McMurry Academic Advisor Training

NEW ACADEMIC ADVISOR TRAINING

03/10/2023

Today’s Agenda

◦ Review

◦ Academic Calendar and Important Dates

◦ Academic Policies

◦ FERPA, Drop/Add, Repeat Courses, Graduation, Overload Policy, Foreign Language Policy, Change of Major/Minor Requests

◦ Degrees

◦ Academic Advising – Student Needs on this Campus!

◦ General Financial Aid/VA Information

◦ MyMcM

◦ Holds/Warnings, Degree audit, student schedule, and more!

Academic Calendar 2022-2023

◦ Located online at mcm.edu

◦ Academics

◦ Registrar Tab

◦ Select Academic Calendar (below Catalog)

◦ IMPORTANT DATES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

◦ The end of the drop/add period

◦ Last day to drop a subterm course or full term course with a “W”

◦ When to apply for graduation

◦ Census Day

◦ Last day to drop a subterm course or full term course with a “WP” or “WF”

◦ Last day to withdraw completely from the University

If you have questions regarding the Academic Policies, please contact the Registrar’s office or myself.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA)

WHAT IS FERPA??

◦ This act protects the privacy of education records, establishes the right of students to inspect and review their education records, and provides guidelines for the correction of inaccurate or misleading data.

◦ Some information is not FERPA protected, but a lot is!

◦ An Education Record Information Release form must be on file in the Registrar’s office in order for us to release any FERPA protected information.

Student Rights & FERPA

Students have three rights covered under FERPA:

1. The right for students to inspect & review their educational records.

2. The right for students to have some control over the disclosure or information from their education records.

3. The right for students to seek and amend incorrect education records.

Academic advisors have the responsibility to protect any educational records in their possession. Excepting basic directory information, only a school official with legitimate educational interest may have access to a student’s education record without that student’s written permission.

Reading a Course Number: A course number has 4 digits

1. First digit indicates the level of the course

a. 1000 – Freshmen level course (considered lower level)

b. 2000 – Sophomore level course (considered lower level)

c. 3000 – Junior level course (considered advanced level; counts towards advanced requirements for graduation)

d. 4000 – Senior level course (considered advanced level; counts towards advanced requirements for graduation)

2. Second digit indicates the number of credits the course is worth

a. 1340 – the 3 indicates the course is worth 3 credit hours

b. 2110 – the 1 indicates the course is worth 1 credit hour

3. The third and fourth digits are internal numbers to differentiate courses within the department

Grades:

McMurry utilizes the plus/minus scale

a. GPA computation is a bit more tricky

b. Must watch the minus scale of a grade; can make a difference of whether or not the student has to retake a course for their Major.

An average of C (2.0 GPA) must be made on the total work undertaken at McMurry University. Some majors specify a higher required GPA for completion. No grade of less than C quality is acceptable in the major, concentration, focus area, field of study, or teaching field.

Incompletes:

◦ Instructors can temporarily assign an incomplete (I) in place of a letter grade.

◦ Used in extreme circumstances when a student falls behind and the instructor is willing to work with an extended due date passed the date that grades are due.

◦ Must receive VPAA approval.

If Incomplete is earned at the end of:

Fall

Spring or Summer

Change of Grade due in Registrar’s office by:

End of subsequent Spring semester

End of subsequent Fall semester

◦ If a change of grade is not submitted by instructor and student has failed to comply with requirements, the grade with change from an incomplete (I) to a failing grade (F) and can change academic standing

Incompletes continued…

BUT….If a student is a candidate for graduation, different dates apply:

*All final grades for previous semesters due by:

If Incomplete grade is earned at the of the graduating term, the final grade is due by:

DEC Candidates

October 1 immediately preceding anticipated Dec Commencement

MAY Candidates

March 1 immediately preceding anticipated May commencement

AUG Candidates

March 1 immediately preceding anticipated May commencement

Jan 10 / INC grades received after Jan. 10 will result in later graduation date

June 1 / INC grades received after June 1 will result in a later graduation date

Sept 1 / INC grades received after September 1 will result in a later graduation date

Probation and Academic Suspension

1. Calculated at the end of FA, SP, and Summer

2. Tiered System

Probation and Suspension

3. Probation Students

a. Referred to Mindset for Success Office (MSO) and must meet with their Sucess Coach

b. Repeat courses previously failed to boost GPA

c. Receive 2 semesters on probation status to bring up GPA

4. Suspension Students

a. Can appeal for reinstatement after sitting out one long semester

b. Must obtain approval for re-admission (Registrar’s office/VPAA)

Repeat Policy:

1. Can a student repeat courses they previously took?

a. Yes - - especially if the course is one they previously received a failing grade for.

1. This is the quickest way for our students to boost their GPA and it replaces the previous grade completely.

b. Yes - - financial aid and/or VA will pay for the course.

1. VA will pay for the course as many times as required for the student to pass.

2. Financial Aid has a policy on how many times a student can repeat the course and still receive financial aid for it.

a. It is important to “keep track” of how many times a student has retaken a course and failed. We will want to loop FA in to make sure the student is covered by other courses they are enrolled in.

2. Can a student repeat a course failed at McM at another institution?

a. Yes, and No

1. Yes, if the student is approved in the Registrar’s office to take a course at another institution they can.

2. No, it is not the best idea unless extenuating circumstances exist. The grade received at the other institution will NOT replace the grade here; thus, not helping the GPA recover.

TRANSFER COURSE APPLICATION

We do encourage students to continue taking a course or two over summer.

1. It helps them stay on track for graduation

2. Keeps their brain in academic mode

If a student does not plan on taking summer course(s) here at McMurry over Summer, here is what they must to do!!

1. Find the school they want to take a course at and the course they want to take.

2. Know which course here at McMurry they want that course to transfer back in as.

a. Example: GOVT 2305 is our POSC 2310, or SPCH 1311 is our COMM 1310

1. The Texas Common Course Numbering System is listed in the catalog at: TCCNS/McMurry Equivalent

3. Pick up a Transfer Course Application from the Registrar’s office for approval of the course and institution.

4. Why?

a. If a student has reached a cumulative total of 66 hours, they will not be allowed to transfer a course back in from a 2 year institution. A 4 year is a-ok.

b. The institution must be accredited.

c. Protects the student from taking a class that won’t transfer back in for what they wanted.

d. Approval guarantees the course will be accepted for the equivalent requirement once the passing grade posts and the transcript is received.

Dropping or Adding a Course:

1. The Drop/Add period for the Fall/Spring full semester is the first 5 days of the semester

a. Fall/Spring sub-terms is the first 3 days of the term

b. Summer I/Summer II is the first 3 days of the term

2. Primary Advisor’s do have the capability to drop or add courses during these times pretty freely.

a. If the Primary Advisor has granted permission to the student for self-registration, then the student can do this freely during this time as well.

After the 5th class day for FA/SP, if a student wishes to drop a course, they must visit the Registrar’s office to obtain a Drop/Add request form and resubmit it with the proper signatures.

1. Please note, once the drop is processed the course will still populate on the student schedule. Under the Status column, instead of Current, it will read History.

***WATCH FOR FULL TIME STATUS AND HAVE STUDENT CONSULT FINANCIAL AID AS WELL BEFORE MAKING FINAL DECISION TO DROP A COURSE.***

Overload Policy:

Students can freely register up to 19 hours for FA/SP. For more hours, an overload form must be picked up by the student in the Registrar’s office and VPAA approval is required.

Students on academic probation cannot register for more than 16 hours.

Foreign Language Policy

Each degree requires at minimum 2 semesters of foreign language.

Exceptions to this rule (YES):

1. With an Official HS Transcript that shows completion of 2 years of foreign language at the HS level or graduation prior to 2019, the Registrar’s office can waive the 2 semesters for:

a. Bachelor of Business Administration

b. Bachelor of Science

c. Bachelor of Science in Nursing

d. Bachelor of Music Education

***This does not give the students credit, just means they do not have to take these courses***

2. Bachelor of Arts in Christian Ministry and Religion

a. Require 4 semesters (2 years) foreign language

3. Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies

a. 1 semester of foreign language required

***CLEP exams can be considered for these degrees***

Developmental Education

◦ All first-time college students or transfer students who have not completed ENLG 1310 and/or MATH 1311, may be required to test for placement into these courses.

◦ If preparation for college-level work is warranted, students will be registered for these courses until a grade of C- or better is earned and then will be required to register for any subsequent course thereafter.

◦ Developmental Courses will populate under Non Applied Course Work on degree audit

◦ Will not give actual hours towards graduation

◦ Will not calculate in “in progress” hours

◦ These courses will calculate into a student’s GPA

◦ DEVS Hold will be placed on any student who has not yet completed the developmental education courses

Developmental Courses

Sequential Order:

Developmental English:

◦ ENGL 1310 Comp & Rhetoric

◦ ENGL 1033D Integrated Reading and Writing (IRW)

◦ ENGL 0033D Integrated Reading and Writing Lab

OR:

◦ ENGL 1310 Comp & Rhetoric

◦ ENGL 1041D Writing Mechanics

◦ Grammar based

Students can be done with Freshmen

English requirement; no further sequence required

Developmental Math:

◦ MATH 1013 Introductory Algebra

◦ Can be taken the first 8 weeks; then enrolled in MATH 1023 for second 8 weeks

◦ MATH 1023 Intermediate Algebra

◦ Can be taken the first 8 weeks; then enrolled in MATH 1311 for second 8 weeks

◦ MATH 1311 College Algebra

Depending on where the student began, the next sequence should be followed

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

All Baccalaureate Degrees require a minimum of:

◦ 120 total credit hours

◦ 39 advanced credit hours

◦ 30 residence credit hours

Each of these totals are tracked on a student’s degree audit

**Exception: there are a few degrees that will require more than 120 credit hours for degree completion

EX. Bachelor of Music Education

Keep in mind that just because a student has 120 credit hours, all degree requirements must be met and the advanced and residence credit hour requirement must also be met.

Applying for Graduation

Students wishing to apply for graduation must pick up the Application for Graduation in the Registrar’s office.

May or August Graduates

Deadline to Apply:

September 1st

December Graduates

Deadline to apply:

February 1st

Both the student and primary advisor will receive a graduation audit. This audit gives detailed information on the courses required during the last semester. It is very important the this audit is followed.

Questions about the graduation audit should be directed to the Registrar’s Office

What Degrees Do We Confer?

Undergraduate Degrees

◦ Bachelor of Business Administration

◦ Bachelor of Science

◦ Bachelor of Arts

◦ Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies

◦ Bachelor of Science in Nursing

◦ Bachelor of Fine Arts

◦ Bachelor of Music Education

Graduate Degrees

◦ Master of Accountancy

◦ Master of Science in Nursing