North Central Texas College Policy and Procedures to Comply With S.B. 1231 Limiting the Number of Course Drops

North Central Texas College will follow all rules as specified by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Coordinating Board Rules:Chapter 4.  Rules Applying to All Public Institutions Of Higher Education in Texas

Definitions – Dropped Course – a course in which an undergraduate student at an institution of higher education has enrolled for credit, but did not complete, under these conditions:

                        (A) the student was able to drop the course without receiving a grade or incurring an academic penalty

                        (B) the student’s transcript indicates or will indicate that the student was enrolled in the course past the census date; and

                        (C) the student is not dropping the course in order to withdraw from the institution.

Section 4.10 Limitations on the Number of Courses that May Be Dropped under Certain Circumstances by Undergraduate Students.

            (a) Beginning with the fall 2007 academic term and applying to students who

                 enroll in higher education for the first time during the fall 2007 academic

                 term or any term subsequent to the fall 2007 term, an institution of higher

                 education may not permit an undergraduate student a total of more than six

                 dropped courses, including any course a transfer student has dropped at

                 another institution of higher education, unless:

                        (1) the institution has adopted a policy under which the maximum number

                             of courses a student is permitted to drop is less than six; or        

                        (2) the student shows good cause for dropping more than that number,

                             including but not limited to a showing of;

                                    (A) a severe illness or other debilitating condition that affects the

                                          student’s ability to satisfactorily complete the course;

                                    (B) the student’s responsibility for the care of a sick, injured, or

                                          needy person if the provision of that care affects the student’s

                                          ability to satisfactorily complete the course;

                                    (C) the death of a person who is considered to be a member of the

                                          student’s family or who is otherwise considered to have a

                                          sufficiently close relationship to the student that the person’s

                                          death is considered to be a showing of good cause;

                                    (D) the active duty service as a member of the Texas National

                                         Guard or the armed forces of the United Stated of either the

                                         student or a person who is considered to be a member of the

                                         student’s family or who is otherwise considered to have a

                                         sufficiently close relationship to the student that the person’s

                                         active military service is considered to be a showing of good

                                         cause;

                                    (E) the change of the student’s work schedule that is beyond the

                                          control of the student, and that affects the student’s ability to

                                          satisfactorily complete the course; or

                                    (F) other good cause as determined by the institution of higher

                                          education

                        (b) For purposes of this section, a “member of the student’s family” is

                             defined to be the student’s spouse, child, grandchild, father, mother,

                             brother, sister, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, nephew, niece,

                             first cousin, step-parent, step-child, or step-sibling; a “person who is

                             otherwise considered to have a sufficiently close relationship to the

                             student” is defined to include any other relative within the third degree

                             of consanguinity, plus close friends, including but not limited to

                             roommates, housemates, classmates, or other persons identified by the

                             student, for approval by the institution on a case-by-case basis.

                        (c) For purposes of this section, a “grade” is defined to be the indicator,

                             usually a letter like A, B, C, D, or F or P (for pass) assigned upon the

                             student’s completion of a course. A “grade” indicates either that the

                             student has earned and will be awarded credit, if the student has

                             completed the course requirements successfully; or that the student

                             remained enrolled in the course until the completion of the term or

                             semester but failed to provide satisfactory performance required to be

                             awarded credit.  A “grade” under this definition does not include

                             symbols to indicate that the course has been left incomplete, whether

                             those symbols indicate a negotiated temporary suspension of the end-

                             of-term deadline for completion of the course requirements commonly

                             designated as “incomplete” status, a dropped course under the

                             conditions designated for this section, or a withdrawal from the

                             institution.

                        (d) Each institution of higher education shall adopt a policy and procedure for determining a showing of good cause as specified in

                             (a) and shall  provide a copy of the policy to the Coordinating Board.

                        (e) Each institution of higher education shall publish the policy adopted

                             under this section in its catalogue and other print and Internet-based

                             publications as appropriate for the timely notification of students.

North Central Texas College Policies to support SB 1231:

TEC 51.907 COURSE DROP LIMIT PROVISIONS

Students who enroll as entering freshmen or first-time in college students in undergraduate courses offered through an affected institution of higher education for the first time during the Fall 2007 semester or any subsequent semester are subject to the course drop limit of six course drops including any course a transfer student has dropped at another affected institution.

INSTITUTIONS AFFECTED

Texas public community colleges, technical institutes/colleges, health science institutions offering undergraduate course work, and universities must comply with the legislation of TEC 51.907.

STUDENTS AFFECTED

Students who enroll as entering freshmen or first-time in college students in undergraduate courses offered through an affected institution of higher education for the first time during the Fall 2007 semester or any subsequent semester are subject to the course drop limit restrictions. Transfer students who first enrolled at a Texas public institution during the Fall 2007 semester or subsequent semester are considered first time in college and are affected by the six course drop limit. Students who elect to use the provisions of Academic Fresh Start who have coursework prior to the Fall 2007 semester are grandfathered and are not subject to TEC 51.907. Students who have completed a baccalaureate degree at any recognized public or private institution are not considered affected students whether or not taking additional undergraduate courses.

COURSE DROP DEFINITION

A course drop, which will be recorded on the transcript, is defined as an affected credit course not completed by an undergraduate student who:

1. is enrolled in the course at the official date of record*, and
2. will receive a non-punitive grade of W.

*Date of Record varies according to the length of the course. The most common course lengths are listed below. For the date of record for all other course lengths, please contact the Office of the Registrar.

STUDENTS AFFECTED

Students who enroll as entering freshmen or first-time in college students in undergraduate courses offered through an affected institution of higher education for the first time during the Fall 2007 semester or any subsequent semester are subject to the course drop limit restrictions. Transfer students who first enrolled at a Texas public institution during the Fall 2007 semester or subsequent semester are considered first time in college and are affected by the six course drop limit. Students who elect to use the provisions of Academic Fresh Start who have coursework prior to the Fall 2007 semester are grandfathered and are not subject to TEC 51.907. Students who have completed a baccalaureate degree at any recognized public or private institution are not considered affected students whether or not taking additional undergraduate courses.

North Central Texas College approved the following rules in reference to Section 4.10.2.F (Other good causes for dropping) to be applied for the Fall 2007 semester and thereafter. Course drops will not be counted towards the 6 drop limit based on the following:

Other good cause:

• Crises beyond person’s control such as loss of home due to fire or a natural disaster
• Loss of employment
• Problems with child care which affects ability to attend class
• Misadvising by the North Central Texas College advisor
• Complete drop from a program such as Registered Nursing, Cosmetology, etc. as required by the program coordinator.
• Family illness
• Job schedule change
• Military deployment
• Personal medical reasons
• Student initiated complete withdrawal
• Administrative drops through the College Prep Department for non-attendance.
• Language barriers

Drops that will count towards the 6 drop limit include:

1. Students who are withdrawn from the institution for disciplinary reason.
2. Students who are dropped for non-attendance by individual faculty members.
3. Students who do not meet any of the exemptions listed above.

Documentation Issues:  Students will not be required to provide documentation to support granting an exception as outlined in the law.  The student’s self-reported reason will be sufficient as documentation of the exception.  The student must complete the reason for withdrawing on the withdrawal slip and will be approved by the Registrar.  The determination of applying the exception in accordance with the rules will be made by the Registrar or his/her designee.

The following courses will be exempt from being counted as a withdrawal towards the limitation.  The courses are as follows:

• College Preparatory course drops (including non-college-prep courses dropped as a result of non-attendance in the College Prep course)
• Courses dropped as a result of the Department of College Preparatory Studies
• Co-requisite courses - courses that are linked together such as a lecture/lab class

The Coordinating Board indicates that students who are enrolled in high school are not affected by the SB 1231.  Any course dropped by a student enrolled in high school will not be counted toward the limit on dropped courses.  This includes students in dual credit or early admission.  Any student who is still enrolled in high school will not be affected by the provisions of SB 1231.

SB 1231 Section 51.907 b.3 Withdraw from the Institution

 “Withdrawn from the Institution” is defined as any student that has dropped all courses for the semester including any mini-semesters.

The Registrar’s Office will be responsible for tracking the number of drops that students have accumulated at North Central Texas College and from any transfer institution of public higher education in Texas. These drops will be indicated on the student’s NCTC transcript.

Faculty Withdrawals:

Faculty will continue to be able to withdraw students.  If a faculty member withdraws a student who has exceeded the six drop limit and who does not meet any of the areas of exemption, the withdrawal slip will be sent back to the faculty member with an indication that the student can no longer be withdrawn from classes due to exceeding the “six drop limit”.  The faculty member will be required to give the student a grade.