Online Undergraduate Policies and Procedures

We are committed to making its activities as accessible as possible. The college and the university provide a range of special services for those with disabilities. Any student in an OU College of Professional and Continuing Studies course who has a disability that may prevent her or him from fully demonstrating her or his abilities should contact LaDawn Jones as soon as possible to discuss accommodations necessary to ensure full participation and to facilitate their educational opportunity.

Email: LaDawn Jones

The University Disability Resource Center

Adding a Course Enrollment After the Term Starts

Students can Add a course up to the end of the free Add/Drop period. The Add/Drop period is the first week of the course for eight-week courses and the first two weeks of the course for 16-week courses. No courses can be added after the last day of the Add/Drop period each term. 

Withdrawing From an Eight-Week Course:

Free Drop Period (Week One)
No grade is recorded if a student drops within one week after the course begins. Students must drop the course using the online enrollment system.
Note: Notifying the faculty member of intent to drop/withdraw will not result in a student drop/withdrawal.

The student is not responsible for tuition and fees if the course is dropped within one week of course start date.

After the first week of the course, no refund will be given and the student is responsible for paying all tuition and fees for the course.

Withdrawal (Weeks Two - Six)
A grade of W (withdraw) will be assigned.

Students must notify the College of Professional and Continuing Studies Program Staff of the withdrawal depending on their program of study. Note: Notifying the faculty member of intent to withdraw will not result in a student withdrawal.

The student is responsible for all tuition and fees. No refund will be given.

Withdrawal (Weeks Seven - Eight)
A grade of A-F, W (Withdraw), or I (Incomplete) will be assigned for the course if the student is enrolled and has submitted coursework. A student may not withdraw from a course without approval from the faculty member two weeks before the end of the course. Within the two-week period, the faculty member will have at his/her discretion the following options regarding the student's assignments: 1) Grade the remaining coursework and assign a final grade; 2) Arrange an alternative deadline for an Incomplete; or 3) Grant the student's request to withdraw from the course. In all cases, students are instructed to contact their advisor in writing of their intent in the course.

The student is responsible for all tuition and fees. No refund will be given.

Withdrawing From a 16-Week Course:

Free Drop Period (Weeks One - Two)
No grade is recorded if a student drops within one week after the course begins. Students must drop the course using the online enrollment system . Note: Notifying the faculty member of intent to drop/withdraw will not result in a student drop/withdrawal.

The student is not responsible for tuition and fees if the course is dropped within two weeks of course start date.

After the first two weeks of the course, no refund will be given and the student is responsible for paying all tuition and fees for the course.

Withdrawal (Weeks Three - Twelve)
A grade of W (withdraw) will be assigned.

Students must notify the New College Program Staff of the withdrawal depending on their program of study. Note: Notifying the faculty member of intent to withdraw will not result in a student withdrawal.

The student is responsible for all tuition and fees. No refund will be given.

Withdrawal (Weeks Thirteen - Sixteen)
A grade of A-F, W (Withdraw), or I (Incomplete) will be assigned for the course if student is enrolled and has submitted coursework. A student may not withdraw from a course without approval from the faculty member two weeks before the end of the course. Within the two-week period, the faculty member will have at his/her discretion the following options regarding the student's assignments: 1) Grade the remaining course work and assign a final grade; 2) Arrange an alternative deadline for an Incomplete; or 3) Grant the student’s request to withdraw from the course. In all cases, students are instructed to contact their advisor in writing of their intent in the course.

The student is responsible for all tuition and fees. No refund will be given.

Retroactive Withdarwal

If you need retroactive withdrawal from a course, please download and complete this formand contact your academic advisor.

Financial Aid Students:

Dropping or withdrawing from a course may have an effect on your Financial Aid. Contact Financial Aid before you drop or withdraw from a course after the term has started. 

Email: pacsfinancialaid@ou.edu

Phone: (405) 325-2929.

“AW,” meaning Administrative Withdrawal, is a neutral grade used to indicate that a student has been involuntarily withdrawn by the institution. A neutral grade has no impact on a student’s grade point average. Students may receive an AW grade for disciplinary reasons, financial reasons, or inadequate attendance.

If you received a grade of AW in the College, it is usually because:

1. You did not submit any coursework to the instructor.
2. You never contacted the instructor.
3. You never contacted the college to withdraw from the course.

A grade of AW is permanent, and the course must be repeated for credit. It is not a substitute grade for an “I” (Incomplete) and cannot be changed to an “I” at a later date.

If an undergraduate accumulates four or more current Incompletes, “I” grades, or four or more Administrative Withdrawals, “AW” grades, within a year, or a combination of four “I” and “AW” grades within one year; an enrollment stop may be placed on your record.

There are limits on how many credit hours a student may enroll in each semester without permission of the student’s dean. These limits are listed below:

• Fall/Spring: 19 hours for undergraduates (no more than three courses per eight-week session)
• Summer: nine hours for undergraduates
• Intersession: three hours for undergraduates

Exceeding these enrollment limits will be considered only if the student has a retention combined GPA of 3.80 or higher. Even with the dean’s permission, no student may enroll in more than 24 hours in a fall or spring semester, or more than 12 hours in a summer session.

In the event a student disputes a final grade awarded to them by a faculty member, the student must take the following actions. The student bears the responsibility of presenting a preponderance of evidence that the grade received is erroneous or capricious:

1. The first step in a grade dispute is for the student to contact the instructor to see if a mutually-agreeable solution is possible.
2. If the dispute is not resolved at that level, the student may petition the appropriate program coordinator, requesting further review.
3. If the outcome is still not deemed to be satisfactory, the student may then appeal to the Associate Dean. The steps for appealing to the Associate Dean are outlined below:
    
   1. The student submits a formal document of appeal to the Associate Dean, stating specifically what is requested (what specific grade change or policy exception is requested).  That letter should also contain a clearly articulated rationale for the request.  It is certainly permissible to submit the letter and required documents as email attachments; however, those must be in an easily readable format (such as Word or PDF) in order to be considered.
   2. Along with the formal document of appeal, the student should submit any supporting documentation (syllabus, assignment instructions, papers, homework, grade records, email exchanges, or any other necessary documentation) that he/she feels are needed to review the situation.  As with step 1, the supporting documents must be in a readable format to be considered as well.
   3. Once the formal letter of appeal is received, the Associate Dean will contact the course instructor, asking the instructor to provide any relevant information and/or documentation regarding the student's request.  For example, the instructor may be asked to provide a copy of the syllabus, grade records, rubrics used for evaluating assignments, email communications, instructions for assignments, or whatever other elements may inform the review.
   4. Once all documents are provided by both the student and instructor, the Associate Dean will review all documents and make a determination on the basis of the evidence regarding whether or not the appeal should be granted, and will communicate that decision to both student and instructor.
   5. If the student is not satisfied with the Associate Dean’s decision, they may then request a review by the OU College of Professional and Continuing Studies Academic Appeals Committee. This is an ad-hoc committee consisting of both students and faculty. The appeals committee is the last appeal step, and their decision is final.

For sufficiently extenuating circumstances, a student may request a grade of "I" and receive additional time beyond the course end date to complete the course. To receive a grade of "I" the student must satisfactorily complete a minimum of one-half of the coursework, have a legitimate reason for not being able to complete the work during the normal time frame, and request a grade of incomplete by contacting their faculty member prior to the end of the term.

If the faculty member approves your request, they will submit an Incomplete Grade Contract which will list what must be done to complete the course, and will set a time limit appropriate to the circumstances. If by the end of the contracted date to complete the course, no change in grade has been submitted, the grade of "I" will be changed to the pre-determined permanent grade on the Incomplete Grade Contract. For example, if the faculty member lists a grade of D on the incomplete contract, and you submit no further work by the deadline set by your faculty member, your I-grade will be changed to a grade of D.

An enrollment stop is placed on any undergraduate student who accumulates four active "Incompletes" or a combination of "Incompletes" and "Administrative Withdrawals" (AW grades) totaling four within one year. See Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy in the Undergraduate Programs Information Center. 

Essential in the successful operation of all participants in the internship program within the OU College of Professional and Continuing Studies is a clear understanding of the responsibilities of all participants involved in the program. This Internship Manual is a guide for the cooperative arrangements necessary in facilitating the most effective internship experience for all concerned. This manual has been prepared to assist students, faculty, internship advisors, and agency supervisors in understanding the purposes, objectives, responsibilities, policies, and requirements for an internship in the Bachelor of Liberal Studies Degree Program, OU College of Professional and Continuing Studies, at the University of Oklahoma 

Internship Manual

Eight-Week Online and On-Site Courses 
A full refund will be given if withdrawn before the end of the first week of class. After the end of the first week, no refund will be given.

Five-Day On-Site Seminars 
After the seminar begins, an 80% refund will be given if the student withdraws before the end of the first day. A 50% refund will be given if the student withdraws before the end of the second day. No refund will be provided after the end of the second day.

Sixteen-Week Online Courses 
A full refund will be given if withdrawn before the end of the second week of class. After the end of the second week, no refund will be given.

The OU College of Professional and Continuing Studies expects you to maintain continuous and satisfactory progress toward completion of degree requirements each semester you are enrolled in the program. Specifically, you must maintain passing grades in at least 70% of your enrolled courses each year. So, for example, if you enroll in a total of 30 semester hours (10 courses) in an academic year, you must successfully complete 21 hours (7 classes) to maintain satisfactory progress. Please be advised that our active monitoring of your progress is not in any way intended to be punitive but simply to help us better assist you in achieving your educational goals.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Grades of I (incomplete), W (withdrawn), AW (administrative withdrawal), F (failing), U (unsatisfactory), and N (no grade) are considered as not making satisfactory progress.

Because your academic success is our highest concern, we have implemented policies that prohibit your continued enrollment if you fail to maintain satisfactory progress:

Advisement Hold/Enrollment Stop: If you have more than four unsatisfactory progress grades (I, AW, F, U, N) in any combination during one semester, you will be placed on Advisement Hold/Enrollment Stop. This means that you will be required to seek permission from your academic adviser before you are allowed to re-enroll. If you registered for courses before the end of a semester of unsatisfactory progress, your enrollments will be cancelled. Before you are allowed to re-enroll, you will be placed on Academic Contract, meaning that you agree to make satisfactory progress in any course enrollments following the advisement hold.

Academic Probation: If your cumulative grade point average or your institution grade point average fall below 2.0, you will be placed on academic probation. This means that you will be placed on Academic Contract, and will stay on Academic Probation, until such time as you raise your grade point average above 2.0.

Academic Suspension: If you fail to make satisfactory academic progress during any semester you are on Academic Contract or Academic Probation, you will be suspended for poor scholarship, and will not be allowed to continue pursuing your degree in the College. 

Enrollment Limitations: If you fall below the minimum level of satisfactory progress, and as part of the Academic Contract, we may limit the number of courses you can take in a given term, meaning that we may restrict your enrollments to fewer than 12 hours per semester until you demonstrate satisfactory progress. This may have an impact on the amount of financial aid you are eligible to receive.

1.1 BASIC PRINCIPLE OF HONESTY

Honesty is a fundamental precept in all academic activities, and those privileged to be members of a university community have a special obligation to observe the highest standards of honesty and a right to expect the same standards of all others. Academic misconduct in any form is inimical to the purposes and functions of the university and therefore is unacceptable and rigorously proscribed.

1.2 DEFINITIONS

1.2.1 Academic Misconduct. Any act that improperly affects the evaluation of a student’s academic performance or achievement. The following terms illustrate but do not delimit or define academic misconduct.

1. Cheating: the use of unauthorized materials, methods, or information in any academic exercise, including improper collaboration;
2. Plagiarism: the representation of the words or ideas of another as one's own, including:
   1. direct quotation without both attribution and indication that material is being directly quoted, e.g. quotation marks;
   2. paraphrase without attribution;
   3. paraphrase with or without attribution where the wording of the original remains substantially intact and is represented as the author's own;
   4. expression in one’s own words, but without attribution, of ideas, arguments, lines of reasoning, facts, processes, or other products of the intellect where such material is learned from the work of another and is not part of the general fund of common academic knowledge;
3. Fabrication: the falsification or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise;
4. Fraud: the falsification, forgery, or misrepresentation of academic work, including the resubmission of work performed for one class for credit in another class without the informed permission of the second instructor; or the falsification, forgery or misrepresentations of other academic records or documents, including admissions materials and transcripts; or the communication of false or misleading statements to obtain academic advantage or to avoid academic penalty;
5. Destruction, misappropriation or unauthorized possession of university property or property of another;
6. Bribery or intimidation; 
7. Assisting others in any act proscribed by this code; or
8. Attempting to engage in such acts.