According to CollegeAtlas.org, in 2014 70 percent of Americans will study at a 4-year college, but less than two-thirds will graduate with a degree. This statistic hits close to home, since the University of New Haven sees a multitude of students drop out for various reasons.

When students withdraw from the semester, they are asked to indicate why. Academics is one of the reasons students can check, but it doesn’t clarify if this is due to poor grades or something else academic-related. Some students who leave due to grades will often not submit a withdrawal form, meaning the official number of students who leave during a semester is  not entirely accurate.

Students who were academically dismissed by the institution have either had a third semester of being put on probation, or had their semester GPA fall below a 1.0 while on probation.

Helena Cole, director of Centers for Academic Success and Advising, says there are multiple resources to help students with failing grades succeed. However, some students do not take advantage of them.

“Sometimes students don’t take advantages of the resources here due to lack of awareness of what resources are available, feeling uncomfortable asking for help, or thinking they do not need help until it is too late,” said Cole, “I think the biggest obstacle to success is a lack of motivation or having a fixed, rather than a growth, mindset. For the most part, if students want to succeed, believe they can succeed, and are willing to put in the time and effort to succeed, they can be successful.”

Melinda Hill, a success advisor for the Center for Student Success (CSS), agrees that some students do not take advantage of the resources on campus because they believe they “should be able to do all of this on their own,” and do not know where to start or how to get the help they need.  

“I hope any students who are unsure of where to start come to the Center for Student Success so we can help them figure out their next steps,” said Hill.

Cole suggests that students who are struggling with failing grades should develop strong time managements skills and create a study plan, which can be done with the help of the centers. If students are uncomfortable with the CSS or the Center for Learning Resources, there are other options for them.

“If students have poor grades, they can take advantage of the Fresh Start program,” said Cole. “The Fresh Start programs allows students to take two years off and return to the university with a zeroed out GPA, or in some other cases, students may need to change their major to take a reduced caseload.”