Approved by the:	Twin Cities Campus Assembly - May 14, 1998 Administration - May 27, 1998 Board of Regents - no action required
Amended by the:	Twin Cities Campus Assembly - April 22, 1999 Administration - April 15, 1999 Board of Regents - no action required
Amended by the:	Twin Cities Campus Assembly - February 24, 2000 Administration - March 9, 2000 Board of Regents - no action required
Amended by the:	Twin Cities Campus Assembly - April 24, 2003 Administration - September 18, 2003 Board of Regents - no action required
Amended by the:	University Senate - September 29, 2005 Administration - October 19, 2005 Board of Regents - no action required

Introduction

[This language accompanied the original report making recommendations for policy changes and was prepared by the Office of Planning and Analysis; the Committee on Educational Policy forwards it with approval.]

The purpose of this report is to propose that many policies and practices for Twin Cities undergraduate students be standardized. There is currently very significant variation across colleges.

This variation confuses and frustrates students.

This variation is a factor in the poor graduation and time-to-completion rates for Twin Cities students, who complete, on average, nearly 30 more credits than what is required for their degree programs.

This variation places great demands on staff in collegiate and central student support offices and on our student information systems, making them more complicated and costly to maintain than they need to be.

This variation is an obstacle to the development of a single undergraduate bulletin for the Twin Cities campus.

The change to semesters is an opportunity to rethink various aspects of our instructional programs. This must include the variation in undergraduate academic policies and practices on the Twin Cities campus. This is a problem now, and it will be even worse on semesters if it is not addressed.

There are 19 colleges/programs offering undergraduate degrees on the Twin Cities campus (counting each allied health program separately). For the 19 Twin Cities colleges/programs:

• admissions is handled in 19 different ways
  
• registration and course entry is handled in 15 different ways
  
• some grades and grading issues are still handled in 13 different ways, even with the new grading policy
  
• student performance is handled in 18 different ways
  
• degree requirements and graduation is handled in 16 different ways

There is good reason for some variation in various policies and practices among Twin Cities colleges. But in many cases this variation exists for no apparent reason. It is instead the result of individual colleges and programs, lacking any common direction, doing what they think is best for students. The cumulative result, however, is a situation that is not in any student's best interest, especially those students who transfer from one college to another, only to discover a new and unexpected hurdle.

The Twin Cities colleges and programs have been consulted in developing the proposals presented in this report. Inevitably, if there is to be greater uniformity, there must be compromise where differences currently exist. The overall objective is to create an academic culture for our Twin Cities students that is rigorous, but fair, and far less confusing than what they currently face.

Some current policies and practices are shaped by the unique circumstances of an individual student. It should be emphasized that each Twin Cities dean has the power to grant exceptions to policies, when special circumstances call for exceptions to be made. Policies should not be designed for the exception, but exceptions should be granted when appropriate.

The Twin Cities colleges and programs ar
very different from one another. They each offer unique degree programs and courses. They each have unique facilities to support instruction and research in their disciplines. The faculties of these colleges are also all unique in certain respects, reflecting the character of the various disciplines. This kind of variation is good. It is what defines each college.

Much of the variation examined in this report, however, is not good. It adds nothing to a student's educational experience. It adds nothing of value to a college or program. Some of it is about significant matters (e.g., definitions of satisfactory academic progress). Some of it is just plain silly (e.g., committee names). All of this variation should be eliminated, both for the sake of our students and for the sake of our faculty and staff.

Organization of the Report

The report is organized under the following major headings: admissions, registration and course entry, grades and grading, student performance, and degree requirements and graduation.

Note: There are a number of other Senate and Assembly educational policies closely related to the policies proposed for action in this document. The Committee on Educational Policy assures the Assembly that at some point--it hopes in the not too distant future--these educational policies will be assembled in one place and ordered in a manner that is easily understood and readily accessible to faculty, staff, and students alike.

Admissions

In general, the admission of new high school (NHS) students and the admission of new advanced standing (NAS) students are handled in consistent ways. There is considerable variation, however, for some specific admissions policies and practices, as detailed below.

1. New High School (NHS) and New Advanced Standing (NAS) Enrollment Targets:

Each college is responsible for proposing to the Admissions Office targets for the admission of New High School and New Advanced Standing students. These proposed targets are subject to the review and approval of the Provost for the Twin Cities campus and the Vice President for Health Sciences.

This effort is to be coordinated by the Director of the Office of Admissions, who works closely with each college.

This does not represent any change in the current policy and practice.

2. New High School (NHS) and New Advanced Standing (NAS) Admissions Standards:

Each college is responsible for setting the standards that are to be used by the Admissions Office in admitting students to the college. For automatic admission by the campus priority deadline, New High School standards must be expressed by the college in terms of a minimum AAR or SAR score. Each college is also responsible for establishing whatever criteria are to be used for admission after the priority deadline. These standards and criteria are subject to the review and approval of the Provost for the Twin Cities campus and the Vice President for Health Sciences.

This does not represent any change in the current practice and policy.

3. Conditional Admit: There is some confusion regarding conditional admit, because it is used in two different ways:

(1) Conditional Admit to Matriculate: Strictly speaking, all students are admitted subject to certain conditions (e.g., that they graduate from high school). Conditional admit in this sense means that a student will not be allowed to matriculate (or transfer to the University) unless certain conditions are met. This is the first way in which conditional admit is used, and the conditions vary by college and program (e.g., whether all high school preparation requirements need to be met or whether one or two deficiencies are allowed and, if so, in what areas).

(2) Conditional Admit to Graduate: Conditional admit is also used in a second sense to mean that a student can matriculate (or transfer to the University), but subject to certain conditions that must be satisfied before the student can graduate (e.g., that any deficiencies in satisfying high school preparation requirements are made up). Such conditions are in addition to normal degree requirements.

All colleges shall have a formal, written conditional admit policy that is specific with regard to both the matriculation and the graduation conditions that may be imposed on a student when they are admitted. It must also be clear that these policies apply to students new to the University, not to those transferring within the University.

4. Re-admission: The Twin Cities campus does not have a re-admission policy for students who leave school for an extended period.

Undergraduates are expected to maintain continuous registration. Undergraduates who have not been granted a "leave of absence" (see #12) and who do not register for a semester (excluding summer session) shall be placed on "Inactive" status. Students shall be sent information regarding both the meaning of Inactive status and the University's Leave of Absence policy at matriculation. Students on Inactive status will need to contact their college office for approval to regain Active status before registering for another term. Colleges may condition re-admission on availability of space in a program, and if so, must caution the student that re-admission will be conditioned upon availability of space.

Students in good academic standing at the time they became Inactive should routinely be allowed to return to Active status.

5. Transfer Issues: In evaluating the course work of transfer students, some colleges and programs accept "D" grades, while others do not, and some colleges and programs accept courses that others would not.

The evaluation of transfer course work from outside the University is a complicated process. Each college and program is involved in evaluating course work in its disciplines. Whether or not transfer courses meet program or major requirements is a separate issue (see also item 20, D grades).

The Twin Cities campus shall not accept any transfer course with less than a "D" grade. Once a course has been accepted for transfer, all colleges and programs will honor this decision.

6. Old Program Rules: There is variation among colleges regarding whether students returning to the University are to follow old or new program requirements. The amount of time students may be out without any possible change in program requirements varies by college.

A student who has left the University without a leave of absence for more than two consecutive semesters (not including summer session) will be held to new program requirements upon his or her return. A student returning after only one year out or less shall be allowed to follow the program requirements in effect when he or she was admitted. Exceptions should be made only for students who are returning after a formal leave of absence.

(See also item 12, leaves of absence.)

7. Sunsetting: Some units do not accept course work if it was taken more than a specified number of years ago (anywhere from five to ten years). In these cases, the content is considered "sunsetted" and a student must retake the course(s) in order to be up-to-date in the discipline. There is some variation in the time limits for sunsetting course work. Currently each unit can set the maximum time limit before a student must retake the course.

Departments have the authority to sunset courses. Sunsetting may be done at the departmental level only, and may be done only for courses in the major, or specific prerequisites for the major. Units must clearly describe their sunsetting policies in their admissions materials, and departments must have the approval of the dean to institute any sunset policies. Students shall be advised individually as to how they are affected by these policies.

8. Declaring a Major: There is variation across colleges and programs in how students declare a degree program or major. There is also variation within colleges. CLA uses a pre-major designation for many students.

There may be variation across colleges in how degree programs and majors are declared. Some colleges admit freshmen who have not declared a major. Some colleges and programs admit only upper division students who must choose a major when they transfer to a college. The procedures required by some departments are too complex and will not work on a semester-based calendar, when students will have only eight terms to make decisions about their education, rather than twelve.

When the University changes to semesters, CLA should abandon its pre-major status and move students directly from undecided to major status. The only exception should be for students who plan to transfer to another college (e.g., allied health pre-majors).

Use of the words "declared" and "undeclared" are preferred to "decided" and "undecided" in connection with selecting a major, in all policies. If pre-major status is abandoned, there needs to be a method of indicating the interest(s) of the student in the way that pre-major status currently allows. If the student's status or plan is "undeclared," this can be done by use of sub-plans in the student's record. It is important to maintain this information for advising purposes.

All colleges shall review the policies and procedures for declaring a degree program or major within the college. The practice of requiring students to complete prerequisite course work, often in the discipline, should receive the most careful scrutiny, along with the use of other second-tier admissions standards.

Colleges have the authority to determine how students declare a major or degree program.

9. Second-Tier Admissions Standards for Programs/Majors: Undergraduate students move through their degree programs in different ways. Some are admitted as freshmen to both a college and a major. Others are admitted to a college, but not to a major. Some are admitted to a college (e.g., CLA, General College) with plans to transfer eventually to another college.

Most colleges and some programs and majors have established various second-tier admissions standards for students who want to transfer to the college or declare a major. These second-tier admissions standards take various forms. Sometime a specified minimum GPA is required. Sometimes the successful completion of certain prerequisite courses that sometimes must be taken in a particular sequences required. Sometimes the successful completion of certain prerequisite courses with a specified minimum GPA is required. In the absence of any campus-wide policy or procedure, these second-tier admissions requirements have been developed and implemented by each unit. The result is a confusing and frustrating set of expectations that limit student choice and impose additional barriers to graduation.

On quarters, there are a minimum of 12 registration periods when students most commonly change their status (e.g., declare a major, change a major, or transfer from one college to another). On semesters, there are a minimum of 8 registration periods one-third fewer. On semesters, students will have to make decisions about choice of major and transfer to a different college sooner than is the case on quarters. On semesters, second-tier admissions standards must be very carefully developed and implemented.

All current second-tier admission standards, whether for admission to a college or program or major, shall expire at the end of the 199899 academic year, the last year on quarters. Colleges and departments shall evaluate the need for such standards and develop and propose them to be effective for students matriculating in fall 1999, the first year on semesters. Department standards must be subject to college review and approval. College standards must be subject to review and approval by the Provost of the Twin Cities campus or the Vice President for Health Sciences.

10. Full-time/Part-time Definitions: There is variation across the campus his how full-time and part-time student status are defined. For example, the minimum credit load required for a student to receive maximum, full-time federal financial aid (e.g., a Pell grant) is 12 credits, while the minimum credit load required for a student to receive a maximum, full-time Minnesota state grant is 15 credits. Although this variation is because of different government policies, not because of different college policies, colleges and programs are inconsistent in how they describe the situation. As a consequence, too many students confuse the 12 credit federal financial aid minimum with what is actually required to graduate in four years (i.e., 15 credits per term).

A student is defined as full-time if he or she is enrolled for at least 12 credits during a semester. Any student enrolled for fewer than 12 credits is defined as part-time. All admissions and registration materials must contain language emphasizing to students that they must complete at least 15 credits per semester to graduate within four years, and all advisors must inform students of the need to complete 15 credits per semester in order to graduate in four years.

11. Undeclared: This is a "major" status for students who have not declared their major upon admission or for students who are in the process of transferring out of one major or unit to another major or unit. CLA begins putting an OW hold on undecided students with 90+ quarter credits. This is cleared either by seeing an adviser and declaring a major or by affirming that the student is still undecided. Theoretically, given current policies and practices, a student could stay undecided forever. Allowing students to remain in the "undecided" status beyond 60 semester credits is not conducive to timely graduation. Requiring students to declare a major before or upon the completion of 60 semester credits will be even more important with a semester-based calendar.

All freshmen-admitting colleges shall have an undeclared student status. All students shall be required to declare a major or be accepted into a program before or upon the completion of 60 semester credits. Once 60 credits have been completed, a student will not be allowed to register until they declare a major. (The student will be required to declare a major at the end of the term in which they complete 60 or more credits.)

12. Leave of Absence (LOA): Some colleges have a leave of absence policy for students who decide to leave school and not register for a period of time and who notify the college of their intent. There is variation in requirements for return and whether a student is to follow old or new program requirements.

Colleges and programs are sometimes proactive in recommending that students take a leave of absence or "stop out," usually for personal reasons. This is a very individualistic practice. In recommending that a student "stop out," leave of absence policies and procedures should be used.

There should be a standard leave of absence form for all Twin Cities colleges; the form should have a place for indicating how long the leave of absence will be.

All colleges shall have a leave of absence policy for students who plan to leave school for a semester or more. Students who follow the policy and whose leave is approved in accord with college policy need not apply for re-admission when they return. Students in good academic standing shall not ordinarily be denied a single leave of up to one year.

All students shall be informed, when they request a leave, whether they will be held to old or new program requirements upon their return. If the leave of absence is for more than two academic years (i.e., four semesters), the student must follow new program requirements.

Registration and Course Entry

13. Adviser Approvals: A variety of adviser holds are now being used to force students to see an adviser during their initial registration during orientation or during all freshman registration periods or during all lower division registration periods.

Removing unnecessary barriers to a student's academic progress is a laudable aim. However, there is a strongly-felt concern that individuals given responsibility for advising should have the discretion of imposing an "adviser hold" on a student's registration. This holds true at any stage during a student's undergraduate career.

As a way of developing options, for students who wish it, that allow students to reduce formal contact with advisers and accept more responsibility for their academic progress, it might be advisable to set up a pilot "self-advised" track for undergraduates.

There shall be one uniform adviser hold for all units. There shall also be available a hold for use by the major department.

14. Credit Limits per Quarter: The maximum number of credits allowed before a student needs collegiate approval varies across units, from 18 to 21 quarter credits. A few units now set a minimum credit requirement, usually by default based on required "lockstep" registrations, particularly in specific health science areas. These requirements vary.

The maximum number of credits per semester for which a student will be allowed to enroll without approval is 20. College approval is required for a student to enroll for 21 or more credits in a semester. Units may set a minimum credit enrollment requirement per semester, but only if they provide explicit detail about the requirement in their admissions materials. Colleges are responsible for enforcement of any minimum credit enrollment requirement.

15. Limited Enrollment Courses: Minimum and maximum enrollment limits can be set for any course section of any kind (e.g., lecture, laboratory, recitation, studio). There is significant variation in how such limits are set.

Most colleges and departments have no policy regarding the cancellation of low enrollment courses.

Enrollment limits in course sections are very necessary, for pedagogical reasons and because of limitations imposed by facilities constraints (e.g., size of classrooms, size of laboratories). All enrollment limits in course sections should be proposed by a department/program head/chair and approved by the appropriate dean.

In the day school, low enrollment courses or low enrollment sections of courses are canceled only by the department offering the course. In University College and Summer Session, low enrollment courses or low enrollment sections of courses can be canceled by the University College and Summer Session administrations, which fund the courses.

Under IMG the difference between the way in which University College and Summer Session and the rest of the University are funded is significantly different. The funding for all campuses and colleges is directly affected by the tuition revenue they generate. Low enrollment courses and sections can affect tuition revenue, since the instructional staff assigned to them could be reassigned to areas of higher student demand. It is sometimes programmatically necessary to offer low enrollment courses and sections, but such decisions should be carefully made according to the policy of the college.

With regard to this issue, the primary difference between University College and Summer Session and the rest of the University's campuses and colleges is that faculty teaching in UC and Summer Session are usually paid on an overload basis. This is not an absolute difference. Some faculty teaching in UC and Summer Session do so as part of their workload under their regular 9-month or 12-month appointment. Some instruction in other colleges (e.g., the Carlson School of Management) is on an overload basis. Any college may pay faculty on an overload basis.

Each Twin Cities college and University College shall develop a policy regarding the cancellation of low enrollment courses or sections. These policies may allow variation by department within a college or variation by college within a campus.

16. Prerequisites: Where prerequisites have been set, bulletins and course materials should explain that prerequisites may be enforced. Their purpose is to advise students to take only those courses for which the prerequisites have been met.

Departments and colleges should be selective in determining prerequisites for courses. Prerequisites should not be set for a course except in progressive, sequence courses or where departments can clearly demonstrate that a student will not be able to complete the course successfully without first completing the prerequisite course work.

Where prerequisites have been set, instructors may require that any student who has not taken the specified prerequisites for the course must withdraw. Instructors may, however, grant permission, on an individual basis, for a student to take a course without having taken the prerequisite(s).

In the rare case when a student takes a prerequisite course after successfully completing a subsequent course that required the prerequisite, credit for the prerequisite course will be granted. Colleges and departments, at their discretion, may also allow students to receive credit by examination for the prerequisite course.

17. Repeating Course Work: There is no policy stipulating how many times a student may repeat a course and under what circumstances. Some colleges permit a course to be repeated only when a student failed to earn a grade of C or better in the course. Some colleges allow a student to retake a course in which a passing grade of C or better was earned. This is not addressed in new grading policy.

SCEP takes the position that the policy on repeating courses adopted in the uniform grading policy should remain University policy, and recommends no change. The uniform grading policy does address the question of whether a student may repeat a course when a grade of C or better was earned: the policy places no restrictions on the circumstances under which a student may repeat a course. (Although it is unclear why anyone would do so, the uniform grading policy does not prohibit a student from repeating a course even though he or she may have earned an A in the course the first time.) The uniform grading policy adopted by the Senate reads as follows:

"In those instances when a college or campus permits a student to repeat a course, (a) all grades for the course shall appear on the official transcript, (b) the course credits may not be counted more than once toward degree and program requirements, and (c) only the last enrollment for the course shall count in the student's grade point average. The preceding sentence of this policy shall not apply to courses using the same number but where students study different content each term of enrollment; all such courses falling under this provision must be approved by the college."

18. Auditing Courses: Students auditing a course are required to pay full tuition, but do not take exams or do homework. An auditor is entered on the class roster (grade report), is counted as filling a seat in a controlled entry course, and is counted in an instructor's student contact hours. The rules for auditing course work are fairly rigorously enforced at the undergraduate level. A few units allow students to retake a previously audited course for a grade.

The number of students who take previously audited courses for credit is probably very small. Students who wish to "scope out" a class before taking it for credit--a practice we certainly wish to discourage--are much more likely to sit in on it without registering than to register as an auditor. In contrast, there are instances in which students may change academic plans such that they need to take a previously audited course for a grade. Overall, the policy is best written with the latter type of student in mind, rather than the former.

The rules for auditing course work should be rigorously enforced at all student levels. A student shall be allowed to take a previously audited class for a grade.

Grades and Grading

19. S/N Grading Base Issues: Most units do not allow S/N grading in program and major course work unless the S/N grading system is preset by the unit for a specific course. Some units set a quarterly limit such as one S/N course for freshmen and two S/N for sophomores. There is inconsistency in what colleges say in bulletins about how many credits can be taken S/N.

According to Senate policy, the maximum number of S/N credits allowed to a student is 25% of degree-qualifying residence credits.

No unit shall allow S/N grading in program and major course work unless the S/N grading system is preset by the unit for specific courses. For a student who completes only the minimum number of 30 credits in residence, no more than 8 may be taken S/N. For other students it is 25% of the number of credits they take in residence at the University (any campus).

20. "D" Grades: Currently, there is variation in whether D grades are allowed in major course work. Some units use A/B balance and others require C or above grades in major course work.

All units shall require a C- or better in each course in the major.

Student Performance

Academic Progress, Academic Probation, and High Academic Achievement: Colleges and programs use different systems for monitoring academic progress, different probation systems and holds for students who are in academic difficulty, and different systems for recognizing students who perform with distinction. This is the area where there is the greatest and most significant variation among collegiate units and programs.

There are different systems of monitoring academic progress, all of which are used in slightly different ways. There are different ways of using the probation system. There are different systems for recognizing high academic achievement. Within a single college one way of monitoring academic progress is sometimes used to identify students in academic difficulty, while another way of monitoring academic progress is used to identify students who perform with distinction.

There is no compelling reason for different colleges to use different systems. It is confusing to students as they move from one college to another. This is an area where there are also high systems costs because of all of the different kinds of reports that must be run every quarter and at the end of each academic year.

All colleges and programs should use the same standards and systems for monitoring academic progress, the same academic probation system, and one of two ways of recognizing high academic achievement. Academic progress, academic probation, and academic honors are discussed separately below.

SCEP's recommendations follow.

21. Academic Progress: All colleges and programs require students to maintain satisfactory progress. The federal Department of Education also requires the Twin Cities campus to make sure that students receiving federal financial aid maintain satisfactory progress. The campus-wide definition used by the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (OSFA) recognizes some of the differences among colleges (e.g., it will use a GPA higher than 2.00 for students in those colleges that require a higher standard). Academic progress is also monitored to identify students who perform with distinction.

Colleges and programs use three different systems to monitor academic progress: i) GPA, ii) coefficient of completion, and iii) honors points.

Most colleges use only quarterly and cumulative GPA to monitor academic progress, either for purposes of identifying students in academic difficulty or for purposes of identifying students who perform with distinction.

Six colleges use coefficient of completion to monitor academic progress. Coefficient of completion is a measure of the percentage of course work that a student completes successfully. For example, if a student attempts 15 credits and completes 9 credits successfully with a grade of C- or better, then the student's coefficient of completion is 60 percent (i.e. 9/15). Most of the colleges that use coefficient of completion use it in conjunction with GPA. CLA is the only college that uses just coefficient of completion to monitor academic progress, although CLA uses it only to identify students in academic difficulty. CLA uses GPA to identify students who perform with distinction.

Those colleges that use coefficient of completion, use it in different ways (e.g., the value of the coefficient of completion required for satisfactory progress varies and the way in which withdrawals are handled varies). The exact formula used in CLA is: (credits graded A, B, C, S)/(credits graded A, B, C, S, D, F, N, I). The expectation in CLA is that a student will complete at least 75 percent of the credits attempted each academic year (first summer session through spring quarter).

Coefficient of completion can be a more lenient way of judging satisfactory academic progress than using just GPA. For example, a student who takes four 4-credit courses and completes three with a grade of C and one with a grade of F will have a coefficient of completion of 75 percent, which is satisfactory in CLA, but a GPA of less than 2.0, which is not satisfactory in most colleges.

The honor point system is an academic progress system that is used only by the Carlson School of Management (CSOM). Students earn honors points for each grade received (i.e., 2 for an A, 1 for a B, 0 for a C, 1 for a D, and 2 for an F. A student is placed on probation when he or she accumulates so many negative honors points.

The new University Grading Policy requires that a student's GPA for a term and cumulative GPA must be calculated at the end of each academic term.

Student progress shall be monitored by the college of enrollment after each term as well as annually. Term monitoring is based solely on GPA. The annual review may also include coefficient of completion in conjunction with GPA.

Coefficient of completion shall be defined campus-wide as: (credits graded A, B, C, S)/(credits graded A, B, C, S, D, F, N, I). Coefficient of completion shall be a standard University report available to any academic unit that wants to use it in monitoring academic progress. Plus or minus modifiers are dropped in determining coefficient of completion.

22. Academic Probation: All colleges and programs shall use the following probationary system. A student will be placed on probation (and will remain on probation) if either the term or the cumulative GPA is below 2.00. A student on probation will have a hold placed on his or her record and must see an adviser in order to register. A student is suspended if a) at the end of the probation term (semester), both the term and the cumulative GPA are below 2.00, or b) the conditions of an academic contract are not fulfilled. A suspension is effective on the first day of the next fall or spring term.

Colleges may also require students on probation to complete a contract for academic performance developed by the college of enrollment. Students will be given an override for the probation hold to enable them to register when they have met with an adviser and, if a contract is required, when the student’s academic adviser and college office are satisfied that the conditions of the contract have been met. The academic contract may include GPA expectations more rigorous than the 2.00 term and cumulative GPA minimum standard, where programmatically warranted and where clearly communicated to the student. If the student meets the conditions of the contract, and the term and cumulative GPA are at least 2.00, the student will be removed from probation. If the contract conditions are met but the cumulative GPA is still less than 2.00, the student will remain on probation. If the conditions are not met, the student will be suspended.

When suspended, a student is no longer in the program and cannot register for University courses for at least one full academic year. All colleges at the University recognize the probationary holds and do not allow students, including non-degree seeking, with these holds to register without the approval of the college placing the hold. Students may appeal suspension decisions or petition for re-admission in writing to the college's Student Scholastic Standing Committee (SSSC) according to a defined collegiate petition process. Re-admission after a period of suspension is not automatic. To be re-admitted, a student must show evidence of changes in circumstances that demonstrate that the student will succeed in an academic program.

Upon return to the college after petitioning to reenter, students will be placed on probation, and all colleges shall use a probation hold and contract for the purpose of monitoring the student's performance. If the student does not successfully complete the contract, he or she shall be suspended again, but then shall be required to reapply for admission, rather than petition to reenter.

23. Dean's List: There are various ways of recognizing high achievement on the Twin Cities campus. Most colleges and programs have a dean's list to recognize students at the end of each quarter. The dean's list system includes a quarterly transcript notation that recognizes high quarterly GPA. Not all colleges and programs have a dean's list and for those that do the required GPA varies. The College of Education and Human Development does not have a dean's list. It instead sends "good progress" letters to students completing 12 or more credits with a GPA of 3.75 or above. These letters, however, are not noted on a student's transcript.

All colleges and programs shall publish each term a dean's list, consisting of students who achieved a 3.67 GPA or higher and who completed a minimum of 12 credits (including University College credits) on the A-F grading system. There will be a transcript notation for each term that a student achieves the dean's list.

24. Student Scholastic Standing Committee (SSSC): All colleges and programs have a committee to which student academic progress issues are referred. The names of these committees vary slightly. In order to assist students in understanding where these issues are dealt with, SCEP recommends a uniformity in names.

All colleges shall use the same name: Student Scholastic Standing Committee (SSSC).

Degree Requirements and Graduation

25. GPA Requirement for Graduation: There is some variation in the GPA required for graduation (e.g., some colleges only require a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.00 in courses in the college or courses in the major program).

The cumulative GPA required for graduation shall be 2.00, and shall include all, and only, University course work.

26. Special Requirements: Some colleges and programs set other requirements or conditions in addition to the minimum GPA requirement. Human Ecology, for example, requires a GPA of 2.5 in the major program. CLA sets a limit on the number of D's, even if a student's GPA is greater than 2.00. Agriculture requires a coefficient of completion of .75.

A student who is admitted to a degree program or major and who completes all campus, college, and program requirements with a minimum GPA of 2.00 in the major and a cumulative GPA of 2.00 shall be allowed to graduate. Additional standards or conditions shall not be imposed.

SECTION 27 HAS BEEN SUPERCEDED BY THE UNDERGRADUATE RESIDENCY CREDIT REQUIREMENTS POLICY

27. Residency Issues: There is some variation in how the University's residency rule is applied. Some colleges require that a minimum number of credits be taken in the college. Among colleges that have such a requirement the number of credits varies. Some colleges and programs require that the last 30 credits must be taken while the student is enrolled in the college or program.

Residency is a University requirement that should not vary by college or program. Colleges and programs must adhere to University Senate policy. This requires that in order to earn a degree at the University, a student must complete a minimum of 45 credits at the University and that the student's last 30 credits must be at the University. For semesters, this will be 30 and 20 credits, respectively.

Residency should not solely be in the University. It is reasonable to expect that some minimum number of credits for a degree should be taken while the student is enrolled in the college in which that degree is offered. With residency in the University, it would be possible for a student to graduate with very few courses taken from the University department offering the major.

In order to complete a degree at the University, a student must take a minimum of 30 semester credits offered through the University, including 24 credits taken after admission to the major or program and taken from the college offering the major or program.

SECTION 27 HAS BEEN SUPERCEDED BY THE UNDERGRADUATE RESIDENCY CREDIT REQUIREMENTS POLICY

28. Deadlines/Dates for Graduation: There is variation in how much notice a student must give of her or his intention to graduate.

The Office of the Registrar shall set the date by which a student must notify the University of intention to graduate.

29. Types of Electives for Graduation:

a) Some colleges and programs set restrictions on the kinds of courses that students can use as electives.

Generally, electives should be just that--courses that students are free to elect or choose. The Committee on Educational Policy, however, believes that certain restrictions are appropriate, and sets them out in the proposed policy. The limit is based on the current practices of the colleges (although the specific credit limits vary slightly from college to college). It is also appropriate for advisers to influence a student's choice of electives, but there should not be rules that actually restrict a student's choice.

b) Special Course Usage

Colleges and programs commonly set maximum credit limits on four kinds of courses: i) applied music courses, ii) physical education courses, iii) ROTC courses, and iv) tutoring/study skills courses. Following discussion with the Senate Consultative Committee, it was agreed that policy could be set for three of the areas, but that language governing ROTC courses needed further consideration, in order to avoid conflict with applicable federal regulations.

c) Bracketing Course Work

Bracketing is the practice of not including a course in the calculation of a student's GPA and not counting the course as satisfying any degree requirements, including electives. Brackets are put around such courses on a student's transcript. Hence the name. This is a manual process.

Bracketing is used for two separate and distinct purposes:

Repeated courses: When a student repeats a course, all prior attempts are usually bracketed and only the most recent attempt counts. Some colleges instead bracket all but the highest grade.

Programmatic: Some colleges bracket course work that they do not want included as part of their degree programs.

The new grading policy stipulates that when a course is repeated, only the most recent attempt counts and all prior attempts and grades are bracketed.

No more than 6 semester credits from physical education, study skills, or applied music (in any combination) will count toward a studentís degree, unless the credits are a required part of the studentís program requirements. This provision does NOT mean a student may count 6 credits of physical education, 6 in study skills, and 6 in applied music; it establishes a TOTAL of 6 credits from all four areas combined as the number that will count toward a degree.

No department or college may bracket the courses of another department or college. Any course that carries University credit in one department or college must carry University credit in all other University departments and colleges, as an elective, at minimum, including all transfer course work that is accepted when a student is admitted. Some courses which carry University credit may not count toward college or department/program degree requirements, or may, if a student changes programs, exceed the limit of 6 credits from the fields identified in the preceding paragraph, and thus not count toward the degree.