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

 

 

 

 

Academic Standing Errors - Link to Request Form to Fix

https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?MontgomeryCollege&layout_id=14

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 

Academic Suspension Procedures - Updated August 2016

Any student on Academic Suspension who wants to appeal the one semester immediate sit out period should download and complete the Suspension Appeal Form found at http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/edu/plain.aspx?id=19236 and sign up for an appointment to see you.  If you support the student’s appeal, please sign the form and work with the student to create an “Academic Improvement Plan,” found as one of the Academic Plan types in Starfish.  Please complete the plan with as much detail as you can and provide your guidance in the “Outcomes” area of Starfish.  Finally, please provide the student with a “Referral to Dean (Academic Suspension Appeal).”  It is critical to have both the plan and the referral documented in Starfish to meet the requirements of the P&P regulation and so we can get students through the process swiftly and easily.  Refer the student to my office to make an appointment (either in-person at SA-120 or by calling 240-567-1993).

If you do not support the student’s appeal, do not sign the appeal form, but please document the meeting in Starfish, give a referral, and have the student continue to make an appointment with me.

Note: Any student who has sat out the one-semester period, but is still on Academic Suspension, does not need to meet with the Dean.  If the student has sat out, I authorize you to work with the student and create an educational plan (up to six credits/2 courses or refer to ASP).  Please document your meeting with the student and provide permission in the form of a comment in Banner and Starfish.  The comment should reflect a change in the student’s status from Academic Suspension to Academic Restriction and note that the student has sat out for at least one semester.  Also note the credit limit and the proposed courses the student will take.  The student will need to be directed to 240-567-5000 or the Office of Admissions to have his or her status changed.  

If you have a case where a student was given a suspension appeal for a prior semester, completed a successful semester, but is still on Academic Suspension because his or her GPA was very low, treat it as if the student sat out.  Create a new plan, document, and refer to Admissions.  The student does not need to see the dean.

Academic Suspension Reminders

Student on Academic Suspension that have sat out a whole semester can meet with a counselor and begin the semester on academic restriction status. Counselors should put a note in Banner and then have the student check in with admissions so that staus can be changed.

Students who do not want to sit out a semester must complete the academic suspension appeal form and see the Dean of Student Development.

View policy on this website: http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/edu/plain.aspx?id=19236

Academic Suspension Form Updated

Students who have been academically suspended, have not sat out a full fall or spring semester, and want to appeal their suspension must complete this form:  http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=40803. 

Of note to counselors is Step II - "The counselor will discuss your situation and relay relevant information to the Dean of Student Development."  Please make sure you relay relevant information by putting your recommendations, suggestions, comments, etc. in General Comments within Banner and/or email them directly to the dean.

"Double Academic Suspension" Students

We know that students who are Academically Suspended must sit out for a complete fall or spring semester (unless they submit an appeal and are approved).  Upon their return those students meet with a counselor and are placed on Academic Restriction until they get their overall GPA up above a 1.75. 

In some cases a student can have a GPA so low that even if they do remarkably well during their Academic Restriction semester that their overall GPA still isn't above a 1.25.  Therefore, they would be placed back on Academic Suspension at the end of that semester.  In these cases of "Double Academic Suspension" counselors don't to have the student go through the Academic Suspension Appeal process and/or refer them to the dean.  Assuming the student had a significantly better semester counselors can have the student's status updated to Academic Restriction again, as normal, and allow them to take 6 credit hours.