Academic Standards Progress Policy

This policy is designed to help students who are having academic difficulty. The purpose is to quickly identify students whose quarterly GPA falls below 2.0 and provide assistance to improve their academic standing. Students will be alerted to their academic status and provided assistance to improve their academic performance. The Academic Standards Progress Policy provides for academic suspension in cases where students are unable to achieve satisfactory academic standing.

Individual college programs such as high school completion, international student programs, veteran programs, certain vocational/technical programs and students receiving financial aid may have different and/or additional academic standard requirements and appeal processes. Students in these programs should contact their program advisor for information regarding these requirements.

Policy

Students are expected to maintain a satisfactory grade point average for credits attempted. A minimum quarterly GPA of 2.0 must be maintained when six or more credits are attempted to be in good standing. Academic deficiency is defined as failure to maintain the minimum quarterly grade point average requirement of 2.0.

  • After the first term in which a student is academically deficient, s/he will be placed on Academic Alert.
  • After the second consecutive term in which a student is academically deficient, the student will be placed on Academic Warning.
  • After the third consecutive term of academic deficiency, the student will be placed on Academic Suspension from the college for one term.
  • A student is removed from Academic Alert or Academic Warning at the end of the term in which a 2.0 GPA or higher is achieved.

The Office of the Registrar monitors the Academic Standards Progress Policy. A student may appeal a One-Term Academic Suspension by completing the appeals process. Each student gets one appeal to a One-Term Academic Suspension per instance.

Academic Suspension & Appeals Procedure

Students who have been informed via their preferred email address in ctcLink of their One-Term Academic Suspension and have a hold on their registration need to complete and submit the Academic Success Plan/Appeal. The link to do that will be in the email sent to you notifying you of your suspension.

Once submitted you will receive an automated response confirming receipt and within 5 business days you will be contacted by a Student Success Coach via your preferred email address in ctcLink with next steps, including referrals to Counseling Services as needed.

If a student appeals their One-Term Academic Suspension and does not achieve satisfactory academic progress of a quarterly 2.0 GPA their next term, they will automatically be suspended for 4 consecutive terms. There is no appeal for a Four-Term Academic Suspension.

Students will be blocked from registering for classes while on Academic Suspension. If they have already registered for classes before the suspension reports can be run, they will be administratively dropped from registered classes and paid tuition will be refunded.

This policy applies to all students enrolled in credit-bearing classes.

Olympic College has student success initiatives that are campus-wide collaboration efforts to identify students who may benefit from additional academic, financial, personal, or social support. As a collaborative effort, faculty, staff, and administrators work together in an intrusive, proactive and supportive manner to increase student persistence and success.

At OC, we believe in being intentional about helping students succeed. The retention research strongly supports the value of creating a personalized educational experience. The Guided Pathways model of keeping students on an academic path requires that we monitor students’ progress and intervene if problems arise.

The ​purpose of the following policies is to quickly identify students whose quarterly GPA falls below 2.0 and offer to help students improve their academic standing. Students may work with a counselor to identify possible solutions to academic and non-academic issues or with a success coach to review programs, degrees, etc.