Attendance Policies
Course attendance requirements are determined by individual instructors. If a student misses classes, he or she must discuss these absences with the respective faculty members. The offices of Health Services, Student Affairs, and Athletics are not authorized to excuse students from classes. If a student knows in advance that he/she will be absent from a class, the instructor should be informed as soon as possible. Students who miss classes remain responsible for work assignments and material covered in their absence. Students who withdraw from the College must inform the Registrar before departure. Consecutive absences will be reported to Vice President for student's, by the instructor at mid-term and at term end.
Auditing Courses
On December 16, 1976, the Board of Trustees approved a resolution from the Faculty Senate that provides for senior citizens (anyone 60 years or over) to audit courses free of charge, subject to permission of the instructor, available space and in accordance with college policy on auditing. The present policy on auditing is as follows:
A regularly enrolled student may audit courses with the permission of the instructor or the chair of the division in which the course is offered, the Registrar and/or the student's advisor. The instructor establishes the conditions under which the student may audit. In no case will a student receive credit for auditing, but the course audited will be counted in determining student load.
Tuition (generally 50% of the course costs) is charged for an audited course with the exception of senior citizens as described above.
Off-Semester Scheduling
January Interim
January Interim enables students to give exclusive attention to one course of study over a two- to three-week period before the spring semester. In order to meet the needs of a wide variety of students, courses of both a traditional and non-traditional nature are offered by the College faculty.
If a student pursues a course or courses abroad in another accredited institution of higher education, that credit is treated as a permission credit. In such a situation, the student pays his/her fee to the accredited institution abroad and that college is required to pay the salary of the instructor. Mount Saint Mary College merely records the course, grade, and credit on the student's transcript and does not get involved in an exchange of finances. However, if the Mount offers a course abroad and hires an instructor to teach the course, the student pays the Mount a fee for the credits taken and the College pays the instructor for teaching the course.
Participation in January Interim is entirely voluntary. Students may participate in anticipation of early graduation, as an alternative to the normal five-course study program in the spring and fall semesters or to take advantage of the many non-traditional course offerings that are common to the Interim.
A student may register for a maximum of one 3-credit seated class and one 3-credit online class during January Interim. Requests for exceptions to this policy will be forwarded to the Academic Standards Committee.
Summer Session
The college offers two 5-week summer sessions for traditional students and two 7-week summer sessions for accelerated students. Students who register for Summer Session courses are generally advised not to carry more than two courses per session.