With an average of 100-150 students on academic probation each fall, Lincoln University curators are calling for administration to address the university's notable at-risk student population with a heavier focus on academic support programs.
At its meeting last week, the academic and student affairs committee of the Board of Curators discussed at-risk students and the programs in place to support them.
Curator Don Cook said the university has "a significant level" of at-risk students.
At-risk students are characterized by a GPA that falls below a 2.0 threshold, which puts financial aid and many students' ability to afford Lincoln in jeopardy, said Zakiya Brown, dean of student success.
Students are also placed on academic probation when they fall below a 2.0 GPA and are suspended if they don't raise their cumulative or term GPA by the end of the semester after they are notified.
Jennifer Benne, interim vice president for academic affairs and provost, said Lincoln has had an average of about 100-150 students on academic probation by the end of the fall semester for the past couple years.
Misty Nunn, communications director for the university, said Lincoln has 739 total undergraduates registered for the upcoming fall semester as of July 26. By this time last year, LU had a total of 820 undergraduate students signed up for classes, Interim President John Moseley said Tuesday. But undergraduate enrollment reached 1,893 for the 2020 academic year, he said. While expected to increase from 739, total enrollment has been on a downward trend since 2011.
"For a school our size and resources that we have to assist those students, it seems like a big number when you're trying to give them the support that they need to be successful," Benne said. "I wouldn't say that it's an excessively large number compared to other institutions though."
By the end of the 2021 spring semester, 51 students were placed on academic probation and an additional 17 students were on continued probation.
The same semester had 65 students placed on the academic suspension list and an additional 14 on the suspension list that were previously readmitted to LU on appeal.
Of the total 79 students on academic suspension from the university, 33 filed appeals by the July 15 deadline. Twenty three of the appeals have been recommended for reinstatement and 10 were denied.
Students facing academic suspension are barred from taking classes at Lincoln for at least a semester, and those reinstated are put back on academic probation.
Lincoln University is an open admissions institution, meaning there are no strict academic requirements or minimum GPA or ACT test scores to get in.
Benne said that is likely a reason for the university's significant at-risk student population.
"We tend to have students who have not necessarily anticipated that they were going to go to college," Benne said. "They may not have taken the coursework that the average pre-college student takes. They may not have prepared for their ACT."
Identifying at-risk students
Benne said Lincoln uses three methods for identifying at-risk students: faculty reporting missing or unsatisfactory assignments; irregular class attendance; and students using tutoring or supplemental course instruction.
The university uses the Ellucian CRM Advise system to coordinate student data across departments.
Attendance, for example, is reported in the system by instructors. The Academic Success Center is then automatically notified of students that fall below a percentage threshold and academic coaches reach out to offer help.
Benne said everyone - including instructors, the registrar, advisers and the Academic Success Center - has access to the CRM Advise system.
The current structure drew criticism from Curator Stacia Brown, who said she was concerned about the timeframe in which Lincoln notices and intercepts at-risk students.
She said it's important for Lincoln to ensure students are well-supported early in their college career to better retain students year after year, which would also boost the university's graduation rate.
In 2018, LU reported 9 percent of bachelor's degrees were completed in four years, while 18 percent were completed in five years and 22 percent took six years.
Curator Brown said one of her concerns is that instructors are entering student data in the CRM Advise system and noticing trends indicative of academic struggle too late.
"How early are we identifying students that might be having some difficulties and then how early are we providing interventions for those students," Brown asked.
She said she had the same questions for administrators last year and was told the names of at-risk students are provided to resident assistants who are expected to give reminders or extra motivation to go to class.
"That's not enough," Brown said. "That's not enough of a response for at-risk students."
The advising system has a function to generate holistic profiles, based on data like ACT score, high school GPA, first generation status and hometown, for incoming students to determine if they are at-risk, Benne said.
She said, however, the university's lead staff member working with the CRM Advise system left and searches for someone else with experience with the system have been unsuccessful.
"That's the piece that we're missing, so not the team that would respond to the at-risk students - that we have - it's being able to identify them in our communications system by programming it to look at the factors that we want it to look at," Benne said.
Lincoln is now looking to train someone else to develop the profile dashboard for incoming students, but it will not be ready by the fall.
Instead, Benne said Lincoln will have to rely on factors that provide a more narrow picture and may not be possessed by all students.
ACT scores, for example, could be used as a benchmark, but Benne said Lincoln waived that requirement so some at-risk students may not have a score, making it more difficult for the university to determine if they fall into that category.
Benne said high school GPAs are also not available for every student.
Supporting student success
After at-risk students are identified, the Academic Success Center offers services to assist struggling students.
In addition to general tutoring and academic assistance, LU Success Director LaKeisha Washington said Lincoln has an academic support program called Operation ROAR, standing for reach out and retain, which divides at-risk students into three tiers based on GPA.
Students with a 1.7-1.9 GPA are in tier one, which requires a monthly meeting with a ROAR adviser, tutoring, and attending a formal or informal event sponsored by the Academic Success Center.
Tier two students, those with a GPA of 1.2-1.6, meet with a ROAR advisor biweekly and are required to attend tutoring two or three times per week and Academic Success Center events.
Students in tier three, those with a GPA of 0.0-1.1, report to a ROAR adviser weekly, attend mandatory tutoring three or four times each week and all Academic Success Center events.
Washington said the Academic Success Center events focus on study habits and skills, like note-taking and time management.
In addition to hosting events, Benne said the Academic Success Center conducts outreach with messaging around campus and by sending tutors to promote services in specific courses in which freshmen students struggle.
Washington said Lincoln will also be reintroducing progress reports for those students in the lowest tier.
"It seemed to have had an impact on this particular tier, but we did not do it long enough to weigh our options and see what it is that we can do better," Washington said about the reports.
Although this is only the second year the ROAR program will be in effect, Benne said Lincoln has always had a program to interact with students on academic probation.
Washington said it's the university's goal this fall semester to re-evaluate what the tiers look like, what expectations of students are and how students are held accountable for academic decisions.
Curator Brown said the ROAR program is a reactive approach and Lincoln needs to be more proactive to reach students before they're one step away from suspension.
In addition to students actively struggling with academics, Benne said the university identifies students who have an increased potential to struggle.
Proactive academic support
The Blue Tiger Academy is another initiative LU has started to improve student academic performance.
It's a voluntary eight-week summer bridge program designed to assist students with low GPAs and ACT scores before their first semester at Lincoln. Students complete 12 credits of general education classes that can then count toward their degree.
The boot camp, which is meant to help students transition from high school to college, is experiencing some difficulties.
The program, which concludes in the last week of July, has fewer students enrolled than in previous years with about 25, as opposed to the usual 50 or so.
Benne said this year has taught the university it needs to push the start date for the academy later in the summer. Some schools were still in session when the academy started during the second week of June and some students didn't have transcripts by the start date, she said.
"I think that prevented a lot of students that could have participated this summer from being able to participate because our start date was June 8, which was too early," Benne said.
Classwork has also declined in the last four weeks of the program, Washington told the committee.
"The participation, as far as classwork, has definitely fallen off," Washington said.
Benne said the dropoff in participation could be a result of fatigue similar to a normal semester.
"I think a lot of students are excited over the Fourth of July to get away, see their families, and we always hope they come back rejuvenated and ready to go again, but we don't always see that," Benne said.
She said instructors are trying to make coursework more exciting and the program directors have added more extracurricular opportunities and encouraging events for the later half.
The program doesn't maintain any kind of formal relationship with students who pass through and go on to enroll at Lincoln, which Benne said could be an interesting idea, but students are tagged in the CRM Advise system as being a Blue Tiger Academy student.
She said around 90 percent of Blue Tiger Academy students enroll at Lincoln the following fall semester, but the university doesn't have data on the long-term graduation rates of those students.
Benne said Lincoln's academic assistance programming is beneficial for struggling students.
"I think that they have that opportunity to have that one-on-one contact to reach out. The students aren't lost in a large student body where they're not able to be identified," Benne said. "As always, I wish we had more people and more resources, but I think that with what we have we do a really good job of connecting with students."