Graduate Academic Policies

Graduate Program Handbooks

Each graduate department may have policies in additional to those outlined in this catalog. Students should consult the Graduate Program Director or the program handbook for specific issues concerning their program.

Academic Honesty Policy

Statement of Policy
Academic honesty and integrity are highly valued in our campus community. Academic honesty directly concerns ethical behaviors which affect both the academic environment and the civic community. Academic dishonestly seriously violates the integrity of the academic enterprise and will not be tolerated at St. Scholastica.

Definition
Academic dishonesty is defined as follows: Misrepresentation of the work of others as one's own; dishonesty in testing; violating authorized guidelines established by instructors for individual assignments; sabotaging or damaging the work of others; or engaging in dishonesty in other academic work.

Implementation
To minimize student misunderstanding, faculty shall state in writing what degree of cooperation or help is authorized and what behaviors constitute academic dishonesty on collaborative efforts by students (team projects, group work, etc.). Students shall be responsible for asking faculty for clarification in any unclear situation.

Enforcement
Since academic dishonesty is a transgression against the entire college community, the entire community should be involved in handling the problem. Students and faculty are encouraged to contact instructors with reports of, or concerns about, academic dishonesty. If a faculty member has determined that a student has been academically dishonest, the violation must be reported to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Vice President for Student Affairs. Duties of these offices include referral of students for counseling if needed, handling of repeat offenders, and administering of penalties.

Penalties
In cases of academic dishonesty, the minimum penalty to be applied by the faculty member shall be failure of the assignment or test, and the maximum penalty shall be failure of the course. In addition, a department may deny admission to or dismiss from a program a student who has engaged in academic dishonesty, and the Vice President for Academic Affairs or Vice President for Student Affairs may exclude such a student from extracurricular activities or expel him or her from the College, even on the first instance of academic dishonesty.

Appeals
An aggrieved student may appeal any adverse decision regarding academic dishonesty by following the procedure outlined in the academic appeal procedure. In an appeal concerning academic dishonesty, the decision of the appeal panel shall be final.

Continuing Enrollment

Students who do not complete their thesis or applied project within the designated time frame must continue to register while completing their work. The fee for continuing enrollment equals the tuition for one graduate credit.

Time Limits for Completion of the Graduate Degree

The credits required for obtaining a graduate degree, including transfer credits, must have been earned within seven years. Transfer credits approved early in the program may not apply toward the degree if they become older than seven years before all of the degree requirements are completed.

Student Status

For the purposes of financial aid, a load of six graduate credits or more is full time; three to five credits is half time.

Grading

A student's performance is recorded in grades as follows:

A	4.0 grade points
A-	3.7 grade points
B+	3.3 grade points
B	3.0 grade points
B-	2.7 grade points
C+	2.3 grade points
C	2.0 grade points
C-	1.7 grade points
D+	1.3 grade points
D	1.0 grade points
D-	0.7 grade point
F	0.0 grade point

An incomplete "I" may be assigned by the instructor at his/her discretion at the end of a term. A limit is placed on the length of time that "I" may stand on the student's record unless extended by the instructor. That limit is the 10th week of the subsequent term, excluding summer terms. The temporary grade "IP" is awarded when a course is designed to continue beyond the boundaries of an academic term. The instructor will change "IP" grades to "F" if the coursework is not completed within the time agreed upon by the student and the instructor.

Individual departments may also decide that certain courses will be offered as "Pass-No Credit" (P/N) courses, and all students enrolled in the course would be so evaluated. A grade of "P" indicates the student has done at least "C" work in the course.

Satisfactory Academic Progress

In order to continue at The College of St. Scholastica, a student must maintain satisfactory academic progress as defined by the graduate program in which the student is enrolled.

Release of Transcript and Grade Report

Copies of transcript and grade reports will not be released if the student has an unpaid balance at St. Scholastica resulting from charges made for tuition and fees, fines, room damage assessments, student emergency loan, health hold, library hold or delinquent/defaulted Federal Perkins, Nursing or Ordean Student Loans.

When all debts to the college are paid in full, students who wish a copy of their transcript must submit a written request to the Registrar's Office or complete an information release form supplied by a third party requester.

Student Records

Students are hereby notified that pursuant to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, students are entitled to review those records, files, documents and other materials which contain information directly related to themselves which are maintained by the College. It is further understood that a student may request a hearing, in accordance with the regulations issued by the Secretary of Education, to challenge the content of the educational records, in order to insure that the records are not inaccurate, misleading or otherwise in violation of one's rights. The student may insert in the records a written explanation regarding the contents of such records if the College does not make the suggested corrections or deletions.

Student access and review is subject to the following conditions:

1. The College has 45 days to comply with a written request to the College official responsible for maintaining the record sought.
2. All information declared confidential by the Act or excluded from the definition of "education records" by the Act is unavailable for inspection.
3. After reviewing the records, the student may request the unit maintaining the record to remove or modify information believed to be misleading, inaccurate or inappropriate. If the request is refused, the student may insert in the records a written explanation regarding the contents to which he/she objects or may file an appeal with the President's Office which will be heard by a person or committee designated by the President.

Release of Information

Students are further notified of the fact that the Act states that the following information may be construed to be directory information which is available to the public, and is hereby so declared: name, address, telephone listing, date of birth, photograph, major field of study, part-time/ full-time status, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, dates of attendance, classification, degrees and awards received and the most recent previous educational agency or institution attended. Students have the right to inform the College that any or all of the bold-faced information should not be released without prior consent. If a student wishes to restrict the release of this information, a written request to that effect must be completed annually in the Registrar's Office prior to the fifth day of fall semester classes. After the student has filed the required written request, the College will notify the appropriate offices and begin to comply with the request as soon as possible.

No information other than the items listed above will be released without specific written permission except as provided by law. A complete statement of the St. Scholastica policy is available in the Registrar's Office.

Transfer Credits

Students may transfer a maximum number of six semester graduate credits appropriate to the program and earned from a regionally-accredited college or university toward completion of their St. Scholastica degree. Exceptions to this policy for individual students may be made with approval of the departmental admissions committee and the Dean of the School. The transfer credit must have been completed no more than seven years prior to the date the St. Scholastica degree is completed. Forms to request transfer of credits can be obtained from program office. The College of St. Scholastica will consider transfer credits from students who:

• Submit a Credit Transfer Application form.
• Submit an official transcript sent directly from the regionally accredited institution.
• Submit the course syllabus, catalog, or other pertinent descriptive information to determine equivalency of course content.
• Have earned a course grade of 3.0/4.0 (B) or better.
• Completed the course not more than seven years prior to graduating from the St. Scholastica program.

Degree-seeking students planning to enroll in courses at another institution with the intent to transfer the credits to The College of St. Scholastica will need to send a written request and supporting course documentation to the Graduate Program Director prior to enrolling in the course. Written approval will be provided if the course is acceptable for transfer.

Thesis or Research Study

Each graduate program requires a culminating experience, e.g., a thesis, research study, final project, internship, and provides its own guidelines. Many programs require that students have three copies of their thesis or final project bound by the library--one copy for the library, one copy for the program, and one copy for personal use. In these programs, students pay for binding three copies of the final thesis or project through a fee included in the capstone or research course. Binding of additional copies for personal use may be purchased by the student through the library. After a student has completed the final document and has obtained all necessary approvals and signatures, the document is bound. The student must provide copies of the document for the College following departmental guidelines.

Application For Degree

In order to receive the graduate degree, students must complete the Application To Graduate form, including procuring the department signatures of the student advisor and the Graduate Program Director. This form can be obtained from the Graduate Admissions Office. The completed form must be submitted to the academic department secretary along with the graduation fee. Fall semester due date is October 1 and spring semester due date is February 1.

Disciplinary Policies

Students may be placed on probation, or dismissed, for academic and behavioral reasons. Most lapses in ethical or academic standards will be addressed with probation, but some may be severe enough to warrant dismissal. A student may be placed on probation only once during the timeframe of a given program. Exceptions to this policy for individual students may be made with approval of the program faculty and the Dean of the School.

Academic Probation

At a minimum, students must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0. If the cumulative GPA falls below 3.0, the student is placed on probation. Additional requirements may apply within particular programs. If placed on probation, the student must then achieve a GPA of 3.0 after completion of six subsequent credits. Failure to do so will result in dismissal. Academic dishonesty such as plagiarism, falsification of data, or cheating, will result, at a minimum, in failure of the assignment involved, and may result in failure of the course or dismissal.

Behavioral Probation

Students are expected to abide by professional standards of behavior. Some examples of reasons for behavioral probation are minor infractions in the following areas:

1. Lying, stealing, or breach of confidentiality when dealing with a patient/client or related health record.
2. Behavioral or emotional problems which are incompatible with competent and/or ethical performance as a graduate student.
3. Failure to abide by the code of ethics governing the discipline.
4. Impeding the learning of other students in the program through disruptive behavior, lack of cooperation, or other actions or lapses.
5. Unprofessional behavior while in clinical/practicum/internship settings.

The student and the faculty of the department will create a set of expectations to address the problems (i.e. a contract), and a specified period of time will be set in which to correct them. Failure to conform to the terms of the probationary contract will result in dismissal from the program.

Dismissal

A student who has been placed on probation and fails to correct problems identified during the probationary period will be dismissed. Dismissal proceedings will be initiated by the Graduate Program Director upon receipt of relevant evidence. Students may be subject to dismissal for severe and/or repeated academic or behavioral issues whereby expected academic or behavioral standards are not met. The dismissal decision will be made by a committee of three members of the program faculty. Dismissed students may appeal the decision by following grievance procedures outlined in the Graduate Program Policy Manual.

Grievance Procedures

The grievance procedure is a means for settling student-professor and/or student-program complaints, including probation and dismissal questions. The grievance must be filed within 20 academic days following the alleged incident that caused the complaint or following the communication of dismissal. An attempt should be made to resolve the grievance at the immediate level of the student(s) and the faculty. If the complaint cannot be resolved at this level, the student contacts the Department Chair who arranges for a hearing before the program/department faculty. If the complaint cannot be resolved at this level, the student may file an appeal with the Dean of the School. If the issue cannot be resolved at this level the student may appeal to the Vice President for Academic Affairs. The final step of the appeals process is the Graduate Council. The Chair of the Council schedules a meeting of an appeal panel of the Graduate Council to hear the grievance. A quorum of the Graduate Council for the purposes of hearing a grievance shall be no fewer than three Graduate Program Directors and three elected faculty representatives. The Graduate Council is the policy-making body for graduate studies at the College and its decision is binding.

Withdrawal Policy

Any student who withdraws from the College during the course of the academic year holds an exit interview with the program director. A student is legally registered until he/she files an official withdrawal or completes the period of registration. Enrollment certifications and refunds are based upon two documents: the official registration form and official withdrawal form. A student who has left the College while in good standing may reenter at any time by simply following the designated readmission and registration procedures.

No withdrawals are permitted after the ninth week of the traditional semester or the fifth week of the Extended Studies term. From the first day of classes until the ninth week of the semester or the fifth week of the Extended Studies term, withdrawals and subsequent refunds follow the Course Drops and Withdrawals Policy. Appeals for withdrawals after the ninth week of the semester or the fifth week of the Extended Studies term may be made to the program director and are considered only under the following circumstances:

1. institutional error (student was never here; not withdrawn; financial aid and/or registration problems);
2. medical circumstances (non-routine, serious medical concerns; documentation required);
3. family emergency (specific written explanation required);
4. unusual circumstances (specific written documentation required).

Catalog Authority

The St. Scholastica catalog in effect at the time a student first enrolls is the matriculation plan for the student while attending St. Scholastica; the student should refer to the appropriate catalog when needed. Should the student re-enroll after an absence of two years, the new catalog is in effect.