Remedial classes to count toward GPA in Fall

Developmental courses will soon count toward a student's GPA. The new system, beginning Fall 2012, will be applicable to all students in developmental classes at Texas A&M University-Commerce.  

Dean of University College, Dr. Ricky Dobbs, promotes the idea as a method to "toughen up the system."

"As of now, there are three possibilities for a person to be placed on suspension in such a way that they will have to leave school," he said.

The one soon to be discarded by the new policy is developmental suspension. Academic and financial aid suspension still remain.

"By eliminating one of those tracks of appeal, what you've done is made the process more efficient," Dobbs said. "But, you've also got to ensure that students understand that moving quickly through developmental work is our expectation and the state's expectation."

A person who has a 2.0 GPA and has failed the developmental courses currently has no adjustment to their GPA with the flunked courses. By changing the regulations, students in this position should have a greater motivation to pass.

"By including that in the GPA," Dobbs said, "I have pulled that person below a 2.0. It lights a fire under people who are messing around, not getting their stuff done, by making that count as a part of their GPA."

With the current method, a student can take a developmental course one semester, retake it the next semester, and still have no alteration done to their GPA, positive or negative.

This new system makes those classes count toward a GPA just as any other course. However, it should not be misinterpreted that developmental courses will count as credit toward degrees. Dobbs said that developmental courses will count towards GPA only; credits are not affected.

"Failure to do what you're supposed to do is going to catch up with you a lot quicker in this system than the current system," Dobbs said. "It is making your grade in a developmental course count in such a way that if you're not cutting it in developmental work, you're going to flunk out."

Dobbs hopes to see a positive outcome in student drive.

"Your GPA will be adversely affected," he said. "You will now have an incentive to get things done in your developmental work."

About one-third of freshmen students are in developmental classes along with a significant number of transfer students, according to Dobbs.

The primary reason behind this transition has a lot to do with graduation rates, Dobbs said.

"The university is going to be evaluated increasingly by the rate at which it graduates students," he said. "We cannot allow a person who wants to be lazy, be lazy."

The higher the graduation rate, the more the university is benefited financially.

"The state is going to be tying funding to the graduation rate," Dobbs said.