The purpose of this protocol is to establish procedures and mechanisms for recording student grades and maintaining student academic records. 

Scope

This is an administrative policy, affecting the students of the University. 

Referenced Laws, Regulations, and/or Policies 

This is the University protocol. 

Protocol

Student Status 

Students’ statuses are categorized as follows in the Orbund SIS.

Accepted

Once a student has signed an enrollment agreement, the Registrar will create an Orbund account for the student as ‘accepted’. The Unit of Finance and Accounts will send an invoice for the enrollment deposit to the student. If the student has paid the enrollment deposit by the due date, the registrar will change the status of the student to either ‘active - attending’ or ‘inactive - deferred’, based on the student’s decision.

Active - Attending

Once the status of an ‘accepted’ student is changed to ‘active attending’ in the Orbund SIS, the student will be able to register for classes and can check their personal information, financial information, academic progress reports, references, announcements and attendance on their students’ Dashboard.

Active - Attending on Probation

Students may be placed on probation for academic or disciplinary reasons. Students on probation may attend classes and appear as regular students in the Canvas LMS. Students whose status is ‘active - attending on Probation’ still have access to the Orbund SIS to check the messages, announcements, invoices, attendances, students progress reports and course enrollment information.

Active - Leave of Absence

A leave of absence (LOA) is granted by the University in order to allow students to take a defined break from their studies. Parami University allows students to take a leave of absence of up to one year at a time; students are permitted to take only two leaves of absence during their studies. Students can request a leave of absence for a variety of reasons; the reasons for the LOA must be stated in a  leave of absence request letter that is submitted to the Dean. During a leave of absence, students remain affiliated with the University and still have access to the Orbund SIS to check personal information, financial information, messages, announcements, course information and schedules; they are also allowed to enroll in classes prior to their return to Parami.

Active - Suspended

Students may be suspended for academic or disciplinary reasons. A suspended student is prohibited from attending classes for a specified period of time. Suspensions are considered a removal from the university for a specified period of time, typically a semester or a year. Suspended students will be removed from their courses on Canvas, but will retain access in the Orbund SIS to student profiles, messages, announcements, financial information and are permitted to re-enroll to the classes when they return from the suspension period. 

Inactive - Deceased

Once the registrar has confirmed that a student has died, the student status is changed to ‘Inactive - Deceased’ in the Orbund SIS. The deceased student’s login will be removed from the system but the University will retain the student’s record.

Inactive - Deferred

A student who has deferred the University’s acceptance decision, thereby postponing his or her studies due to personal, academic, or financial reasons, will be regarded as a deferred student. A deferred student will not be active on the Orbund SIS and will not have access to their dashboard or course information until they have been changed to ‘Active - Attending’ again. 

Inactive - Dropped Out

The registrar will change the status of students who do not complete their required credits or who drop out of their program without submitting a withdrawal form to the University  to ‘Inactive - Dropped Out’ and that student will no longer have access to their dashboard or course information in the Orbund SIS.

Inactive - Expelled

Students may be expelled for disciplinary reasons. Expulsion is the permanent removal or dismissal of a student from the University. Students who are expelled from the University are asked to leave immediately; expelled students who do not comply with this request may be forcibly removed. The status of expelled  students is changed to ‘Inactive - expelled’ by the registrar and they will not have access to the Orbund SIS. 

Inactive - Withdrawn

Students who fail to attend the classes in the first two weeks of their first semester and who submit a university withdrawal form will be placed in ‘Inactive - withdrawn’ status. The withdrawal  becomes effective on the date that the appropriate withdrawal form is officially received by the University. The withdrawn students will not be allowed access to the Orbund SIS.

Graduated - Deceased Alumni

Deceased graduates will be listed in the Orbund SIS and the deceased graduate’s record  will be updated to ‘Graduated - Deceased' after confirming the death of the graduated student with appropriate documentation (obituary or death certificate).

Graduated - Living Alumni

A graduate  is any student who has completed the required credits to earn a degree from an undergraduate program at Parami University. The registrar will add the graduated students under the completed tab in the Orbund SIS and students move to  the ‘Graduated - Living Alumni’ status.

Attempted Vs Earned Credit Hours

It is important to distinguish between attempted versus earned credit hours, as the distinction affects the calculation of the grade point average. Attempted credit hours are defined as all credit hours that a student has taken throughout his or her studies at the University, regardless of whether the student passes, fails, repeats, or withdraws from a course. Earned credit hours are defined as those credit hours earned when the student has successfully completed and passed a course. Withdrawals and failed courses do not contribute to the earned credit hours. For example, if a student is taking six three-credit hour courses in a given semester, and  the student fails one course and earns a passing grade in five courses, the  student’s record will show eighteen (18) attempted credit hours and fifteen (15) earned credit hours.

Grade Point Average Calculation

Grade Points Average is calculated by adding all grade points obtained from the multiplication of each grade point by the respective attempted credit hour and dividing the sum by the total credit hours. In other words, GPA is calculated by dividing the total number of grade points earned by the total number of credit hours attempted.

A student who earns a grade of C– or lower may retake the course. All classes taken by students will appear in the transcript but in the case of retaken classes, only the most recent class will have credits and GPA counted. Classes that were retaken will not have their credits or GPA counted. Repeated courses will show up on the transcript as *.

In order to fulfill program and workshop requirements, students must attain a grade of Satisfactory pass (S). If a student’s performance is deemed unsatisfactory, the transcript will show a grade of U and he or she will have to retake the workshop. Once a student has, upon repeating the course, attained a Satisfactory pass, it will appear on the transcript as S*.

Pass with Distinction (PD) is awarded to Associate in Arts graduates who have attained a GPA of 3.5 and above.

Students who wish to sit in on a course as an observer may receive a grade of Audit (AU). The course instructor must approve all requests for audit. The student must meet attendance requirements and may be required to submit assignments to receive the AU credit. The AU credit does not contribute to attempted or earned credit.

Withdrawals without Credit (W) will be entered on the transcript; however, they will not contribute to the attempted credit hours. If a student wishes to avoid a mark of W on the transcript, it is important that he or she drops a course before the add/drop deadline. After the drop deadline, a course can no longer be dropped, and a student wishing to withdraw from a course must submit a Course Withdrawal Form (attached). Requests for Withdrawal without Credit (W) must be submitted two weeks before the last day of a semester, as indicated in the Institutional Calendar. If a student stops attending the course and does not withdraw from the course by submitting the Withdrawal Request form, the student will receive a grade of FW (Failure / No Withdrawal). A Withdrawal without Credit (W) will not contribute to the GPA calculation, even though the W will appear on transcript, while Failure / No Withdrawal (FW) will contribute to the GPA calculation and the FW will appear on transcript.

P/F grade

Students can request a change in their grading so that they earn a grade of either 'P' (Pass) or 'F' (Fail). Students earn a 'P' grade, and earn credits, if they earn a grade of 60% or better. A ‘P’ grade does not count towards GPA. If a student earns a grade of 'F', it will count against GPA. The following conditions apply.

1. Students have to request a P/F grading by the Withdrawal deadline

2. Cannot be used for courses required by the major

3. Can be used for a maximum of three classes

Incomplete courses (I) will be entered in Orbund SIS; however, the grade of (I) will be replaced once the final grade is entered for any incomplete course. The course instructor must specify the deadline for a student to submit the remaining course work. If the student does not complete the final work before the deadline to submit, the instructor will adjust the course grade accordingly and inform the Registrar of the final grade.

Course Registration

All courses will be available on the Course Catalog webpage. The Registrar’s Office will announce the course catalog for the next semester in the course inventory management and review system (CIMRS) according to the schedule published in the Institutional Calendar for the relevant semesters. Students will be notified by email when the course catalog for the coming semester is published. During this time, and prior to the registration period, the student is required to have a one-on-one advising meeting with their advisor to discuss their course selection. In advance of the meeting, the student needs to submit a tentative course selection form.

Typically, the one-week registration period for the next semester opens three weeks before the end of the current semester (refer to the Institutional Calendar for exact dates). Registration will only be open to students who had their one-on-one advising meeting. If students wish to register for courses for which space is likely to be limited, they are advised to register as early as possible. The Registrar will enroll the student, space permitting, in the requested courses.

Students are expected to complete their course selection early; if this is not possible due to outstanding applications for exemptions from pre-requisites, the University has set a late registration period that will begin two weeks before semester classes begin and will end one week before semester classes begin; refer to the Institutional Calendar for exact dates.

The failure to submit courses or exemption forms during the registration period–including the late registration period–may result in late registration fees of USD 10. Exact dates will be published in the Institutional Calendar.

There will be a two week add/drop period at the beginning of the semester during which students may review the courses in which they enrolled. Should the student wish to drop or add courses, he or she must complete a drop/add form, obtain their advisor’s approval and signature, and submit the signed form to the Registrar.

Pre-requisite or Academic Exemption

If a student wishes to take a course that requires a prerequisite, he or she must either have fulfilled the prerequisite requirement for the course or complete the Prerequisite / Academic Exemption Form, obtain the course instructor and Dean’s approval, and submit the completed and signed form to the Registrar (form attached). The Registrar will not allow a student to enroll in a course that requires prerequisites unless 1) the pre-requisite course has been completed or 2) the Prerequisite / Academic Exemption Form has been completed, signed by the instructor and Dean, and submitted to the Registrar.

Course Add/Drop Rules

Students are allowed to add or drop courses during the add/drop period. Typically, the add/drop period ends by the end of the second week of classes of a semester. It is the responsibility of the student to inform the Registrar of any changes regarding the course that they wish to add or drop using the Add/Drop form (attached). The Registrar will accept the forms only with the signature of respective academic staff. The Registrar will process the request within two working days.

Transfer Credits

Parami University accepts transfer credits issued from a college, institute, or university that is accredited by an agency recognized by the United States Department of Education, or if foreign, recognized by a comparable government authority. Transfer credits will not be calculated into the University GPA. The Office of Registrar, with the approval of the Academic Department, will determine how many transfer credits can be accepted into a student’s transcript. Transfer credits may be counted towards appropriate distribution requirements, subject to the approval by the Academic Department, and will be adjusted according to the University Credit Hours system. Transfer courses must be equivalent to courses in the curriculum of the University; transfer courses submitted toward completion of departmental or program requirements must be equivalent to the courses for which they are substituted. A student cannot receive credit twice for the same course (i.e. a student cannot transfer credit for a course that they have already successfully completed).

Grade Submission

Grades are to be submitted by course instructors in accordance with the Institutional Calendar. Late submissions of grades may be grounds for the sanction of the instructor in question by the Academic Staff Rights and Responsibilities Committee or the Dean.

Transcript Request

Students may request transcripts only after one academic year. Student grades will appear on the transcript one week after grades have been submitted by the student’s course instructors in Canvas in accordance with the dates specified on the Institutional Calendar. The Office of the Registrar charges USD 5 per transcript, plus any postal fees. Students or alumni may request transcripts by sending a Transcript Request Form to the Office of the Registrar via email (form attached)

Review

The Unit of the Registrar and the Office of Admissions and Student Affairs are responsible for ensuring compliance with this policy by the  various offices of the University. 

Date

Adopted on January 31, 2022

Updated on October 25, 2023; Effective Immediately.