Course Scheduling - Fall and Spring

Course Scheduling - Fall and Spring

Policy Statement

1. During the Fall and Spring semesters, undergraduate and graduate courses may be scheduled for 14 weeks (hereafter the "full term") or, when necessary and justified, for 1-13 weeks (hereafter a "part of term").
   1. Because under federal financial aid disbursement regulations, students may not be paid Pell grant funds related to a course enrollment until that course begins, part-of-term scheduling that begins after Week 1 should be only used when necessary and justified in order to minimize the impact on students' financing.
2. To minimize time conflicts for students, all courses are expected to follow the Uniform Scheduling Committee's guidelines.
3. In compliance with subregulatory guidance¹ from the U.S. Department of Education on the requirements to be a standard term² institution, all courses will have a start and end date within the boundaries of a single term.³
4. Each term will have one Census Date. Students are expected to be registered in all courses for that term, regardless of the courses' scheduling for a full term or part of term, by Census Date.
5. Each term will have one grading period.
6. To comply with U.S. Department of Education credit hour regulations (34 CFR 600.2):
   1. All courses will be scheduled to meet the direct instructional requirements set forth in the Academic Credit Hour policy.
      1. Fall and Spring courses scheduled for a part of the term (1-13 weeks) may not use the final examination period to meet direct instructional requirements.
   2. Courses assigned the following instructional types cannot be scheduled "TBA": Art studio, lecture, laboratory, music study - ensemble, Physical Education and Recreation, and Recitation.
   3. A note in the course schedule is required for courses that do not meet in a regular pattern.
   4. Full term and part-of-term courses will be represented in the official course schedule using the following convention:
      1. Full term courses will be denoted on the course schedule as beginning the first Monday of the first week of class and ending on the Friday of the last week of class.
      2. Part-of-term courses will be denoted on the course schedule as beginning on the Monday the course begins and ending on the Friday the course ends, unless the week ends on Saturday or Sunday, in which case the exact date will be listed.
   5. The instructional type of all courses will be stated on the course schedule.
7. To ensure the institution's efficient compliance with federal financial aid disbursement regulations (34 CFR 668.164), courses scheduled for a part of term will be coded by the Registrar's Office.
   1. The Uniform Scheduling Committee is assigned the task of developing standardized parts of term for the approval of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
   2. Requests for a new part of term or an exception to the scheduling guidelines may be made to the Dean's designee. The Dean's designee will forward requests as deemed appropriate to the Uniform Scheduling Committee, which will provide a recommendation to the Provost, whose decision is final.
8. Courses submitted to the Registrar for scheduling that do not meet the requirements of this policy will be returned to the Dean's designee for adjustment.

Footnotes

¹ Subregulatory guidance includes Federal Student Aid Handbook, 2015-2016, Vol. 3, Calculating Awards and Packaging; and General Provisions, Rederal Register, Vol. 61, Number 231, Page 60581.

² The U.S. Department of Education classifies institutions' academic calendars as 1) standard, 2) nonstandard, 3a)non term - clock hour, and 3b) non term - credit hour.

³ The approval of this policy will simultaneously effect a revision of the "Grades, Quality Points, and Grade Point Averages - Undergraduate" policy that eliminates the grade of IP, which is defined as a grade assigned to a student enrolled in a course approved to conclude after the "Last Day of Classes" on the academic calendar.

Responsibilities 

For following the policy: All personnel who schedule courses

  For enforcement of the policy: Registrar

For oversight of the policy: Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

For notification of policy: Policy Librarian

For procedures implementing the policy: Provost, Chair of Uniform Scheduling Committee, Registrar

Cross-Referenced Policies 

Academic Calendar

Academic Credit Hour

Final Examinations