GPA Reset Can Give Students a Fresh Start—If They Know It Exists

Academic renewal programs are one way to improve students’ grade point averages, removing poor marks after a student proves they can achieve at higher levels. Many colleges, like Moorpark College, part of the Ventura Community College District in Southern California, have allowed for GPA resets for years, but students are often unaware of the option.

In spring 2024, Moorpark leaders conducted a pilot to see how the college could better communicate eligibility for grade renewal and found, through texting, counselors were able to reach students who then took advantage of the initiative. Those who utilized the renewal also had higher retention rates, took more credits and were more likely to enroll in difficult gateway courses.

What’s the need: Academic renewals are one way to motivate students who have struggled academically by removing their lowest grades from their cumulative GPA.

“It’s like if you owed years of taxes to the IRS, like, ‘How do I get myself out of this hole?’” says Jodi Dickey, dean of academic counseling. “Because you’re so buried, it’s hard to really see the future.”

At Moorpark, students are eligible for an academic renewal if they achieved a below-C grade more than 12 months ago for up to 24 credits of work and if their current GPA is higher, demonstrating more recent achievement. The one exception—academic renewal can’t be applied to any course that is used to satisfy a degree, certificate or transfer requirement.

The policy has existed for more than a decade, but very few students are aware of the option, explains Ashley Lajoie, chair of academic counseling at the college.

Some savvy students will navigate the college’s website and apply for the reset, but college leaders wanted to expand the opportunity, delivering timely and relevant information for students to improve their academic success.

How it works: The college launched a two-way texting campaign in spring 2024 to contact students who qualified for academic renewal. Moorpark has seen success in reaching students via text for other services, included embedded tutoring.

Using data from the institutional research office, a counselor reaches out to a batch of eight to 10 students, using a standardized text that alerts students they’re eligible for academic renewal, and then responds to each student individually. The software Moorpark uses allows counselors to have a split screen, displaying all active messages so the counselor can engage multiple students at once, Lajoie explains.

Academic counselors are responsible for filing the paperwork to kick-start the renewal process. If a student confirms permission via text for a counselor to file the paperwork, the process can take place entirely online. From there, the counselor sends the paperwork to admissions and it takes about two days for the grade to update, reflected on the student’s transcript as an E for “exempt.”

“In some cases, it doesn’t always work out or make sense for them to do academic renewal, because there are limitations in terms of how many courses and terms,” Lajoie explains. In those instances, counselors are able to provide personalized advice and support to guide the student through other ways to improve their academic standing, such as retaking a course or changing their degree path.

At the end of the semester, Lajoie sends a text to all students who received a changed grade through the process, alerting them of the update.

Moorpark used $3,500 of grant funding to compensate staff who worked on the project.

The impact: To gauge the initiative’s effectiveness, Moorpark leaders compared data between a control group (eligible students who did not receive texts) and a treatment group (eligible students who did receive texts), a total of around 450 students. Counselors texted around 220 students, 50 percent of whom engaged in some capacity via text and 25 percent of whom completed the academic renewal process.

The anecdotal impact was immediate and powerful, staff shared.

“When we inform them, ‘Hey, you can have these grades exempted from your GPA without repeating [the class],’ there’s this, like, beacon of light that explodes,” Lajoie says. “For some of these students, they had four and five classes of F’s, and it was severely impacting their GPA, which impacts their enrollment and progress.”

Some students were hesitant to engage via text, expressing worries about privacy, safety and legitimacy of the initiative. Counselors tried to use more personal language and utilize emojis to sound less robotic and not AI-generated, Lajoie says.

As Moorpark expands texting services to students, administrators hope to see less of this concern because students will be familiar communicating with institutional stakeholders this way.

In the data, Hispanic students who received texts about academic renewal had a higher retention rate into fall 2024 compared to their peers who did not receive texts (57 percent versus 47 percent).

The treatment group also enrolled in more units for fall 2024 (9.81 units) compared to the control group (9.5 units) and were more likely to enroll in an English or math class, which highlighted the relationship between a student’s confidence in their academic ability and their GPA, staff shared.

When considering demographic factors, Hispanic students saw larger gains in these areas, as well, “suggesting the initiative also helps to close equity gaps,” says Oleg Bespalov, dean of institutional effectiveness, PACE and marketing at Moorpark.

Another benefit of the initiative is how many students that counselors can reach quickly, Dickey says. “If every one of those was done in an appointment, you’re looking at 250 hours’ worth of time, and you’re lucky that that student got to you in the first place.”

What’s next: This fall, campus leaders plan to scale the initiative to include all students who are eligible for academic renewal, hopefully seeing even more benefit from the opportunity.

One future change is closing the loop of communication with students sooner, following up on students’ GPAs changes earlier than at the end of the term. Counselors also plan to use text-based conversations to connect students to other services and resources, such as steps for making an appointment online or how to make an educational plan.

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