drs. Brown and Rai.  To help in expediting these requests, please put notes in Banner and/or Starfish indicating you believe the student’s Academic Standing needs to be updated.  There may also be students on Academic Restriction or Academic Alert that need their Academic Standing updated.  Please refer those students through the Request to Exceed Maximum Academic Coursework Load process in Starfish.  Again, please add notes in Banner and/or Starfish as described above.     We are working to address this issue with the College Committee on Academic Regulations and Standards and the Student Information Systems (SIS) Team.  If you have any questions about this or a specific student situation, please contact us.

Academic Load and Academic Suspension - Spring 2017

Beginning spring 2017, the Deans of Student Affairs have agreed to a collegewide interpretation of the policy for credit overload requests and suspension appeals.  Below in black is the new/cleaned up regulation on academic load and in red is the agreed upon interpretation of the deans.

9.63 Academic Load

A.      Students in good academic standing may enroll for up to 18 billing hours in a fall or spring semester. Students who wish to take more than 18 billing hours but less than 22 billing hours may obtain permission through the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs or the Dean’s appointed designee(s). Students who wish to take more than 22 billing hours during a fall or spring semester may only receive permission from the Office of the Deans of Student Affairs.

Students who want to take between 18 and 21 billing hours during a fall or spring semester may receive permission from a counselor or advisor (appointed designee).  Any student who wants to take more than 21 billing hours may only receive permission from the campus Dean/Associate Dean of Student Affairs.

B.      Students in good academic standing may enroll for up to 7 billing hours in one summer session or 10 billing hours in overlapping sessions. Students who wish to take more than 7 billing hours during a summer session or more than 10 billing hours in overlapping sessions may only receive permission from the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs or the Dean’s appointed designee(s).

Students who want to take more than 7 billing hours in one summer session or more than 10 billing hours in overlapping summer sessions may only receive permission from the campus Dean/Associate Dean of Student Affairs. There is no appointed designee.

C.      Students may enroll for up to 4 billing hours during a winter session. Students who wish to take more than 4 billing hours during a winter session may only receive permission from the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs.

Students who want to take more than 4 billing hours during a winter session may only receive permission from the campus Dean/Associate Dean of Student Affairs. There is no appointed designee.

Academic Suspension

Students who are appealing academic suspension will now be guided to an online form to submit their request, after meeting with a counselor.  You can view the form here: https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?MontgomeryCollege&layout_id=4.  This form will be linked from the Dean’s webpage as well as in an email that is generated in Starfish, as part of a referral.

The steps for academic suspension are as follows:

Status:	Student on academic suspension but has not sat out for one full semester	Student on academic suspension and has sat out for one full semester
What to do:	A student on academic suspension who has not sat out one full semester, but wants to appeal, will be required to first meet with a counselor to create an educational plan in Starfish and talk about academic options. After meeting with the counselor (counselor will put recommendations in Banner and Starfish), counselor refers the student to complete the aforementioned online form which will be sent electronically to the Dean’s Office.  The Dean’s office will follow-up and schedule an appointment with each student.	A student on academic suspension who has sat out for one full semester (fall or spring), and wants to reenroll, needs to meet with a counselor/advisor on the campus for which he or she would like to take courses.  After working with a counselor (counselor will put notes in Banner and Starfish) the student's status can be changed to "academic restriction" and the student may register up to 6 credits for that semester.  The student will be referred to Enrollment Services or the Response Center after meeting with the counselor to have his or her status changed to allow registration.

If you’ve met with a student that wishes to appeal, please create an academic plan in Starfish (for student and dean review), enter your notes/recommendation in Starfish and Banner and provide a referral for the student to complete the online appeal form and meet with the dean. For the referral, please follow the same steps as the Starfish referral we send to the Assessment Center but instead select this referral option:

The student will then receive an email like this:

From: "do_not_reply@montgomerycollege.edu" <do_not_reply@montgomerycollege.edu>
Date: Wednesday, November 23, 2016 at 12:40 PM
To:
Subject: Academic Suspension Appeal - Next Steps

---

‌Dear Student Name,

Thank you for meeting with me today to discuss your academic suspension appeal.  Your next step in the appeal process is to complete the Online Academic Suspension Appeal Form.  On the form, complete all of the fields, including the date we met (4/28/2014 2:00 PM EDT) and why you should be allowed to appeal, and hit submit.  The Office of the Dean of Students will follow up to schedule an appointment with you.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Counselor Name
counselor.name@montgomerycollege.edu 

Spring 2013 Registrar Updates and Reminders!!

Students who may register in person: Early Placement, Underage, Student Athletes

Increase in credit hours should be noted in SPACMNT (a paper form should not be filled out).

Admissions and Records will not accept overrides on the add/drop form until the first day a class meets.

Waitlists will be cleared at 11 p.m. the day of the first class meeting. If you want a copy of the waitlist, be sure to print a copy of it before 11 p.m.