Kevin Donnelly (AG)
Lynn Ewanow (AR)
Alison Wheatley (AS)
Ike Ehie (BA)
Betty Stevens (DCE)
Mike Lynch (EDP)
Mike Perl (ED)
Ray Hightower (EN)
Bobbette McGaughey (GR)
Karen Pence (HE)
Monty Nielsen (REG)
Nancy Moser (TC)
Dave Stewart (FS/AAC)
Gunile DeVault (REG)
Linda Bottom (guest)
Robert Gamez (guest)
Ike Ehie convened the meeting at 10:30 am.
None.
Hightower – Non-Standard Class time request.
The minutes for the February 11, 2004 meeting were approved as corrected (sentence added by Hightower).
Robert Gamez, Senior Associate Director, Student Financial Assistance
Robert gave a presentation and answered questions about financial aid policies and procedures at K-State. The committee requested the presentation to clarify concerns expressed earlier about the inconsistency of academic drop dates and critical drop dates for repayment of financial aid. Robert distributed a handout, “Withdrawing form K-State” that outlines the policies for calculating repayment of financial aid when withdrawing from the University and responses to frequently asked questions. Some highlights of his presentation include:
- Withdraw from the University. SFA must do a calculation any time a student withdraws from the university to determine percent of completion for the semester. The calendar days in the enrollment period are divided to calculate percent completion as of the drop date (unless 5 or more days without classes – ie. Thanksgiving or spring break). This is a day-by-day calculation, and if the drop is after 60% of the semester is completed, there is no payback. They can use the official academic drop date, OR can establish an actual last date of attendance that may be different if student can document they attended beyond the academic drop date (ie. faculty attendance records). Backdated drops are not always beneficial to the student if that date is used as the last date of attendance. The results of the calculation determine how much KSU has to return to the Fed Govt, and how much the student needs to pay back. Failure to repay may jeopardize future financial aid eligibility. Hightower noted that the last day to drop a course with a W is usually just before the 60% mark of the semester. Stevens asked if we should move that date later. Robert noted that the academic drop date is really not critical to SFA – they have to establish actual date of attendance and that can be documented from other evidence.
- Dropping classes below 12 credits. The impact of dropping individual courses the leaves a student below full time status was reviewed. Federal regulations allow students to get full tuition aid at the start of the semester if they are enrolled full time. Students can then drop courses any time during that semester, and do not have to return aid as long as they remain enrolled in at least one hour. However, students who do this frequently will be caught by annual “satisfactory progress” calculation done at the end of each spring semester. If initial aid is based on full time (12 hours), then satisfactory progress is 9 hours completed per semester. If initial aid is based on part-time, then progress is prorated to a lesser amount (ie. aid based on 9 hours enrolled, then only 7 need to be completed in the semester). Donnelly asked if a student who completes only 72 hours in four years (9 hours per semester) can still be making satisfactory progress and be eligible for continued aid. Robert noted this would theoretically be possible, and that student could continue to get full-time aid. Long term, students cannot get aid once they reach 150% of the total hours required for their curriculum (although this can even be appealed if they demonstrate additional credits are needed as a result of a major change). During summer and intersession, students generally only can get loans.
Linda Bottom, Assistant Director, International Student Center
Linda gave a presentation and answered questions about full course of study requirements for international students. The committee requested the presentation to clarify concerns about how dropping classes or withdraw may impact immigration status of international students. She distributed an detailed handout outlining full course of study definitions. Some highlights of her presentation include:
- In general, international students must always be enrolled in a full course of study for the entire fall and spring semester. Full course of study is 12 hours undergraduate, 9 hours graduate without assistantship, 6 hours graduate with 0.4 or more time assistantship, or 18 hours ELP. Students cannot carry over extra credit from one semester into another to meet the requirement. No more than one class or three credits may be taken on-line or via distance education per semester as part of the full course of study. Intersession and summer credits do not count toward the minimum hours for full course of study. They do not have to be enrolled during summer. A KSU designated school official (DSO) must certify their full course of study status and only five people at KSU are DSO approved.
-The SEVIS data base is used to track all international students since 2003. Students must be in SEVIS data base and have a bar-coded I20 to enroll. A work permit has to be issued if students are on a GTA or GRA. Some exceptions to the full course of study are allowed, but are limited to specific conditions set by SEVIS (ie. medical, initial difficulty with English, improper course placement, etc.). A DSO and International Programs must approve it and upload the exception to SEVIS before student reduces course load. Failure to get prior approval will result in student being out of status.
-International Programs must register every student within 30 days of start of semester. Dropping below full course of study even at the end of the semester can lead to immediate immigration problems for the student. Backdated drops can cause serious problems. It is better for students to take an “I” than get a “W”. Please check with International Programs regarding any international students requesting drops.
Donnelly thanked all who had reported changes and errors to the NST and ORC tables distributed last time. He asked for final review and update by the rest of the committee members.
Gunile updated the committee on her interest in moving forward with a final exam policy. She noted that we really do not have a current policy, just information in the line schedule, and that does not cover all courses. She had prepared a draft policy last year and met with each college, but we have not followed up. Committee members are requested to go back and review that policy with respect to college courses. The new Oracle system will be able to look at more efficient final exam scheduling. She is suggesting a faculty policy and a student policy. The faculty policy will need to be approved by Faculty Senate and be incorporated into the Faculty Handbook. Hightower noted that we need to look at night courses and appointment courses. The committee agreed to move this project to a high priority.
Donnelly moved that we accept all NSTs and ORCs approved as "continuing" in Spring 2004 be re-approved for Spring 2005. The motion was seconded and passed without debate.
Hightower presented a NST request for Fall 2004 for CIS 621/622 on TU at 11:00-12:15. The standard time originally proposed overlaps with another required course. A motion to approve the requested NST was approved.
Nielsen reported that the Calendar Committee sent recommendations for the Fall 05-Spring 09 calendar to Faculty Senate Executive Committee. The proposal would have included 2-day fall break, with a Friday fall starting date to insure 75 days total. Students were not supportive of the previously proposed 77 day semester with a Wednesday start date. Stewart reported that Faculty Senate rejected the proposal because of the concerns about the challenges of a Friday start date.
Stewart reported that Academic Affairs is still addressing concerns about the new standard class time policy. They did pass a new instructor drop policy allowing instructors to drop student who do not attend the first day of class – if any component of a class is missed (lab, lec, rec), then the instructor may drop the student from all components. A new draft of university student learning outcomes will be submitted to Academic Affairs in the near future, and likely on to Faculty Senate. Discussion is underway on concerns about moving teaching evaluations (T-Vals) from the main frame to K-State Online and developing appropriate procedures for administering the evaluation and collecting fair and useful information under a new system. The existing system will go away within the year. Faculty Senate endorsed a student resolution challenging the call back of student tuition and restricted fees into the state general budget.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:50am.
April 14, 2004.
Respectfully Submitted by Kevin Donnelly