Policies and Procedures (the "nuts and bolts")
Declaration of a Major / Taking Courses in the School of Continuing Studies
Pass/Fail Grading / Working with Struggling Students
Advising Students with Hidden Disabilities / Students Requesting to Study Part-Time
Catalog / Advising Files / FERPA / Advisee Assignments / Dining Reimbursement Policy
Declaration of a Major
Information on declaring a major is located on the Registrar's Web site.
Taking Courses in the School of Continuing Studies
Students are sometimes interested in taking courses in the School of Continuing Studies (SCS). These courses can be identified on BannerWeb course listings and transcripts by a U after the course number (e.g., MATH 105U). Regularly enrolled students may take one course per semester in SCS. These courses, once approved, count toward graduation the same as other university courses, though it should be noted that SCS courses will continue to be offered in semester hours rather than in units. As of Fall 2008, SCS courses will be taken in semester hours then converted to the unit equivalent (e.g., 3 credits/semester hours = .86 units). Whether these courses may be used to count toward a major or minor is up to the relevant department chair, and students hoping to see a course so counted should be encouraged to see the appropriate chair well in advance of registration.
Students who wish to enroll in an SCS course can do so only after the regular SCS registration period. This usually means students must wait to register until the beginning of the semester in which the course is being offered. Students must obtain the SCS Course Approval Form and have it signed by the relevant parties as indicated. (The form requires the advisor's signature as well.)
Pass/Fail
A&S and Leadership Studies students who have completed at least 17.43 units of academic work may OPT for one normally standard graded (A/F) course per semester to be graded on a Pass/Fail basis. The course may only be used to count toward the total credits required for graduation and may not be used to count toward a major, minor, or general education. No courses in the Jepson School or the Business School (except those in Economics) may be taken Pass/Fail. No more than four student-opted courses taken Pass/Fail may be counted toward graduation requirements. Note that within the same semester a student MAY take a course that requires Pass/Fail grading (e.g. Internship) along with a course that the student opts to have graded P/F. See the undergraduate catalog for the full statement on pass/fail grading.
Working with Struggling Students
Occasionally, advisors find that an advisee is doing poorly in a course, or even across all courses. This may be for personal reasons (death in the family, illness, relational problems), lack of interest or investment, or a mismatch between academic abilities and course selection. In these situations, students often wish to drop a course (or courses), sometimes well after the "Add/Drop" date has passed. When this is the case, the advisor and student should consider several issues:
- Has the student talked with the professor of the course and sought assistance in
every way possible?
- Will dropping this course put the student in a bind for meeting graduation requirements
in a timely manner?
- Will dropping this course put the student below 3.5 units (full-time status)? If so, this
student MUST talk with the appropriate residential dean before dropping the course.
Dropping below 3.5 unitss can affect the student's housing opportunities, scholarship
continuance, and even eligibility to be retained on family insurance policies.
- Is it still prior to the end of the 7th week of the semester? Students may not drop a course
after the 7th week without permission from the appropriate residential dean, and this
permission is granted only in highly unusual situations.
When meeting with a student struggling with a course, an advisor should help the student explore all possibilities. This might include continuing with the course despite the difficulties, switching into an alternate course if one is available (e.g., a lower-level language course), dropping the course, or talking with the course instructor or the appropriate department chair to generate other alternatives. When meeting with a student struggling with most or all courses, an advisor will typically want to involve other university resources in the conversation, beginning first with the appropriate residential dean. The residential deans often know more about a particular situation than the student may be sharing with his/her advisor, so calling and speaking with the appropriate dean can be helpful. In addition, advisors can recommend some other resources to struggling students:
- The Academic Skills Center is available to assist students with study skills and time
management, and to provide tutoring in many subject areas. The Writing Center also
provides valuable assistance for students who are not doing well on writing
assignments.
- CAPS can be an important resource for students who are struggling because of a
personal issue or who are feeling particular stress or discouragement due to their lack
of academic success in a given area/s.
- The AARC staff can at times be helpful in these situations, providing suggestions and
alternatives, or at least serving as a sounding board to discuss the situation.
Advising Students with Hidden Disabilities
Students who have hidden disabilities (e.g., ADD, learning disabilities) sometimes need assistance with their coursework and schedule. To determine how you can best help these students, review these Tips for Advising Students With Hidden Disabilities.
Students Requesting to Study Part-Time for a Semester
Some students who are "ahead" express an interest in taking fewer than 3.5 units (as in, less than a fulltime load) for a semester. This comes up most commonly during advising for spring semester senior year. Sometimes the "lighter load" is intended to support an extensive internship or other program, while other times it might be to allow more flexibility for writing a senior thesis or participating in research. Whatever the reason, students who wish to take a part-time load and continue living on campus MUST see the appropriate residential dean for permission. Part-time students are NOT allowed to remain in on-campus housing without the permission of the dean of either Richmond College or Westhampton College.
It is also important that students discuss with their parents other potential issues of taking a part-time load, including their continued eligibility to be covered by their parents' health insurance (which is sometimes predicated on fulltime-student status) and, of course, their parents' willingness to support a semester of part-time study. Also, in these cases advisors will want to review with the student that all requirements will have been met, including reaching a total of 34.29 units, by the end of senior year.
Catalog
The undergraduate catalog is printed every two years. In the meantime, the online version of the catalog (*recommended for advisor use*) is kept up to date with changes as they arise. All versions of the catalog are available on the Registrar's Web site.
Advising Files
Advising files are created for each new student and distributed to the appropriate advisor via the AARC. The files created for incoming students should contain relevant transcripts, a copy of the student's application and the Information for Academic Advisor form. These files are intended to assist you with learning more about your advisees and also to serve as a place to store any advising documentation that might be useful to you or to other advisors (e.g., a later-assigned major advisor) in the future. Files for new undeclared advisees will be distributed during the August advising workshop, or during the winter break for new transfer students. The AARC may request the return of these files when the student declares a major or leaves the university. If you have advising files for students who are no longer your advisees, please return them to the AARC.
FERPA
The Office of the University Registrar is responsible for maintaining all records in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Academic advisors participate in the FERPA process by meeting with undeclared advisees, presenting the appropriate information about FERPA to them and providing them with a no-pressure, private opportunity to sign or choose not to sign the FERPA card. This card, signed or not, is then sent by the advisor to the Registrar's office to be placed in the student's file. University faculty and staff (including advisors) are prohibited from discussing a student's academic progress with parents or any other interested parties unless those parties are named on the student's FERPA card. For complete information on the FERPA regulations, see the Registrar's Web site.
Advisee Assignments
Advisors often ask about the process for assigning advisees. With major advising, this process is handled differently in a few departments, but in most the administrative assistant uses a rotation procedure as students declare the major to attempt to create at least a relative balance among faculty advisors. With undeclared advising, the process is considerably more complex:
1. All current students (including first, second, third and fourth majors, and returning sophomore undeclared advisees) are divided by all authorized faculty lines throughout the three undergraduate schools. (Authorized faculty lines are all continuing designated faculty lines in each undergraduate school regardless of whether the lines are filled or whether faculty are on leave or sabbatical.) The resulting number (typically around 14) represents the optimum advising load per faculty line. Of course, with faculty on leave, unfilled lines and faculty assigned to other duties for short durations, the true "average" is usually considerably higher.
2. Total assigned advisees (majors and undeclared sophomore advisees) are tabulated for each department. Interdisciplinary programs are taken into consideration for those faculty who are members of a particular department and also advising interdisciplinary program majors. In those cases, interdisciplinary majors are counted within the advisor's department.
3. The number of faculty lines per department is multiplied by the average number (again, approximately 14 advisees per faculty line), thereby generating the number of advisees to be covered by each department.
4. The number resulting from #2 above is subtracted from the number resulting from #3 above, yielding the advising deficit or surplus for each department. Each department's deficit or surplus (with any adjustments as negotiated between the Director of Advising and the individual department chair) is sent to each chair as the number of undeclared advising slots that department will be asked to cover for the coming academic year. Department chairs make the final determination as to which faculty members will assume new undeclared advisees, and how many each person will take on.
As of 2008, the goal is to complete the process during spring semester so that the Director of Advising knows which faculty members will be taking on how many new undeclared-student advisees well in advance of final advisee assignment. In addition, a number of well qualified staff members also advise undeclared students, filling in the gap left by faculty lines unfilled and faculty members on leave.
The assignment of individual advisees to particular advisors occurs during the summer using information provided by both student and advisor. Advisors are encouraged to complete the "Advisor Information Form" as distributed via e-mail during early spring semester.
AARC Dining Reimbursement Policy
The AARC will reimburse advisors who share meals or snacks with their advisees either on campus or off. The Dining Reimbursement Policy explains the program and reimbursement procedures.