Welcome Back!
The Welcome Back! (WB) program mission is to facilitate baccalaureate graduation for returning students who were close to graduation before stopping out; to provide superior customer service as a "home base" for the returning students; and to uphold the academic integrity of the undergraduate degrees.
Since the program began in spring 2010, 132 former students have re-entered UTSA to rejuvenate their pursuit of a degree. Through December 2011, 39% have realized that dream and received their degrees. Another 21% have applied for graduation in 2012; and 19% are still active but not yet applied for graduation. The remaining 21% have stopped out again for many of the same reasons as before --finances, family, and job pressures.
In the Welcome Back Student Spotlight, two of our participants share their experiences with the WB program and earning a degree after first entering UTSA many years ago.
A third outreach will commence this spring by invitation letter to re-enter fall 2012 as WB participants. We also encourage referrals from faculty and academic advisors.
Eligibility Critera
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Stopped out of UTSA for at least 1 academic year up to 7 academic years
- Have not earned a bachelor's degree at any other university, national or international, since stopping out of UTSA
- Have no UTSA fiscal holds
at the time of WB acceptance
- Have earned a minimum of 96 semester credit hours that are directly applicable to their degree programs with no more than 29 hours remaining for the degree and have demonstrated past academic success and progress
- Have a UTSA minimum 2.25 GPA preferred or no less than a 2.0 GPA; have met or exceeded their college's academic standing, if applicable
- Are readmissable to UTSA in good academic and good disciplinary standing
Benefits
Program participants can benefit in one or many ways depending on each unique need:
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$1,000 grant awarded to the first 30 who are accepted into the program. (The grant is for the return semester's courses taken at UTSA.)
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Academic and/or surcharge waivers considered for requirements pertaining to substitutions, residency, registration, catalog timeframe, & graduation
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Email and/or phone reminders of important deadlines
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Grade and registration checks each semester; assistance with identifying transfer courses and substitution process if student cannot return to UTSA
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A "home office" approach to provide appropriate referrals, advocacy and assistance, special requests, and navigation of university policies and procedures
- The assignment of a GI Retention & Graduation Analyst who is familiar with the student's college of major. This analyst helps to "shepherd" the WB student from readmission to graduation.
Participation
Welcome Back participation for summer and fall 2012 is open to former UTSA students who are readmitted to UTSA by May 1 and meet our Welcome Back eligibility criteria.
If you are a former UTSA student and feel that you may be eligible to apply for the Welcome Back! program, please contact the Graduation Initiative Office at 210-458-4687 or graduation.initative@utsa.edu for more information.