In the fall semester of 1984, 66 full-time commuting university sophomores whose cumulative grade point average was between .001 and 1.99 participated in a modified replication of a diagnostic and prescriptive interview program. The program used a group session with either an agency outreach approach (N=30) or a non-outreach approach (N=36) to help students identify the causes of their poor grades and determine which campus resources would be useful to them in preventing low achievement from recurring. Students in both treatment groups persisted at significantly higher rates than students in the nontreatment control group for the semester after intervention. This trend continued, although not with statistical significance, 2 years after intervention. There were no significant differences in rates of students persisting "in good standing" although the trends were in the predicted direction and remained so for 2 years after intervention. Students left to their own initiative (non-outreach group) showed statistically greater positive effects than did students for whom the agency took the initiative (outreach group). Asking helping agencies to take an outreach approach with students who indicate an interest in being contacted by such agencies had no significant positive effect on students' academic performance, suggesting that agency outreach efforts may not be effective in inducing students in academic jeopardy to obtain help. (Author/NB)