Overall and Conditional Effects of Academic Probation on Six-Year College Graduation

• In Event: Institutional Analysis and Data-Informed Decision Making

Abstract

Many students are placed onto academic probation at some point during their undergraduate enrollment. This study examined the impact of probationary placement on six-year college graduation using quasi-experimental analyses within a sample of 126,710 semester observations from 19,889 undergraduates across four entering cohorts at a large public university; it also explored these effects among several subgroups that have received little or no attention in prior research. The findings indicate that academic probation often reduced the likelihood of graduation, and these effects varied as a function of the probationary criterion (overall GPA versus semester GPA), students’ year in college, transfer status, and whether students had previously been placed on probation.

Authors

• Nicholas A. Bowman, University of Iowa
  Presenting Author

• Solomon Fenton-Miller, University of Iowa
  Non-Presenting Author