ACADEMIC INFORMATION AND COLLEGE POLICIES RASMUSSEN COLLEGE by Assessment course may be converted to credits that will transfer into Rasmussen College. • Students must be enrolled in a program that allows Flex Choice Credit by Assessment course options. • Students must attempt a minimum of six traditional faculty-led credits per quarter in order to gain access to a library of Flex Choice Assessments that are available to them at no additional charge. • Students must have fulfilled all Developmental Education requirements prior to enrolling in any Flex Choice Assessments. • Students must be in good academic standing in order to enroll in any Flex Choice Assessment options. • The Flex Choice Assessments are optional, and students can complete this degree without completing any Flex Choice Assessments. • Students may choose to take self-paced Flex Choice Assessments as they apply to their program requirements. • If Flex Choice Assessments are selected, they must be taken alongside other traditional faculty-led courses and be completed within 60 days of accessing the self-paced Flex Choice Assessment. • Students may attempt a Flex Choice Assessment option as long as they are concurrently enrolled in an eligible program. • Enrolled students may elect to take a Flex Choice Assessment in lieu of a traditional faculty-led course for any course that has been identified as having a Flex Choice Assessment equivalent. • Upon successful completion of a Flex Choice Assessment, Rasmussen College will issue a Certificate of Successful Flex Choice Assessment completion. The certificate will be placed in the student’s academic file. • If a student has already attempted a traditional faculty-led online or residential course, as indicated by a posted W/WD or F/FA grade, the student will not be allowed to attempt the equivalent Flex Choice Assessment. • A student may attempt a Flex Choice Assessment and later enroll in an equivalent traditional faculty-led course as long as the Flex Choice Assessment credit has not been awarded. • Flex Choice Assessments will not count as credits for financial aid eligibility. • Students have 60 days from the date they access a Flex Choice Assessment to complete it. Students may apply in writing for one additional 30-day extension to complete the Flex Choice Assessment; additional requirements may apply. Students are allowed a maximum of one 30- day extension per Flex Choice Assessment. • Students who do not successfully complete a Flex Choice Assessment within the allotted time will be required to take the traditional faculty- led course to fulfill graduation requirements. • Flex Choice Assessments must be completed prior to or concurrently with the final traditional faculty-led courses in the program. Reenter Policy A reenter is defined as any student who withdraws from all courses after the course drop period in any term and returns in a subsequent quarter. A student will not be considered for reentry in the same quarter in which he or she withdrew. Due to financial processing, a student may return no fewer than 21 calendar days after the date of withdrawal. Reentering students are treated as new students for the purposes of tuition, academic program requirements, and graduation standards. They must also meet all entrance requirements as stated in the current catalog. Students will reenter into the current curriculum. Any exceptions to this policy need to be approved by the Department Chair. For the calculation of Satisfactory Academic Progress, reentering students are treated as continuing students and must meet progress requirements. 102 rasmussen.edu If a student is not meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress at the time of withdrawal and wants to switch to a different program upon return, the Program Transfer Appeal Process must be followed. Students returning in satisfactory academic standing or on Academic Warning must have a financial balance of $1,000 or less to return. Students returning on Academic Probation, regardless of aid status, must have a zero financial balance and have paid half the tuition amount of the upcoming quarter by seven calendar days after the term/ quarter start. Students in Health Sciences programs must complete a programmatic assessment in order to determine an appropriate level of reentry. These students will be allowed to reenter if space is available and all other reentry requirements are met. Nursing Reenter Policy Students who wish to reenter into a Nursing program must complete a programmatic assessment, under the direction and guidance of the School of Nursing Dean, in order to determine an appropriate level of reentry. Nursing students will have their previously completed Nursing core courses (as designated by course prefix NU, NUR, PN, PRN, or HUN) assessed against the current program to determine which course(s) will be applied to the program into which they are enrolling. All previously completed General Education courses will be applied as required in the program. Rasmussen College will allow the student to reenter at the appropriate level in a current program if space in the program is available and all other reentry requirements are met. A student that fails out of a Nursing program may only reenter at a lower-level credential Nursing program. Students that have failed out of a Nursing program may be eligible for reentry into an alternative entry option of the original program. Former nursing students in good standing within the School of Nursing who have not been enrolled for more than 12 months must successfully repeat the School of Nursing Entrance Exam to be deemed eligible for re-enrollment into a Nursing program through a consultation with the Dean of Nursing. Repeating Courses Policy Students who are meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress may retake courses up to three times, but only at regular tuition rates. Students repeating a course for a second or third time may count the credits for that course in a financial aid award calculation only if they earned a failing grade in all previous attempts of that course. Courses should be repeated in the next quarter in which it is offered. No course can be repeated within the same quarter in which it was most recently attempted. If a student elects to repeat a course for which a grade above “F/FA” was earned, the credits are included in the financial aid award calculation only if the program requires a higher grade to be considered “passing” than what the student has previously earned. In this case if the student fails the previously passed course all future eligibility to receive financial aid for that course is discontinued. The credits for all repeated courses, along with the credits from prior attempts, will be included in credits attempted for the purposes of determining Satisfactory Academic Progress. The highest grade earned from a repeated course will be used in the calculation of the student’s cumulative GPA. The student’s GPA will be recalculated to reflect the highest letter grade. If more than one attempt results in the same letter grade, only the most recent one will be used in the calculation of GPA. Students who fail a required course three times and have a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or greater may be able to switch to another program that does not include the course as a required part of the program curriculum without going through the program appeal process. Students who fail a course three times, and who cannot switch to another program as determined by the program change appeal process, will be terminated from the College. Those students cannot return to the College until they successfully complete an equivalent to the course elsewhere by earning a grade of C or higher or a grade of Pass and transferring it back in to Rasmussen College, in accordance with the transfer of credit requirements. In the case of credit transfer, an “F/FA” grade will be replaced by a “TR” and the student’s GPA will be recalculated to reflect the transfer of credit. However, all of the course credits both failed and transferred, count in the student’s Cumulative Completion Rate (CCR). Developmental Education courses may only be repeated one time. Students who fail a Developmental Education courses a second time will be terminated from the College. All attempts of repeated courses, including the grades, remain on academic records and transcripts even though they may not be included in the GPA calculation. Students should be aware that graduate schools and other institutions to which they might wish to transfer may not accept repeats and may include all grades in calculating GPA for admission. School of Health Sciences Repeating Courses Policy Students are required to attend the Clinical, Externship or Practicum Orientation prior to their first clinical, externship or practicum. They receive a clinical, externship or practicum manual that discusses the expectations, and students are required to sign an acknowledgement form that is submitted and included in their programmatic file. The clinical, externship or practicum manual discloses that students have two attempts to complete their clinical, externship or practicum successfully, or they will be dismissed from the program. If a student fails both attempts, documentation will be placed in the student’s file. If a student is dismissed from a clinical, externship or practicum site due to circumstances out of his/ her control, attempts will be made to secure an additional site within the same quarter for the student to complete his/her clinical, externship or practicum. Students enrolled in the Pathway to Patient Care Seminar course will have one opportunity to attempt the course regardless of grade (SX/UX/WX) earned. School of Nursing Repeating Courses Policy The School of Nursing allows students to fail one Nursing course within the core Nursing curriculum (NU, NUR, PN, PRN, HUN coursework). However, a second failure, whether it be the same Nursing course or any other Nursing course, will result in removal from the Nursing program. Late Assignment Submission Policy Students may submit assigned work up to seven (7) days after the stated deadline. A 10% grade penalty is assessed for work up to 24 hours late; an additional 10% penalty is assessed for each additional day the work is late. In some cases (such as late discussion postings) students may be asked to complete an alternate assignment for equivalent point value, minus any applicable penalty. Online discussions conclude at the end of the current week/module. Discussion posts made after the end of the current week/module will not be accepted. Instructors may waive the late penalty or timeframe in the case of extenuating circumstances as determined by the faculty. In some cases, certain activities, such as labs and exams, must be completed at the designated time and therefore cannot be made up. The instructor should apprise students beforehand of any such activities. In no circumstances may students submit work after the last day of the academic term unless an incomplete grade has been requested and granted beforehand. Incomplete Grade Policy An “I/IN” indicates an incomplete grade, and is a temporary grade for a course which a student is unable to complete due to extenuating circumstances. The student must request an incomplete from the instructor prior to the last day of the Term/Quarter. An incomplete may be granted to a student at the end of a Term/Quarter at the discretion of the instructor under the following conditions: 1. An incomplete form is completed by the instructor that identifies: a. The work to be completed, b. Qualifications for acceptable work, c. The deadline for completing the work is 7 calendar days for both the 11-week quarter courses and 5.5-week courses, d. The grade to be entered should the student not complete the work by the deadline (the calculated grade), e. Instructors will have one week for grading, recalculation of grades and processing of all documents required. 2. Incomplete records will be maintained in the student’s file. 3. The student’s Dean must be informed of all incompletes granted by instructor. Incompletes will be granted rarely and instructors will take the following into consideration when granting an incomplete: a. The work to be completed must be regularly assigned work, identified in the course syllabus. b. The student can reasonably be expected to complete the work by the deadline. c. The student’s grade will be substantially improved. d. The student has demonstrated a commitment to completing work in a timely fashion. e. Granting the incomplete is truly in the best interest of the student. f. By completing the work, the student is able to demonstrate their ability to meet the course objectives. 4. Allowing the student extra time compensates for events or conditions not within the student’s control (e.g., illness, emergencies, etc.). 5. Incompletes may not be granted only for the sake of improved cumulative grade point average, nor will they be granted to allow students to make up “extra credit” work. 6. Credits for all incomplete courses will be counted as credits attempted but not earned in the quarter of enrollment. Incomplete grades must be completed within 7 calendar days of the last day of the Term/Quarter in which the course was attempted. An incomplete grade not completed by the deadline will be changed to the calculated alternate grade designated by the instructor on the Incomplete Form and will be included in the cumulative grade point average. The final grade awarded for the course is included in the calculation of the cumulative grade point average. Policy for Change of Grade On occasion it is appropriate to change a final grade submitted by an instructor at the end of a quarter. Except for situations outlined below, only the instructor who issued the original grade may authorize its change. Instructors may change grades at their discretion, with the following guidelines: Circumstances that may warrant a change of grade include: • Emergency situations that prevent a student from submitting a petition to receive an incomplete grade. Examples of such emergencies are hospitalization, car accident, death of a close family member, or mandatory military service. • Miscalculation of the final grade by the instructor. • Situations involving miscommunications, misplaced assignments, or technical difficulties beyond the control of the student. • Accommodation for special circumstances such as short-term disability or family leave. Grade changes must be consistent with course policies as outlined on the syllabus. In particular, stated policies regarding the acceptance of late work and how points are apportioned must be followed. Students must contact their instructors within one week of the start of a subsequent term regarding grade changes. Instructors will have one week from the time they are contacted by students to consider any requests for grade changes. No grade changes may be made after the end of the second week of the subsequent quarter. Grade disputes which cannot be resolved between instructors and students should be directed to the appropriate Dean. Circumstances where a grade change may be authorized later or by someone other than the original instructor include: • Administrative errors regarding grades will be corrected by administrative staff as soon as they are identified. • If the original instructor is no longer available to submit a grade change (for example, an adjunct instructor no longer employed at the College), the Academic Dean may determine if a grade change is appropriate. • The Dean may authorize grade changes in order to settle academic appeals.
