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YSU conditional students face stiffer standards
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
Youngstown State University has changed the policy under which students with lower academic records are admitted, with the intention of providing those students with more help.
The change means that more students will be considered conditionally-admitted.
The change is expected initially to double the number of those students, said Jack Fahey, vice president for student affairs.
“Right now, we have about 400” coming in for fall semester, he said.
The university’s academic senate approved the change last May.
Students will be admitted under conditional status if their high school grade-point average is below 2.0 or their composite ACT is below 17 or their critical reading and math composite on the SAT is below 820.
Previously, students with both a below-2.0 GPA and below-17 ACT were admitted conditionally.
The policy change also tightens the requirements those students must meet to remain at YSU.
Jonelle Beatrice, director of the Center for Student Progress, said the policy change allows the university to better track those students and ensure the help they need is available to them.
“Some of them weren’t being captured initially,” she said. “They weren’t receiving support.”
The students are required to attend freshman orientation and if they fail to, their admittance will be deferred to a subsequent semester. There was no such requirement under the old policy.
It also requires conditionally admitted students to fulfill a contract with the Center for Student Progress, which includes meeting weekly with an academic coordinator and two times during the term with their college academic adviser.
“It’s to provide more structure and assistance,” Fahey said.
The old policy also required weekly meetings with an academic coordinator.
“There was not a good way campuswide to track those students,” Beatrice said.
The new policy combined with Starfish, a new software program the university is using to flag students who are struggling in classes, will enable the university more opportunity to monitor and track them.
Beatrice said that previously students who entered YSU under conditional admission would remain at the university for several semesters, not coming to anyone’s attention until they were cited for lack of academic progress. When that occurs, the student is in danger of having federal aid pulled.
“We’re trying to improve the methods to identify them early and provide opportunities for success right out of the gate,” she said.
The new contract not only requires regular meetings with academic advisers but also mandates attendance at tutoring sessions as assigned, follow-up on referrals to campus resources, attendance at all classes and cell- phones to be turned off during meetings.
Failure to meet guidelines during the first semester and to achieve good academic standing, which is a GPA of at least 1.75, will cause the conditionally-admitted student to be suspended from YSU.
Beatrice said the requirements are communicated to students through various campus offices.
“They get a letter from admissions, a letter from their adviser, a letter from the Center for Student Progress, and they’re told at orientation,” she said.
Services such as referrals for tutoring by the center are available to all YSU students, not just those encountering difficulty.
“Good students seem to take advantage of all these services,” Beatrice said. “First-generation or struggling students don’t always understand all the benefits.”