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Attendance & Course Policies

Attendance

Students are expected to attend all classes. After an unavoidable absence due to illness or an emergency, students are responsible for contacting faculty members to make up any missed work. Each faculty member’s specific attendance policy will be distributed with other course information at the beginning of each semester. It is the student’s responsibility to understand the policy and comply; When absences exceed the number allowed by the faculty of the class, they have the authority to give the student a grade of F at the end of the semester or to drop the student from the class within the withdrawal period by the following procedure:

  1. The faculty member notifies the student of their attendance status.
  2. The student is allowed to discuss their status with the faculty member.
  3. If attendance is subsequently unsatisfactory, the faculty may drop the student from the class by completing the withdrawal notice and filing the form with the Registrar’s Office.

This procedure does not remove the primary responsibility of the student for taking official withdrawal action. Students dropped by a faculty member receive a W through the 12th week of a regular semester and the fourth week of a summer five-week term. Courses dropped by a faculty member may be subject to the return of Title IV funds. Refer to the Financial Aid and Scholarships section for additional information.

Withdrawals will end on Friday of the 12th week of the regular semesters and the fourth week of the five-week summer terms and other five-week courses. Courses which do not correspond to these time frames will be handled on a prorated basis.

In accordance with Arkansas Acts 340 and 341, the Arkansas ACCESS Acts, the institution will not grant excused absences nor authorize student walkouts for political protests, social or public policy advocacy, or attempts to influence legislation.

Absence Due to Participation in University Sponsored Events

Students engaged in sanctioned extracurricular activities in which they are representing the university should be excused from class and be allowed to make up work without penalty. Students are responsible for all material covered and for any class activities missed during the absence. Students are required to contact each of their instructors at least one week prior to the absence to discuss requirements for completing missed assignments. Exceptions to this policy will be handled by the appropriate academic dean, with the provost being the final arbiter.

Auditing Courses

Students who audit courses must be officially admitted to the university and pay the regular tuition and fees for the course. Those who audit courses will receive a grade of AU. An auditing student may drop a course or be dropped by a faculty member following normal withdrawal procedures at any time during the withdrawal period and receive a grade of W. Audited courses are not eligible for financial aid.

Ideally, students who wish to audit a course should declare their intentions when they enroll. Students may change from audit to credit status or credit to audit status through the fifth day of the fall or spring semester. Summer terms and off-schedule courses will follow a prorated time period. No change will be allowed after the fifth day of the term.

Individual faculty members will determine the degree of participation of students auditing a course.

Credit Hours and Course Load

Students may carry up to 18 hours in the fall or spring semester without special permission; however, the average is 15. No more than nine hours in a summer semester will be allowed without special permission. Special permission for additional hours must be obtained from the appropriate dean. Students should expect to spend two to three hours in out-of-class study for each class hour.

In keeping with Arkansas Department of Higher Education policy (as specified in Appendix A, Section 6 of AHECB Policies, 2015), a credit hour is earned when students satisfactorily complete class work to which they devote the equivalent of three hours (one hour academic engagement and 2 hours of academic preparation) per week during the period of instruction. The amount of credit awarded for a course is based on the amount of time in class (or its equivalent), the amount of outside preparation required, and the intensity of the educational experience.

  • A formal lecture course with extensive assigned reading or other out-of-class preparation is awarded one semester credit for [a minimum of] 750 minutes or 12.5 contact hours of classroom instruction;
  • A laboratory class with moderate out-of-class preparation is awarded one semester credit for [a minimum of] 1500 minutes or 25 contact hours of laboratory instruction; and
  • Clinical, practicum, internship, shop instruction or other self-paced learning activities involving work-related experience with little or no out-of-class preparation is awarded one semester credit hour for [a minimum of] 2250 minutes or 37.5 contact hours of work-related instruction.