YSN Students in Academic Difficulty

In the GEPN, Masters and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs, satisfactory academic progress is defined as a grade of Pass or higher in all required courses. If a student anticipates difficulty in satisfactorily completing course requirements, they should notify their academic advisor.  Required courses are defined in each plan of study.  These program requirements are listed in the YSN Bulletin and website. There are three possible actions that may be taken when a student is in academic difficulty:

  1. An academic notification
  2. Academic warning
  3. Academic probation

Academic Notification

Academic Notification is a written statement from the course’s lead faculty to a student, to alert them they are at risk for an academic warning. Academic notifications are prompted when the student is not meeting course requirements. The lead faculty will send copies to the Academic Advisor and the Associate Director of Student Success.  Academic Notification can be used in all didactic and clinical courses. The academic notification will invite the student to a meeting with the course faculty to develop a plan for success in the course. Examples of when an academic notification may be issued include missed assignments, missed clinical hours, professionalism concerns including tardiness, and missing clinical case logs.

Academic Warning

An academic warning is a written warning of the risk of failure of a clinical or didactic course. It must be provided to the student as soon as course evaluation procedures provide evidence that there is a risk. There is no official cutoff, it is up to the course lead faculty’s discretion to determine whether a student is at risk. The academic warning provides the student notice of the risk of failure. It is a faculty responsibility to maintain ongoing documentation of each student’s progress in courses.  In academic courses, documentation of a student’s progress may be evident in written work grades, faculty comments on exams/projects, and faculty notes on classroom participation if that is part of the grade.  In clinical practicum documentation may be evident from clinical objective checklists, comments on progress evaluations, notes about observed practice skills, supervisory sessions, or reports of clinical staff working with the student.

The warning should clearly detail deficit areas including the course objectives the student is at risk of not meeting.  The written warning should be discussed and sent to the student with a copy to the Program Chair, the Specialty Director/Program Director, the Academic Adviser, the Associate Director of Student Success, and the Associate Dean of Student Life.  The faculty member who issued the warning will request a meeting with the student and their adviser.  For clinical courses, the meeting may include the faculty member, the student, adviser, and if applicable the clinical preceptor.  A plan should be developed and clearly delineated in the academic warning. This should include the recommendation for self-referral to the YSN Academic Support Team for GEPN and MSN Students.

If multiple academic warnings are received by a student in a semester, there will be an automatic referral to Academic Support Team and the Associate Director of Student Success.  Also, an in-depth learning plan will be developed by the faculty of record.  This plan may include weekly meetings with faculty along, and meetings with Specialty Director, Program Chair, and YSN Associate Dean of Student Life.

Academic Probation

Students who fail a required course may not continue with any academic or clinical coursework until notified by the Specialty Director or Program Director of their status in the school. The Executive Deputy Dean, Associate Dean of Student Life, Program Chair, Specialty Director/Program Director, course instructor, student’s academic adviser, and Associate Director of Student Success will review the student’s case to    determine which of the following will occur:

  1. The student may be withdrawn from the school.
  2. The student may be placed on academic leave of absence and allowed to return to retake the failed course.
  3. In rare circumstances, the student may be allowed to continue in the program and retake the failed course at the next available offering.   There is financial risk with this option, particularly if the student does not pass the course the 2nd time and has paid for additional coursework.  Students who are offered this option may not take any coursework that has a pre-requisite of the course that was failed.

Each course failed is considered one occurrence of academic probation. Students will be allowed to re-take the failed course only once. Throughout their enrollment at YSN, students will be dismissed if they are placed on academic probation for the second time.

If the student can continue in the program, they will remain on academic probation until they have completed the failed course.  The student will be charged tuition for the course re-take. Once the student achieves a grade of pass or higher, the probationary status will be removed, and the student may continue in the program.

The Financial Aid Office will be notified by the Associate Dean of Student Life when academic probation status is assigned to a student. Courses that a student fails or withdraws from may affect their eligibility for financial aid per the Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy https://nursing.yale.edu/students/registrar/registrar-policies/satisfactory-academic-progress-implications-financial-aid

Approved May 7, 2024, by YSN Board of Permanent Officers