Regulations governing federal financial aid require accurate attendance data. Students are not eligible for federal financial aid if they are not enrolled and attending classes. The institution is subject to regular audits by Federal regulators, and if the information is not recorded at the institutional level, auditors will require it from individual faculty. When faculty do not keep accurate records of attendance, the College must return a significant amount of money to the federal government. In addition, the returned money becomes a past-due balance on the student’s bill, resulting in registration holds and, in some cases, the involvement of a collection agency.
In lieu of the College requiring all faculty to record and report attendance daily, faculty are asked to provide information at the following three points during the term listed below and on the Academic Calendar.
Beginning of Term - Verify Attendance
- All faculty must verify “attending” or “never attended” during the two weeks following Drop/Add by taking regular attendance. This is intended to identify and remove from the roll any student who has never once attended your course. Please do not record as “never attended” those students in quarantine or isolation due to Covid-19.
- In the past, you were required to download and submit a paper “deletion from the grade roll” form. Now you can do this electronically through MyPortal by choosing the Faculty Grade Entry link in the Faculty Dashboard menu. You will have one week to enter this information. For faculty not in the habit of taking attendance, you may elect to use a sign-in sheet, any one of several apps for attendance, the attendance function in OAKS, or any other method you think has a reasonable chance of identifying students who have never once attended. Opening and closing dates for attendance verification are found on the Academic Calendar by term.
Midterm Grade Submissions- Midterm grade submission is required for all undergraduate courses (excluding individual enrollments). Midterm grades are advisory and not permanently recorded in the student’s record. The deadline for midterm grades is positioned 7 days in advance of the last day for students to withdraw. Although there are many good reasons for submitting midterm grades, doing so is essential to the attendance verification process because it provides a second institutional data point one week prior to the 60% point in the semester. After 60%, the student has earned the entire federal financial award and no return is deemed necessary. Grade deadlines are found on the Academic Calendar by term.
Final Grade Submissions: F Requirements- When final grades are entered, a grade of F requires that you enter the last date of attendance or “academic activity” (a quiz, an exam, work submitted, in-class work). If a student has attended all semester but performed poorly and received the grade F, simply enter the last day of class or the day of the final exam (if you gave one). Grade deadlines are found on the Academic Calendar by term.