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Catalog Requirements
Students must complete the requirements for degree and major/minor (declared course program of study) from the catalog in effect at the time of first enrollment. Students may not use requirements from different catalogs to complete their degree. Students, not on an approved leave of absence, who are not enrolled at the College for one year or longer, are readmitted under the requirements currently in effect at the time of readmission. Catalog requirements stay in effect for six years except for undergraduate students in continuous enrollment. Students not in continuous enrollment desiring to complete a degree after the six-year limitation must do so under the most current catalog requirements or petition the vice president for academic affairs for an exception. Program and catalog requirement limitations are not extended to teacher certification requirements. Please contact the director of teacher education for certification details.

It is the responsibility of each student to complete all the graduation requirements described herein. Academic advisors do not share this responsibility, nor can they change, alter, or waive graduation requirements. The College reserves the right to change the requirements within this catalog. Though the College attempts to communicate catalog changes to students, students are responsible for their course program of study completion and requirement updates. Students will graduate once they have completed their declared course program of study. This includes all major(s), minor(s), certificate(s) and core requirements. Information on requirement changes is available from program coordinators and the academic dean’s and registrar’s offices.

Four-Year Graduation Guarantee
ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ guarantees that students who enter as freshmen, enroll in 16 semester credits per semester, do not fail or withdraw from any courses, and maintain a 2.00 cumulative grade point average will graduate in four years. This guarantee highlights the strength of our advisement program, the flexibility and integrity of the curriculum, and our commitment to holding down the cost of higher education in terms of both time and money. If the student who qualifies for this guarantee does not complete his or her degree requirements in four years, the College will waive the student’s tuition for the courses needed to complete the degree requirements at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼.

Under this guarantee, the College expects that the student will select a major in a timely fashion, i.e., prior to registration for the fourth semester of study. To exercise the guarantee, the student must be approved for the guarantee by the registrar and apply for financial aid. Any portion of tuition not covered by federal or state gift assistance will be waived by the College.

Exceptions
The only exceptions to this guarantee are those students who, because of a change of major, are required to complete more than 128 semester credits, or those students enrolled in programs such as Education who must take more than 128 semester credits to meet certification requirements. The guarantee does not extend to second majors, minors, or pre-professional courses, when such programs cause a student to exceed the normal 128 semester credit graduation requirement.

Study Abroad
Students who study overseas may not be able to graduate within the four years.

Bachelor’s Degree Requirements
To earn a baccalaureate degree from ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼, a student must satisfy credit, curriculum, grade point average (GPA) and residency requirements. A total of 128 semester credits successfully completed, a cumulative 2.00 GPA and major GPA of 2.00, completion of the core curriculum program, and completion of an approved major are required for graduation. Majors are required to have between 32 and 64 credits.

Minors
Minors are not required for graduation, except for certain teacher certification programs, but they require a cumulative 2.00 GPA for completion. GPA requirements for teacher certification are higher and are established by the teacher education discipline. Minors consist of a minimum of 24 credits. Minors cannot be in the major discipline. Other restrictions on minors are listed under specific program requirements.

Residency Requirements and Transfer Students
Transfer students must complete at least 32 semester credits at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ of the 128 credits required for graduation at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼. In addition, 25 percent of advanced courses (at the 300 or 400 level) in any major must be taken at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼. Minors require eight credits or one third of the minor to be completed at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼.

All baccalaureate candidates must spend their senior year in residence at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼. Students are considered to be “in residence” if they register for their final 32 semester credits at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼. Exceptions to the senior residency requirement may be made by petition to the registrar or vice president of academic affairs for students having attended ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ full time for eight semesters.

Transfer Credit From Other Institutions
Once a student has been enrolled at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ full-time, only three transfer courses from other institutions may count toward the 128 semester credits required for graduation unless (1) the courses are part of programs affiliated with the College, including ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ study abroad programs, (2) the courses are part of a nonaffiliated study abroad program that has been approved for a particular student by the International Education Committee and endorsed by the Vice President for Academic Affairs prior to the student’s departure, or (3) by special permission from the Vice President for Academic Affairs (or the Vice President for Academic Affairs‘ designee).

Any student(s) wishing to study abroad for credit that will be transferred to a degree program at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ must receive prior approval of the courses selected from the Associate Dean for Global Affairs and the academic advisor.

Students who plan to transfer credit to ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ for courses in their major fields must have the courses pre-approved by the discipline coordinator and the registrar before they are taken. Courses fulfilling general degree requirements must be approved by the registrar. Core curriculum requests must be approved by the core curriculum committee. Grades earned at another college or university do not affect GPA at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼. Courses with grades lower than a “C” are not accepted for transfer.

ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Transfer Credit Policy & Process
All incoming transfer credit, including dual-enrollment coursework, AP and IB credit, will be processed by the registrar’s office once official transcripts or score reports are received. Transfer credit equivalencies are determined by the registrar’s office, in consultation with faculty. The following outlines the policies related to transfer credit and the processes in place to complete transfer credit evaluations.

Credit is awarded for graded college-level course work completed at institutions accredited by a regional or national accrediting organization recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Courses must be similar in nature, level, and content to a course in our undergraduate curriculum and applicable to a ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ academic program.

Foreign institutions must be recognized by the Ministry of Education in that country. To receive credit for courses that you have taken at another college or university outside the United States, you must submit your academic records to a professional evaluation service currently recognized by for review. ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ recommends one of the following evaluation services:

• Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE)

• World Education Services (WES)

Continuing education courses or units, graduate-level courses, and courses that are remedial, technical, vocational, non-credit, or doctrinal in nature are not transferable for undergraduate students.

Grades Required for Transfer
Transfer credit must be on an official college-level transcript to transfer. Coursework listed only on a high school transcript is not considered for transfer. Students must earn an equivalent grade of “C” or higher for coursework to transfer to ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼. ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ does not award transfer credit for grades below “C”. Satisfactory/ Unsatisfactory and Pass/Fail coursework will not be transferred. Transfer credit is posted with the grade of “TR” and is not calculated into the students’ grade point average.

Transfer Credit Hours Awarded
Transfer credit is awarded in semester credits at the credit value the course was taken. For example, if a course accepted for transfer credit was 3 semester credits, the credit transfer will be applied to the student’s ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ record as 3 semester credits. Only courses with a value of at least 3 semester hours will be evaluated to meet core, major, or minor requirements. An official transcript must be received from the transfer institution before any transfer credit will be given.

Duplicate Credit
Students cannot earn duplicate credit for a course. Students who choose to retake a transferred course at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ (including AP and IB credit), the transferred course will be removed from your ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ record.

Double Majoring
Students double majoring in disciplines that qualify for different degrees receive only one degree from ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ though all majors and minors completed appear on the transcript. The primary major of the student will determine which degree is awarded.

Cross-Listed or Double Counted Requirements
Courses crosslisted between programs may be used to fulfill major and/or minor requirements.

Graduation With Honors
Students will graduate with honors if the final grade point average is as follows:

Transfer students must complete a minimum of 48 semester credits at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ to be eligible for academic honors. (The grades for work completed elsewhere will not be counted.) The computation is based on the student’s entire academic career at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼.

Degree Application
Students must apply for their degree by the end of the first week of their final semester. Applications for graduation are available on the registrar’s office website. A graduation application fee is assessed to all students during their final semester of attendance.

Semester Hours
Beginning in the fall of 2004, the College began to transcript all courses as semester hours in which one full course is equivalent to four semester credit hours. All courses listed in the catalog are full courses (4 semester credit hours) unless otherwise noted.