NON-ATTENDANCE POLICY

• Faculty may permit a student to enter a course after the non-attendance report is submitted and earn a grade. However, financial aid is not adjusted after the report is submitted for late appearances in class.

Excused Absences

The University and Community College consider certain class absences to be officially excused. Excused absences are given for official University and Community College sponsored activities, which may include class field trips, athletic and academic competitions, concert performances, conferences attendance, and guest presentations. It is the student’s responsibility to inform their instructor prior to the event that their taking the excused absence. Rehearsals, practices, intramural events, and other personal/social activities are not included as excused absences. Personal or family illness and emergences must be presented separately to each instructor. An excused absence does not excuse the student from learning course material, from submitting required assignments on time or from fulfilling other course requirements. Normally, students will not be penalized for excused absences and the student will be allowed to make up any missed quizzes or tests. However, the specific nature of some classes or labs may make attendance and active student participation an absolute requirement. Examples include: • Classes for which a state or accrediting agency requires a minimum number of hours of supervised instructions. • Seminars with frequent student discussions ▪ Labs with specific procedures or experiments that cannot be made-up ▪ A student with too many excused absences from this type of class may need to withdraw and retake the course later.

Procedure

All faculty and staff who lead University-or Community College-sponsored events requiring excused absences must submit the event and name of involved students to the Academic Affairs Office a minimum of one week prior to the event. The event and the names of excused students will be posted on the campus website as soon as possible. Concerned faculty can use this information to confirm the students’ excused absences. Appeal A student who believes that his or her rights under this policy have been violated may appeal through the University Academic Grievance process.

NON-ATTENDANCE POLICY Faculty will report non-attendance on the tenth calendar day of the academic term. A student who has never attended “all of their registered courses” will result in being Administratively Withdrawn from the institution, provided there has been no academic activity.

For purposes of federal, Title IV, student financial assistance the U.S. Department of Education requires institutions to be able to demonstrate that federal aid recipients established eligibility for federal aid by participating in academic related activities for all enrolled course work.

Academically related activities include, but are not limited to:

• physically attending a class where there is an opportunity for direct interaction between the instructor and student. • submitting an academic assignment. • taking an exam, an interactive tutorial or computer-assisted instruction. • attending a study group that is assigned by the school. • Participating in an online discussion about academic matters, or • Initiating contact with a faculty member to ask a question about the academic subject studied in the course.

Academically related activities do NOT include activities where a student may be present, but not academically engage, such as

• Living in institutional housing. • Participating in the school’s meal plan.