Academic Policies

Academic Advising

Since a basic goal of Louisiana College is to provide personal attention to the needs, interests, and abilities of each student, the College emphasizes the role of its faculty in the academic advising of students. Academic advising is a cornerstone of student success. Without proper advising, students may fail to accomplish expected student learning outcomes for their chosen degree. Proper academic advising enhances student retention rates and student success. Students deserve the best academic advising available to them. To that end, only teaching faculty within the student’s graduate program will provide academic advising.

School deans or division chairs will assign a faculty advisor to each student who will assist the student in planning an academic program and following a curriculum. Students are required to meet and/or correspond with their faculty advisor prior to registering for classes each semester and must obtain the advisor’s permission to register. Upon granting permission to register, faculty advisors will clear students to register online.

Attendance

Class attendance is an essential part of the education process, and students are expected to attend regularly and punctually all classes and laboratories for which they are registered. Cumulative absences may result in a lowered grade or loss of credit for the course. Tardiness is also subject to penalty. Although some specific requirements may vary according to the nature and structure of the course, the following guidelines summarize institutional policy:

• Class attendance is required, and accurate records are kept.
• Class attendance is essential to success in the instructional process, and students are expected to attend all classes.
• Individual faculty members set their own attendance regulation for their classes and inform their students of them; however, students must attend at least 80% of the class meetings in order to receive credit for the course.
• When a student has missed 20% of the class, the instructor will complete, sign, and forward a Report for Excessive Absences form or submit the information online to the Registrar. Upon receipt of the Report for Excessive Absences, the Registrar will record the grade of “FA” (Failure for Absences) in the student’s record, forward the appropriate copies of the report to the student, the VPAA Office, and the Financial Aid Office.
• The calculation of the semester grade, including any penalty for absences, is the responsibility of the faculty member and may vary according to the nature of the course and the grading scale used.
• Students are responsible for notifying instructors of their absence. With prior notification, a faculty member may excuse an absence for serious illness or for other emergency reasons that the faculty member finds justifiable.
• Whether an absence is excused or not, the student who is absent misses some learning that takes place in the class. The responsibility for work missed rests entirely with the student.
• A student registering late will be charged for all absences occurring prior to class, although these may be treated as excused absences.

Online classes at Louisiana College are not independent study/self-paced classes. The instructor is the one responsible for setting the pace, not the student. Attendance in online classes is defined as active participation in class learning activities. Pre-registered students are required to interact in some manner within the first seven days of the semester. Students who register late are required to interact in some manner within seven days of registering for the course.

While online instructors will define the amount and frequency of interaction between the students and the learning management system, at a minimum, students must interact on a weekly basis to be counted as present. Attendance is measured weekly and is based on documentable engagement with course content. Attendance is monitored by timely submission of assignments, including tests, homework, projects, discussion board entries, etc. A student is expected to complete such assignments by the appropriate due date. Failure to complete such assignments by the due date may be recorded as an absence.

Full-Time Course Load

In order for a student to be classified as a full-time graduate student, the student must be enrolled for a minimum of 6 credit hours during the regular semester. A graduate student who is enrolled in 3 credit hours in any of the three summer sessions, Maymester, Summer I and Summer II, will be classified as a full-time student. The maximum course work during a regular semester is 15 credit hours. Deans/chairs may grant exceptions to students who request to take additional credit hours.

Definition of a Credit Hour

All credit hours awarded by Louisiana College comply with the Federally described definitions of credit hours in terms of appropriate time spent per credit hour for in-class and out-of-class work and with the SACSCOC Policy on Credit Hours:

A credit hour is defined as an amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that is an institutionally established equivalency that reasonably approximates

1. Not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours out-of-class student work each week for approximately fifteen weeks for one semester or trimester hour of credit, or ten to twelve weeks for one quarter hour of credit, or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time, or
2. At least an equivalent amount of work (as required and outlined in item 1 above) for other academic activities as established by the institution including laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, clinicals, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours.

All classes must be of reasonable length and include both content and contact sufficient to maintain high academic quality and standards commensurate with credit hours awarded for a traditional three-semester hour lecture class. Credit is awarded for a course only when student learning outcomes or other curricular or competency requirements for that course have been satisfactorily met, and the final examination or other similar course capstone event has been passed.

Semester Credit Hour

For the purposes of the LC credit hour policy, an “hour” of instruction is interpreted as 50 minutes of contact time or its equivalent. Thus, each semester hour of credit involves approximately 15 (meetings) x 50 minutes = 750 minutes per credit hour of contact time, or its equivalent, including formally-scheduled final examination periods during the period alloted for final examinations.

Policy and Procedure Statements

All courses offered for credit at Louisiana College must meet both internal and external accreditation standards for class contact hours and for expected out-of-class learning. Internal policies are stated in the Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs and the Distance Education Policy Manual and are consistent with the University’s accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) standards. Furthermore, this definition also applies to online and distance education courses, and departments/divisions offering these courses further verify that the total amount of coursework per credit hour complies with the above-stated SACSCOC policy and federal requirements.

Changing Schedule

Students register for courses on-line through the Jenzabar portal according to schedules published on the website. Students receive clearance to register after the required consultation with an advisor, and the student must understand that if there is any deviation from the schedule agreed upon with the advisor, full responsibility rests on the student. After classes have begun, courses may be added or dropped according to the College calendar published in the on-line catalog and schedule. Changes in schedule involving either the adding or dropping of a course or changing to another course must be made through the Office of the Registrar.

Adding and Dropping Courses

After the second full week of classes in a fall or spring term, students will be administratively dropped from those classes for which they are registered but not attending.

A course that is dropped officially before the end of the add/drop period will not be entered on the student’s permanent record. The official add and drop date for each term is published in the College calendar and class schedule. After that official date, students are not permitted to enroll in class unless extenuating circumstances prevented the student from enrolling. Special permission may be granted after consultation with the dean and/or division chair, the Registrar, and the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

After the official drop date, students may not drop a course without receiving a “W,” “WP” or “WF.” Students who withdraw from a course after the end of late registration through the sixth week of the regular semester will receive a “W.” Students who withdraw after the sixth week can receive a “WP” if they have a “C” or better average and will receive a “WF” if failing (below a “C” average) at the time of withdrawal. A grade of “WF” has the same effect as an “F” on GPA calculations. A grade of F is given when one simply drops out of a course without following the procedure for dropping it officially.

Withdrawal or Resignation from the College

No withdrawal is official unless it is made through the Office of Academic Affairs, the Registrar’s Office, and the Business Office. The resignation process will be complete once the resignation form is presented to and signed by the Vice President for Academic Affairs. Refunds will be calculated as of the date the resignation process began as noted on the resignation form. Students who feel they have extenuating circumstances, such as personal injury, death of a family member, serious illness, etc., that may warrant amending the official resignation date may file an appeal with the Office of the Vice-President for Business Affairs. Enrollment at Louisiana College represents a contractual commitment by the student to fulfill all financial obligations (including repayment of financial aid) to the College regardless of when the student may cease to be enrolled.