6.4 Policies with “Teeth”: Academic Standing and Other Need-to-Know Policies
6.4 Policies with “Teeth”: Academic Standing and Other Need-to-Know Policies
Academic success is a choice. You have a choice as to whether or not you engage in behaviors that successful students engage in, such as attending class regularly, managing time well, actively studying enough time each week, and doing school work in a timely fashion. Students who do not choose to do these things many times experience unpleasant consequences as a result of doing poorly in their classes. Likewise, students who lack understanding of the policies and procedures that they need to follow while earning their degree can also lead to unpleasant consequences. While the university strongly encourages that all students read all sections of the General Information section of the online Undergraduate Catalog as well as their major college/department degree requirements, here are some of the most important policies to consider.
Undergraduate Catalog
Academic Standing
At the end of each term, professors input final grades into the MyMav Student Information System, and the Office of the Registrar makes the grades “official” for that term. At that time, the Office of the Registrar calculates the semester and cumulative grade point averages (GPAs). Based on that information, an Academic Standing is posted that serves as a signal of the academic “health” of a student. The university requires that students maintain at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA to be in Good Standing. Students that earn less than a 2.0 cumulative GPA are not performing according to the standards set by the university, which results in an impact of their privileges and possibly the ability to continue taking classes at UT Arlington.
The Table of Standards sets certain GPA limits based on the number of hours a student has accumulated.
| Total College Hours Undertaken | UTA Cumulative GPA for Academic Probation | UTA Cumulative GPA for Academic Dismissal |
| 0-29 | Less than 2.0 | Less than 1.6 |
| 30-59 | Less than 2.0 | Less than 1.8 |
| 60 or more | Less than 2.0 | Less than 2.0 |
Freshman and Sophomore students who earn probation—those students with less than a 2.0 GPA but higher than the level for dismissal—are restricted to taking 14 semester credit hours until they raise their cumulative GPA to a 2.0 or above and come into Good Standing again. Academic departments may require students to develop enrollment contracts that specify courses and actions to take to improve academic performance. Once a student reaches the Junior and Senior levels, these students no longer have probation as an option and are simply subject to dismissals after one warning term.
Students who earn cumulative GPAs at the “dismissal level” (i.e., GPAs listed in Table 6-1) for their classification are subject to dismissal and are required to sit out for a period of time after one warning semester. Students flow through a cycle of academic standings based on their semester and cumulative GPAs. Figure 6-2 illustrates some of the possibi