Registration

Appeals Procedure A student may appeal their residency classification by submitting a written petition to the Director of Enrollment Services for committee review. If a student is not satisfied with the decision made by the Community College of Beaver County, they may submit a written appeal to the Office of the Secretary of Education, 333 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333. The decision made by the secretary is final.

Registration Students are expected to register for classes before the first day of the semester they wish to attend. After filing for admission and completing required placement tests, students may register for classes by contacting the Counseling Office to discuss class choices. At the time of class registration, all students are required to show “proof of residency”.

Placement Testing Placement tests are a series of short exams in math, English and reading, which are taken before registering for classes in the first semester. Placement tests help counselors match students’ abilities with their first English or math classes at CCBC. Students who do not place into college level courses in math and English must enroll and successfully pass the preparatory courses in those subjects before enrolling in college coursework.

College Success Course/Titan Transition All students entering CCBC who enroll in a credit-bearing program and who place into two or more preparatory courses shall be required to enroll in a three-credit College Success Strategies course in their first semester. The successful completion of this course shall be a requirement for graduation. The credits acquired are not reflected in the graduation QPA and are in addition to the program of study course requirements.

All other students, except exemptions listed below, shall be required to enroll in the one-credit Titan Transition course in their first semester. The successful completion of this course shall be a requirement for graduation.

Exemptions Students exempt from enrolling in Titan Transitions include: (1) transfer students who successfully complete a minimum of 9 credits at another institution, and (2) non-degree seeking students who plan to take less than 9 credits at CCBC, which includes dual enrollment, early admission, and transient students.

Cross Registration CCBC students may enroll in courses at the Beaver Campus of Penn State University during the academic year (fall and spring semesters) according to the cross-registration policy of the Beaver County Council of Higher Education. Students are permitted to register for one course per semester through the cross-registration process.

This cross registration is available to students who need or desire courses which are not offered or available at CCBC. Students will be charged tuition by CCBC for the total credits for which they are enrolled. Written permission must be granted. Students may apply for permission through the Director of Enrollment Services at CCBC.

Course Load To complete the requirements for an Associate degree within two years, a student should enroll for 15- 18 credits per semester. Recommended course loads and course sequences are shown in the degree plan for each program of study. Students who carry 12 semester credits are still considered full-time students. The maximum course load required by any curriculum is 19 semester hours. Students who wish to carry more than 18, but less than 22 credit hours, must request prior approval from a counselor. Students desiring to carry 22 or more hours are required to secure prior approval of the Director of Enrollment Services.

Repeating a Course A student is permitted to repeat a course. The last grade issued will be the only grade included in the student’s cumulative quality point average. For purposes of this policy, “the last grade” means A, B, C, D, or F, only. Although a course taken at CCBC can be repeated at another college or university, the student should be aware that course credits will transfer to CCBC, but letter grades will not transfer. Thus, a student who failed a course at CCBC and successfully repeated the course at another institution would continue to see the “F” grade reflected on the transcript and GPA because of “the last grade received” policy.

Freshman/Sophomore Status Students who have successfully completed 29 or fewer credit hours are classified as freshmen. Students who have accumulated 30 or more credit hours are classified as sophomores.

Change of Program or Major Students are required to declare a major for each period of enrollment. When a student decides to change his/her major, the student must file a change of major with your counselor and student records.

Adding or Dropping Courses Following the registration process, students may modify their class schedule through the ADD/DROP process. Dates during which these changes can be made are shown in the Academic Calendar. To add or drop a course, a student must complete the Change of Schedule (drop/add) form and secure approval from a college counselor or faculty advisor. No grades will be reported for any course dropped during the dates given.

Class Participation and Enrollment Certification Through a variety of state and federal regulations, the College is required to certify its official enrollment for each semester/term. As part of this certification process, faculty members are required to certify student participation and to report any student who has not attended at least one class session or otherwise participated in required class activities during the census period. Following the census period for each semester/term, the Director of Enrollment Services will distribute a copy of an enrollment report for each course section offered to the appropriate faculty. The enrollment report will show those students officially enrolled as of the census date.

When the certified enrollment report is received by the Director of Enrollment Services, action will be initiated to officially withdraw those students certified as having not attended or participated in required class activities during the census period.

Students withdrawn will be sent formal written notification of their withdrawal and will be informed of the appropriate appeals process to request reinstatement.

Student-initiated Withdrawal After the Add/Drop period, a student who wishes to withdraw from any or all classes, in good standing from CCBC, must complete and submit a Withdrawal Form to Student Records. Students may withdraw from one or more courses or from the College at any point through the first eight weeks of class during a regular 15-week semester. The student will receive a grade of “W”. For sessions of less than fourteen weeks, the deadline will be pro-rated and published separately as part of the calendar for the session.

Beginning with the ninth week of class and extending through the twelfth week of class, a student may withdraw only with written permission of each instructor. The student must obtain a Withdrawal Form from Student Records, complete the required information, obtain the instructor’s signature, and return the form to Student Records.

Administrative Withdrawal The College reserves the right to cancel the registration of any student at any time for just cause, whether academic, disciplinary, or financial. The withdrawal action will be initiated by the appropriate department preparing a withdrawal request, attaching supporting documentation, and forwarding the request to the appropriate Vice President for review and approval.

The Vice President will forward all approved requests to the Director of Enrollment Services for processing, and the Director of Enrollment Services will notify the student, in writing, of the withdrawal action. The Director of Enrollment Services will also advise appropriate faculty of the action withdrawing the student. Students involuntarily withdrawn will not be eligible for a refund of tuition and fees and will receive a grade of “AW’.

Faculty Withdrawal Faculty of the College may withdraw students enrolled in their class under two sets of circumstances during the semester. The first case will occur in conjunction with the process of roster certification. If a faculty member finds a student listed on her/his roster of officially enrolled students and the student has not attended at least one class session during the certification period, the faculty member must indicate the student’s failure to attend to the Director of Enrollment Services. Logging in to the course in Blackboard constitutes attendance in online courses.

Upon receipt of this notification, the Director of Enrollment Services will withdraw the student from the indicated class. The student’s registration record will be reduced by the credit hour value of the course from which they are being dropped, and financial assistance awards will be adjusted accordingly. The record of enrollment in the course will not appear on the student’s transcript, and the credit hour value of the course will not be used in calculating satisfactory academic performance.

Following the roster certification period, faculty may initiate a withdrawal for any student identified by a faculty member as not pursuing the objectives of the course. To utilize this withdrawal option, the faculty member must have defined in the course syllabus distributed to students at the beginning of classes the criteria that will be used in measuring progress toward achievement of the course objectives. These requirements may include statements defining the expectations for attendance, tests to be taken, reports to be submitted, projects to be completed, presentations to be made, and other activities required for the student to complete the course.

When, based on a combination of these benchmarks, the faculty member determines that a student has ceased to pursue the objectives of the course, he/she may initiate a withdrawal of the student by notification to the Director of Enrollment Services. The decision to withdraw the student must be based on a combination of the benchmarks taken collectively rather than failure to achieve any one benchmark.

Students who continue to pursue the objectives of the course and who are not successfully achieving the requirements established through the benchmarks may not be withdrawn using this procedure. Withdrawals under this procedure must occur prior to the end of the twelfth week of the regular semester for 15-week courses.

Upon receipt of notification of a withdrawal from a faculty member, the Director of Enrollment Services will process the withdrawal and notify the student of the action taken. For administrative tracking purposes, the grade of “WF”, noting withdrawn by faculty, will be entered into the student records system. A final grade of “W” will be recorded on the final grade roster for the semester and may not be changed by the faculty member unless a reinstatement action has been completed. The grade of “W” will appear on the student’s transcript and will be used as defined in the College’s grading procedures in determining satisfactory academic progress by the student.

Following notification to the student, the student may request a reinstatement by the faculty member. The appeal must be initiated within ten days from the date the withdrawal was processed by the Director of Enrollment Services. The student must make a direct appeal to the faculty member initiating the withdrawal action, and it will be the faculty member’s determination as to whether the student can complete the required work and can therefore be reinstated. Where the appeal is accepted, the faculty member must issue a reinstatement notification to the Director of Enrollment Services. If the appeal is denied by the faculty member, the student may appeal further following the guidelines established in the College’s grade appeal process.