AP 303-30: Registration

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Academics & Research – Academics & Instruction

Academic Policy 303-30	Authority: University President
Effective: June 1, 2023	Proponent: Academic Senate

Summary:  This policy prescribes standards and procedures for student registration at EWU.

History:  This policy was amended and approved by the Academic Senate on March 21, 2023, and approved by the University President on June 1, 2023.  This policy revises a previous version of the policy dated June 15, 2021.

Chapter 1 – Student Classification

1-1. Undergraduate Students

A student’s earned credit hours determine undergraduate class standing, including any transfer credits that have been received by the posted deadlines.

Undergraduate: Cumulative Credit Hours Earned Classification
0–44 Freshman	45–89 Sophomore	90–134 Junior	135+ Senior

 

Undergraduate Semester Students: Cumulative Credit Hours Earned Classification
0–29 Freshman	30-59 Sophomore	60-89 Junior	90+ Senior

 

1-2. Post-baccalaureate

Post-baccalaureate students are those who hold at least one earned undergraduate degree as documented with official university transcripts. Effective fall 2006, credits earned in this status are recorded on a post-baccalaureate transcript.

1-3. Graduate

Full admission to a graduate degree or graduate certificate program requires official transcripts documenting at least an undergraduate degree from a regionally accredited institution.

Chapter 2 – Course Registration

2-1. Registration Authorizations

For registration, an advisor’s authorization is required for the following:

a.  New (first term of enrollment at EWU) students.

b.  All students with less than 45 credits.

c.  Athletes

d.  Any student on academic probation.

e.  Returning students on academic dismissal.

f.  Any student enrolling for an overload of credits.

g.  Running Start students

h.  International Students

i.  Any student with 9 or more withdrawals

Senior students may enroll in 500-level courses as described in section 2-4, Academic Policy 303-22, Graduate Students.

2-2. Student Responsibilities

a.  Tuition and course fees: Students shall pay tuition and fees according to published schedules. If tuition is not paid by the published due date, students will be assessed a late fee and will be liable for any other reasonable collection costs and charges.

b.  Course selection: Students are responsible for ensuring that the courses they select will fulfill degree requirements. It is the student’s responsibility to obtain academic advising for their program. Students will be held academically and financially responsible for the course selections they make.

c.  Course prerequisites/co-requisites: Students shall ensure that they meet all prerequisites and/or co-requisites for courses in which they register. Failure to meet course prerequisites or co-requisites may result in disenrollment.

d.  Schedule Confirmation: Students are responsible for checking the accuracy of their course schedule.

2-3. Late Registration

Beginning the fourth business day of the term, the instructor’s authorization is required to register for a course.  A late registration fee will be charged for students not previously enrolled beginning the first day of instruction.  Schedule change fees for adding classes will be assessed according to published schedules.

2-4. Dropped Courses

Courses officially dropped through the tenth day of the regular academic term will be removed from the student’s record. Refunds are calculated according to the current refund schedule. Schedule change fees for dropping/withdrawing from classes will be assessed according to published schedules.

2-5. Course Loads / Overload

a.  Undergraduate Students

Eastern Washington University defines full-time as 12 or more credits per term on either a quarter or semester calendar.

Undergraduate students must have their general or departmental advisor authorization to register for more than 18 credits.

Undergraduate students wishing to enroll in more than 22 credits must also have the authorization of the director of general undergraduate advising (undeclared majors) or their department chair (declared majors).

Additional per credit fees are assessed for students enrolled in more than 18 credits per quarter.

Part-time student: Undergraduate students who are enrolled for fewer than 10 credits are considered part-time students.

b.  Graduate Students

Eastern Washington University defines full-time as 8 or more credits per term for students on either a quarter or semester calendar.

Graduate students who have a graduate service appointment as a Graduate Assistant must be enrolled for a minimum of 10 credits per term on either a quarter or semester calendar.

Graduate students who have successfully completed all course work on the approved Advancement to Candidacy form, except for thesis (600), research (601) or internship (695) work, will be considered full-time if enrolled for a minimum of two credit hours of continuous per term enrollment in thesis, research or internship.  Students who are under this two-credit standard may not exceed four quarters or three semesters of continuous enrollment under this two-credit standard.

The course load of graduate students may not in any term exceed 18 credits for students on either a quarter or semester calendar without the approval of the student’s advisor and the appropriate department chair or designee.

Eastern Washington University defines part-time enrollment as 2–7 credits per term, except for summer term; in summer term, minimum registration may be for one credit.

It is not the intent of this policy to change the way the university calculates full-time equivalent graduate students, nor is it the intent to supersede the Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) definitions of full-time status.

c.  International Students

• Full-time undergraduate: 12 credits
• Full-time graduate student: 8 credits
• International students must check with the International Student Advisor to verify eligibility for part-time enrollment.  Otherwise, full-time enrollment is required of all international students, except for vacation terms.

2-6. Registration Holds

Students must clear registration holds before they may register for classes.  Registration holds may be placed for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to:

• student category or status
• failure to submit final transcripts
• overdue financial obligations
• incomplete Financial Aid forms
• academic probation and dismissal
• failure to satisfy pre-university basic skills requirements
• disciplinary action

Chapter 3 – Course Repeats

This chapter provides Eastern’s general standard for course repeats.   Specific program rules on repeats may be more stringent than the rules shown here.

a.  General: A course may be repeated regardless of its delivery mode (traditional classroom or independent learning). For the purposes of this chapter, courses which may be taken multiple times, i.e. performance courses, are not considered ‘course repeats’.

b.  Registration: Courses to be repeated for credit value must be identified during registration.

c.  Grades and GPA: The last grade assigned will be the grade included in the GPA (grade point average) and all grades assigned will remain on the transcript.

d.  Exceptions to Course Repeat Rules: Students who are repeating a course in which they received a letter grade with no numeric value, such as “W”, do not need to indicate this at registration. In such cases, students should register for the repeat “W” course as they would normally register for regular credit and grading.

e.  Exclusions: Courses previously taken may not be repeated under the following conditions:

1. receiving a pass (P) grade with the Pass/Fail or Pass/No Credit option;
2. to improve an undergraduate GPA after receiving a baccalaureate degree;
3. Courses transferred to Eastern from another institution will not be counted as repeats for the purposes of EWU GPA calculation, but can be used to satisfy pre-requisites and all other degree requirements.

f.  Undergraduate Students

1. Undergraduate students will be allowed to repeat any single course twice for a total of three enrollments per course.
2. Undergraduate students are limited to a total of ten repeats.
3. Exceptions: If a student is showing progress over time, then he or she may be allowed to take the course additional times at the discretion of the department chair where the course resides. The total number of repeats still may not exceed ten.

g.  Graduate Students: Courses may be repeated for graduate credit. However, only two courses in a student’s degree program may be below 2.5, including courses that were repeated.

Chapter 4 – Course Withdrawal

Courses officially dropped/withdrawn prior to the 11th day of the term will be removed from a student’s record.

Withdrawals, from the eleventh day of the quarter until the end of the seventh week, will result in a “W” grade on the student record.

If grades have been assigned for the term, faculty will have fourteen (14) calendar days to provide feedback regarding changing grades to a “W”.  After the fourteen (14) calendar days, the faculty’s associate dean can provide permission to change grades to a “W”.  If the student is not satisfied with the original decision by the faculty/Associate Dean, the student may submit an appeal request within five (5) working days to the faculty member’s dean for the final decision.

4-1. Refunds / Fees

Refunds will be calculated according to the current refund schedule.

Financial Aid recipients may have additional financial obligations to the University or Financial Aid Programs.

Charges for dropping/withdrawing from classes begin the seventh day of the term and are per course.

4-2. Failure to Officially Withdraw

Students who enroll but do not attend class must officially withdraw or they will receive a grade of “F” and be held financially responsible for all tuition and fees.  All students who are registered in a course at the end of the term will receive a grade.

4-3. Undergraduate Course Withdrawal Policy

EWU students are allowed a total of 10 course withdrawals in their undergraduate work. (Withdrawals occur after the normal drop/add period.) Withdrawal from all courses for a term for special reasons (for example, extended illness, accident or military service) as documented and approved by Records and Registration would only be counted as a single withdrawal in the apportionment of course withdrawals.

When a student reaches six withdrawals, the student will be notified by Records and Registration. When a student reaches nine withdrawals, a registration hold will be placed on the student’s record and the student will not be allowed to register unless the student has the authorization from his/her advisor (departmental or program if declared, or his/her advisor in the General Undergraduate Academic Advising Office).

Course withdrawal beyond the tenth will only be permitted at the discretion of the departmental or program advisor. If a withdrawal is not granted, the assigned grade will be transcripted.

Chapter 5 – Waitlists

5-1. General

If a course is closed and has a waitlist option, students may choose to be placed on the waitlist for that course section.

5-2. Waitlist Restrictions

a.  Students shall not be waitlisted in more than one section per course.

b.  Students shall not register in both an open section and a waitlist section of the same course.

5-3. Student Responsibilities

Students are responsible for officially dropping or withdrawing from any course in which they have been waitlisted or enrolled and have subsequently decided not to take.

5-4. Administration

Waitlisted course credits are not included in billing statements or in calculations of credits needed for financial aid.

No additional names will be added to a waitlist as of the end of the third day of the term. Students on the waitlist will either be dropped from the waitlist or added to the class by the fourth day of the term.

Chapter 6 – Withdrawal from the University

Complete withdrawal from the University must be done through the Records and Registration Office or EWU Spokane. There is no schedule change fee to completely withdraw. Refunds are calculated according to the refund schedule. Any student who stops attending and does not officially withdraw from the University will receive “F” grades and will be held financially responsible for all tuition and fee charges as well as any applicable financial aid obligations.

Complete withdrawals may be completed at any time during the term prior to finals.

Chapter 7 – Students Ordered to Military Duty

Students, who are members of the U.S. military and who are ordered to qualifying military service or duty for thirty days or more, are eligible to withdraw, receive an incomplete, or continue their studies as described in this chapter.  Students who choose to withdraw are entitled to a reversal/refund of paid tuition, fees and other expenses as described in this chapter.  Service members who are ordered to qualifying military service or duty for a period of thirty days or less are afforded academic considerations as described in section 7-5.

7-1. Qualifying Military Service/Duty

a.  Active Duty Military Members: The student must have been ordered to temporary duty for a period of more than 30 days at a location that is more than 50 miles from their current residence and the EWU Campus where they attend classes. Active duty service members who are departing on a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) are not eligible for the benefits described under this program unless they can demonstrate that their PCS was unknown/unforeseen at the time they registered (i.e. the publication date of the PCS orders must be after the last day for students to withdraw without penalty).

b.  Reserve Component Members: The student must have been ordered to either active state service (as defined in RCW 38.04.010) or active federal service for a period of more than 30 days.

c.  The period of military service/duty to which the student has been ordered must overlap, by at least one day, the dates of the academic term.

d.  Students who voluntarily enlist or otherwise join any military service component are not eligible under this chapter during the academic term in which they enlisted/joined the military service, even if they are ordered to military service/duty during that academic term.

7-2. Options for Current Courses

a.  Withdrawal: The student may withdraw from one or more courses for which tuition and fees have been paid that are attributable to the courses. For any withdrawn course, the following provisions apply:

1. the tuition and course fees will be reversed
2. refunds will be provided to the student, subject to the requirements of the state or federal financial aid programs of origination;
3. no fees will be charged for the refund/reversal of paid tuition and fees;
4. the student’s course registration will be deleted (there will be no transcripted record that the student ever registered for the course and the course will not be included in attempted credits calculations)
5. students who have withdrawn from a course may be reinstated in the event their qualifying military service/duty ends early and they believe they can successfully complete course requirements.

b.  Incomplete: The student may be given a grade of Incomplete and be allowed to complete the course upon release from military duty under the university’s standard practice for completion of incompletes.

c.  Continue: The student may choose to continue and complete the course(s).  Class sessions the student misses due to performance of the qualifying military service/duty will be counted as excused absences and will not be used in any way to adversely impact the student’s grade or standing in the class. Any student who selects this option is not, however, automatically excused from completing assignments due during the period the student is performing state or federal active military service. A letter grade or a grade of pass must only be awarded if, in the opinion of the faculty member teaching the course, the student has completed sufficient work and has demonstrated sufficient progress toward meeting course requirements to justify the grade.

7-3. Withdrawal from the University

Refunds of Fees & Expenses:  Students who withdraw from all of their courses are entitled to receive a refund of amounts paid for room, board, and fees attributable to the time period during which the student was serving on the qualifying military service/duty and did not use the facilities or services for which the amounts were paid.  Any refund of room, board, and fees is subject to the requirements of the state or federal financial aid programs of origination.

Readmission:  If the student chooses to withdraw from the university, the student has the right to be readmitted and enrolled, without penalty or redetermination of admission eligibility, within one year following release from the qualifying military service/duty.

7-4. Administration

a.  Requests for Withdrawal: Eligible students must submit a withdrawal request, along with a copy of military orders, to the office of the registrar.

b.  Requests for Incomplete: To request a grade of incomplete, the student must contact the course instructor.

c.  Verification: Upon written request from the institution, the student shall provide written verification of their military service.

7-5. Service/Duty Periods of 30 Days or Less

A service member who is ordered for a period of thirty days or less to either active or inactive state or federal service and as a result of that service or follow-up medical treatment for injury incurred during that service misses any class, test, examination, laboratory, or class day on which a written or oral assignment is due, or other event upon which a course grade or evaluation is based, is entitled to make up the class, test, examination, laboratory, presentation, or event without prejudice to the final course grade or evaluation. The makeup must be scheduled after the member’s return from service and after a reasonable time for the student to prepare for the test, examination, laboratory, presentation, or event.

Class sessions a student misses due to performance of state or federal active or inactive military service must be counted as excused absences and may not be used in any way to adversely impact the student’s grade or standing in class.

If the faculty member teaching the course determines that the student has completed sufficient work and has demonstrated sufficient progress toward meeting course requirements to justify the grade without making up the class, test, examination, presentation, or other event, the grade may be awarded without the makeup, but the missed class, test, examination, laboratory, class day, presentation, or other event must not be used in any way to adversely impact the student’s grade or standing in the class.

Chapter 8 – Withdrawal for Medical Reasons

Students who withdraw from the university due to documented medical reasons may be eligible for a complete withdrawal from courses and a reversal of tuition and fees.

a. Requests

1. Requests for withdrawal that are submitted outside of the published withdrawal deadline must be submitted to the Records and Registration office using the Exceptional Circumstance Request form.
2. Supporting documentation should accompany the request. Supporting documentation is typically a statement from a physician stating the circumstances that prevented completion of the term.
3. The student must also indicate on the Exceptional Circumstance Request form if they are requesting a reversal/refund of tuition and fees.
4. If grades have been assigned for the term, faculty will have fourteen (14) calendar days to provide feedback regarding changing grades to a W. After the fourteen (14) calendar days, the faculty’s associate dean can provide permission to change the grades to a W.
5. If the student is not satisfied with the original decision by the faculty/Associate Dean, the student may submit an appeal request within five working days to the faculty member’s dean for the final decision.

b. Authorities

The Records and Registration office is the approval authority for withdrawal requests under this chapter. The office of Student Financial Services is the approval authority for requests to reverse/refund tuition and fees under this chapter.