Policies

DOUBLE MAJORS

For students pursuing a double major, accreditation requires completion of 30 unique credits in order for both majors to be awarded upon graduation. Likewise, a minor of 18 credits must include 9 unique credits not counted towards the major in order to be awarded, or 50% of the credits if a minor exceeds 18 credits. There are some majors and minors that cannot be combined due to these requirements (e.g. Music Major and a Music Minor).

In order to declare a second major, students must have completed a minimum of 30 credits, earning a 3.0 cum GPA or higher. Any student who drops below the 2.0 cum GPA required for graduation will need to drop their second major until they improve their GPA. This wil help ensure academic success and reduce the term workload until the student returns to Good Academic Standing.

CLASS ATTENDANCE

Class attendance is necessary for the ongoing process of education in the student’s life. For Financial Aid purposes, attendance in a course will be established during the first two weeks of the semester. Any student who has not attended class during that time will be administratively dropped from that class.

There are no excused absences for any purpose. Absences will not be questioned nor will they affect the earned grade as long as they are not excessive. “Excessive absence” from a class means that a student has missed approximately 25 percent of the class period and, therefore, will be dropped from the class. Should the last date of attendance occur during the first 9 calendar weeks of the term, a grade of “W” will be placed on the student’s transcript, meaning that the student forfeits any grade or earned credit for the course. Should the last date of attendance occur after the beginning 10th calendar week of the semester, a grade of “WF” will be assigned, meaning that the earned credit will affect the student’s cumulative GPA. Being late for class on three occasions is equivalent to one absence.

For all 100 and 200 level courses, the following standards will apply: Class Meets Credit Value Absences Allowed 3x/Week 4 9 2x/Week 3-4 6 2x/Week 2 4 2x/Week 3-4 6 2x/Week 2 4 1x/Week 2-3 3 1x/Week 1 2 Weekends 3-4 1

For 300, 400 and graduate-level courses, the instructors shall have the right to set any policy they choose, as long as it is not more stringent than allowing one classroom hour of absence for each credit.

In order to maintain an atmosphere that is conducive to education and learning for all students, proper classroom etiquette must be observed. For this reason, infants and children will not be allowed in the classroom, and other disruptions such as cellular phones are also considered inappropriate for the classroom.

Upon arrival to a class where the professor is initially absent, students should not vacate the classroom for at least 15 minutes. Professors shall notify the class if they anticipate being absent. No instructor shall use attendance in any way for bonus points, penalties or exemptions from exams.

Any appeals regarding class attendance must be made to the Registrar’s Office within one week of notification of withdrawal, and should include all required documentation at the time of submission. These will be routed to the academic dean for review. Appeal forms submitted on the last day of class will not be considered as this does not allow the Academic Dean time to review the request prior to finals week. Students must continue to attend class and submit all required work until the committee has issued a determination of the case. A student cannot continue to attend class once their appeal has been denied.

CLASS ATTENDANCE POLICY FOR EDUCATION MAJORS

Education Clinicals will be scheduled during the semester for 8 concurrent school days in order to meet state licensure requirements. In order to facilitate this for our Education students, an exception to the Attendance Policy will be granted for all students enrolled in EDUC-350, EDUC351 and EDUC-450). The Education Majors Attendance Policy will contain the following provisions: 1. Students will be excused from attending daytime classes during established clinical days, with the exception of evening and online classes. 2. Students are responsible for completing all make up work in a timely manner and should not be penalized for missed due dates. Students should maintain their workload in evening and online classes during this period with no extensions on due dates. 3. The faculty member teaching the class will receive an Education Attendance Exception Form from each Education major currently enrolled in a clinical at the earliest date possible. Students must obtain the Professor’s signature on a form and turn this in to the Education Office.

CLASS ATTENDANCE POLICY FOR ATHLETES

It is the responsibility of the student-athlete to be actively involved in the academic process. Student-athletes must approach all of his or her professors as early as possible in a given semester to inform them of games and travel dates that may cause missed class. Student athletes must meet the expectations of the professor regarding test expectations and deadlines. NOTE: Student athletes are NOT allowed to miss class for practice. Student-Athletes do have to miss class from time to time for athletic contests. Student-athletes will be given the opportunity to make up any class work, quizzes or tests that are missed due to athletic events. Also, students who exceed the accepted number of class absences due to athletics events will be given an exception to the class absences policy. However, if a studentathlete exceeds the number of class absences by missing class for reasons other than an athletic event, the class policy will still be enforced. If extenuating circumstances occur (i.e. sickness, death in the family) a student-athlete may petition the Academic Dean. Athletic events are defined as competitions (outside of practice) and the travel needed to attend those competitions. As a reminder, student-athlete absences for practices will not be considered an athletic event. Below are examples of student-athlete class attendance: Examples: Student A is a spring athlete. His 200 level bible course meets on Mondays and Thursdays during block C. Per course policy he is allowed to skip up to 6 times without being dropped from the course. Because of inclement weather and rescheduling of games, Student A misses this course 7 times. He did not skip the class for reasons other than an athletic contest. Student A cannot be dropped from the course. Student B is a fall athlete. Her 100 level math course meets on Tuesdays and Fridays during block C. Per course policy she is allowed to skip up to 6 times without being dropped from the course. Because of athletic events she is absent from the course 4 times throughout the semester. She missed 3 additional classes for non-athletic reasons; because she has missed 7 classes she is dropped from the class. Though she missed 4 classes for athletic events she should still be dropped from the class. If she had extenuating circumstances such as a death in the family or sickness and missed additional classes for those reasons she can petition to be reinstated in the course through the normal appeals procedure.

For those student-athletes who choose to enroll in online courses, class attendance is also required or the student risks being administratively dropped from the course, thus impacting credits enrolled. Online attendance requires meaningful academic participation. Please see the Online Course Policies in the University Academic Catalog for full online attendance policy. The NCAA requires each member institution to have a policy which insures a Student-Athlete will have the opportunity to compete at a high level athletically without sacrificing the opportunity to excel academically. The NCAA desires to protect the integrity and validate the

lessons students receive in both arenas. North Central University seeks to follow these guidelines set by the NCAA.

ONLINE COURSE POLICIES

AUTHORITY In compliance with the definitions provided by 34 CFR §668.22 (l)(7), academic attendance and attendance of an academically-related activity in an online course at North Central University is assessed by student interaction utilizing the designated online platform. In most cases, this platform will be the university’s current learning management system (LMS). Academic attendance in online courses is defined in the section below. Student logins and electronic activity are used to measure this attendance. Consequently, the university utilizes records of this electronic activity to calculate student billing and financial aid, and for federal and state regulatory reporting. The last date of attendance for financial and reporting purposes will be the date of the student’s last documented academic attendance to the course.

PURPOSE Student attendance must be tracked to ensure accurate student billing and to facilitate proper financial aid and other regulatory reporting. Student attendance is also tracked to assist with student success and retention initiatives. It is the responsibility of both the student and faculty member to ensure attendance is recorded accurately.

DEFINITION OF ATTENDANCE Students meeting any one of these three criteria in a given calendar week,* will be deemed as having academically attended the course for that week if the student: a. submits an academic writing assignment due that week b. completes a required quiz or exam scheduled to be taken that week c. makes a meaningful discussion post that meets all of the following conditions: d. addresses the topic of the discussion for that week e. adds an additional academic aspect to the discussion by responding to another student or makes an original post relevant to the topic, and f. is submitted in the week for that week *Calendar weeks are counted from Monday to Sunday and include holidays. Unless the student has been directed as such by the course syllabus, the student should assume the course is not self-paced, and that various activities and assignments will be required throughout the duration of the course.

Non-Attendance Students who have not academically attended the course by midnight of day five of the course will be dropped administratively from the course.

Excessive Absence Students whose absence from online activity totals more than two calendar weeks will be subject to mandatory withdrawal from the course, in accordance with university policies governing excessive absences. If the excess absence determination occurs within the first four weeks of the semester, the grade assigned will be a W, which does not affect GPA calculations. For excessive absence determinations beginning at week 5 and beyond, a grade of "WF" will be assigned. A "WF" has the same impact as an "F" in GPA calculations.

Academic Attendance Petitions for Reinstatement Students who have been administratively withdrawn from a course and have an extenuating circumstance must make a petition through the registrar’s office within 48 hours of having been notified of their withdrawal.

ADD/DROP PERIOD For eight-week online courses: Day 3: This is the last day that a class may be added. Day 5: If students have not academically attended their course by the end of day 5, the will be administratively dropped form the course. They will be classified as never attended. Day 5: This is the last day a class may be dropped for no grade. Day 6 to the end of week 4: During this period, students electing to leave a course will receive a grade of "W," which does not affect GPA calculations. Week 5: From the first day of week 5 and following, students choosing not to continue in a course will receive a "WF," which has the same impact as an "F" in GPA calculations. For semester-long online courses: In instances where online courses are offered over an entire standard semester, the add/drop and refund policies governing semester-long, face-to-face courses will be followed.

COMPLIANCE AND REPORTING Student Responsibilities Students should academically attend to their courses in a manner that will maximize their chances for academic success. If they choose to stop taking a course, students are responsible for communicating their decision to drop/withdraw to the registrar as soon as that decision has