General Policies for Use When Advising University Transfer Students (And Answers to Typical Student Questions)

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1 General Policies for Use When Advising University Transfer Students (And Answers to Typical Student Questions) 1. Student SHC Load: At 12 SHC students are considered full-time for purposes of insurance, veteran s benefits, and financial aid. However, a recommended load of 16 SHC is the average student load which allows the student to complete a two year AA or AS degree (without attending summer courses: summer courses for students NOT on financial aid requires only 9 HSC for full time status) within two years. Keep in mind that if a student is in AGE-UT, or has any developmental work to complete, these non-credit preparatory classes will extend the number of semester it will take the student to complete the two year AA or AS degree. Students should be made aware of these SHC loads during advising sessions. The working student: PCC recommends the following load for working students so they will not be overwhelmed and can be successful in their courses: work 2 hours per day work 4 hours per day work 6 hours per day work 8 hours per day take credit hours/semester take credit hours/semester take 6-11 credit hours/semester take 5-8 credit hours/semester 2. Official Withdrawals AFTER the deadline for OWD s. Of course all students should officially withdraw from courses within the given time period of the college which is up until the last three weeks of a course (a very generous deadline students will not find at the university). However, there are those few extreme cases when a student needs to officially withdraw after the deadline. In such cases, all requests for official withdrawals from courses in the Arts and Sciences Divisions must be approved and signed by the Division Dean and instructors of the courses. Advisors must fill out an official withdraw after the deadline form (see online for download), and have the student see the Dean first. 3. Major vs. Pre-major: As an advisor, make sure your student understands the difference between a Major which is declared at the four year institution (usually in the Junior year) and a Pre-Major which is declared at the two year institution. The pre-majors offered in the Articulation Agreement were created to better prepare students for their intended major at the university. The pre-major sheets, you will notice, have more SCH listed under general education courses and fewer listed as electives. In the case of the pre-major, the majority of electives have been chosen for the student and relate directly to their intended major at the university. Also let your student know, he is not trapped into a pre-major selection if he changes his mind once at the university. However, if he does continue in the same major, he will enter a bit more prepared.

2 If you have a student with an undetermined major, he is classified as a Pre-Liberal Arts student. Explain to the student the Pre-Liberal Arts pre-major will apply to any major once it is declared at the senior institution. Make sure students understand that the pre-major selection at PCC does not guarantee the student acceptance into the specialized college (such as the school of business) once at the university. Although accepted into the University with the completion of transfer credits or graduation, the student still must apply for admission into their intended school of specialized study. Students typically apply to the school of study once their major has been declared and they have been at the university for one semester and have earned at least a 2.5 during that first semester. 4. General Education Requirements: The majority of students will not understand what General Education Requirements are or why they have to take these courses which have nothing to do with their intended major. Explaining the following outline of the completion of a four year degree may help: There are three parts to a bachelor s degree. The first is general education classes. These are mathematics, English, humanities, social/behavioral science, and natural science courses--one or two in each area--designed to give students a broad understanding of the area of study. When students complete their general education classes, the university can be sure they are a broadly educated person. General education classes are typically taken as a freshman or sophomore. The second part of a bachelor s degree is a major. This is a group of 10 to 12 courses designed to make the student an expert in that field of study. Typically, these courses are taken as a junior and senior. The last part is elective courses of the students' choice that allow them to broaden their academic horizon and which expose them, perhaps, to fields of study they have never investigated. These classes are commonly taken at any time. In order for articulation to the university to be smooth, students need to get the general education classes completed at their community college. Therefore, as advisors, we never recommend that students leave with 30 hours of semester credit (though you will have some determined students who want to be at a university as fast as they can!). The articulation agreement made between the community colleges and the NC University system guarantees transfer admission and acceptance of ALL SHCs at the completion of 44 credits. (Warning: The NC University does not guarantee acceptance of all SHC when a student transfers with 30 SHC). Completion of 44 credits, indicates the student has completed all general education courses (if of

3 course, the student has been working with the guidance of an advisor and not working on his own taking only easy elective courses). 5. Enrolling Both ECU and PCC at the same time: Students can enroll in both schools during a semester session. These students are called Visiting students. They may wish to take courses at ECU (while still enrolled at PCC), or vice versa. However, students must have permission from both schools to do so. PCC students must have the permission of the registrar and ECU students must have the permission of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies at ECU 6. Graduation Audit: A graduation audit is the responsibility of the Advisor. If the advisor and the student have been following the education plan and keeping of with his hours, then the expected semester of graduation will be know. Prior to the semester the student is to graduate in, the advisor should complete a graduation audit to make sure the student will indeed fulfill all 65 general education and electivecourses with the during the upcoming final semester at PCC and (although 64 SHC are the maximum transfer credits to a university for the graduating student, PCC requires all students to take ACA 111 to meet graduation requirements, thus the 1 additional SCH above). A graduation audit can be done by hand, simply by comparing the courses completed at PCC from the unofficial transcript with the graduation checklist (and confirming a 2.0 GPA). However, for your convenience, Datatel offers a graduation audit which can be printed. The audit will list each category, which courses fulfilled the category, and what SHC are missing in each category, if any. It is important to do a graduation audit before the last semester at PCC in case a course was overlooked and can therefore be added to the students upcoming schedule during the last semester. Once the advisor has completed a graduation audit and determined the student is eligible for graduation, the advisor will put the student on the graduation list sent to advisors the first month of each semester. Because we have a wonderful checks and balances system at PCC, the registrar will also check to ensure graduation requirements have been met. Advisors will receive a copy of all their eligible students for graduation, as well as an indication of which students who have overlooked a course need for graduation. Eligible students will receive a letter from the registrar indicating their approval for graduation and will provide instructions regarding invitations, cap and gown, etc. Please remind students PCC graduation which includes a formal ceremony in only offered in May. December graduates will not attend a graduation ceremony. However, a student may still walk at the may ceremony by indicating this desire to the registrar and yourself to include on the graduation list. For example, a student who will actually not complete degree requirements until the end of summer, is still allowed to walk at the graduation ceremony in May. When the summer hours are completed, the Degree will be mailed to the student.

4 Rule If a student has 12 or fewer hours left in order to graduate, he may leave PCC to complete these courses at the university under the Rule This allows a student to take the final hours required for graduation from Pitt Community College at his four-year college. These course SHCs will transfer back to PCC. The Rule form can be found online at the UT website. A form must be completed by the advisor and sent to the registrar. When the registrar approves the request the student will receive a letter which delineating what courses are required, how long the student has to complete these hours, and how he will get on the graduation list and receive his AA / AS degree (a courtesy copy is also sent to the advisor for his records). 8. Course Substitutions: Advisors may substitute one transfer course for another transfer courses once transfer general education courses are completed. The advisor must complete the substitution request form which is sent to the registrar. The only approved substitutions are listed on the in-house graduation checklist. 9. Co-op Credit For any college transfer program co-op is add-on credit, calculated in GPA but not counted as SHC toward AA degree. However Co-op credits are attractive on resumes and financial aid applications. 10. Auditing Classes: Students who wish to audit a class will complete the registration in the usual manner. However, they must complete a Declaration of Audit Status form and submit this form to the Office of the Registrar before the end of the drop/add period. The completion of this form is the total responsibility of the student and can also be found at the UT website..

5 Determining GPA Although a student s GPA can be found both on his campus cruiser account (under his unofficial transcripts) and on Datatel for the advisor, the following calculations will show how a GPA is determined, and it will show you and the student what grades are needed to raise a GPA in order to be eligible for transfer or graduation, which requires a 2.0. G.P.A. Calculations for Reaching 2.0: A table for calculating hours of A or B needed to pull student GPA to 2.0 follows G = current grade point average H = current attempted hours A = hours of A s needed B = hours of B s needed A = (2-G) x H B = (2-G) x H 2 Example: current grade point average (G) = 1.4 current attempted hours (H) = 60 A = (2 1.4) x 60 =18 hours of A needed 2 B = (2-1.4) x 60 = 36 hours of B needed When determining GPA remind the student that grades of D and F do not transfer to senior institutions. However, if a student is graduating from PCC, the courses which receive a D will count toward their graduation hours. This is a wonderful incentive for students who have 1-2 Ds in courses to remain at PCC rather than losing transfer credit for these courses. It is important students understand that transferring with less than 64 credits means each course is transferred individually (NO Ds or Fs), but completion of a degree, transfers the entire package degree of 64 credits, not individual courses. Therefore through the guidelines of the CAA, students who graduate from a two year institution are guaranteed entrance to the four year institution as a JUNIOR, and ready to begin his major courses of study (another very good reason to encourage graduation rather than transferring! Repeating Courses: If a student is determined to transfer in spite of D courses, the student must retake the D course Or lose credit for the class. At PCC repeating a course allows the student to REPLCE the previous grade with the newly earned grade. However, this is a community college policy. The majority of universities average the grades of the two courses when a course is repeated, and the student receives the averaged two courses as the new grade in a course.

6 Financial Aid Advisors should recommend all students apply for financial aid, doing so may allow students to receive monies toward their education they were unaware were even available to them. Students should also be encouraged to apply for every scholarship and grant which can be found. The following procedure indicates how the student can determine what types of financial aid are available and how to apply for them. 1. Go to 2. The student should complete the application online, and the processor will send a Student Aid Report (SAR) to the school in approximately two weeks. 3. Then, the application data will download to the school and the Financial Aid staff can then determine the student s eligibility for financial aid. 4. Awards are processed continuously during the academic year; the sooner student applies the better. 5. There are many types of financial aid, advise the student to also speak with a financial aid representative directly. As an advisor you can provide basic information from your own resources, and the FAFSA website offers many answers to questions. But when in doubt, seek the aid of PCC s financial aid office (Lisa Reichstien). Special Cases: Veterans Veterans are restricted compensation only for courses listed in the college transfer curriculum. Required developmental courses may be taken, but the veteran will have to pay for these courses on his own. Veterans will receive automatically receive transfer credit for HEA 110 and/or any PE credit. Advisors should recommend Veterans see the Veterans Affairs Office for further details on the government s guidelines on educational benefits.