Policies and Procedures

General Degree Program Guidelines and Graduation Requirements

1. Satisfactory completion of a minimum of 27 credit hours at the graduate level (any course at the 500 or 600-level or any course allowed to count for graduate credit by the Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies) in the discipline offering the degree program. Each program has specific requirements for completing the individual degree.
2. A culminating experience is required for each student earning a graduate degree. The form of the experience (capstone course, master’s project, master’s thesis, or other culminating experience) is determined by individual programs and must be approved by the Academic Programs and Policies Committee and the faculty. A student is only allowed to complete one such culminating experience per degree. A student earning a dual master’s degree need only complete one such capstone experience, not one in each degree area, unless a specific program chooses to require otherwise.
3. At least one interdisciplinary support course (at the graduate level) outside the discipline must be included in each degree program. These courses focus on human, ethical, or societal issues of concern to the discipline offering the degree program.

Course Audits

Students may choose to audit 500- and 600-level graduate courses. When courses are audited, grades are not determined and course credit is not granted. Audited courses will not be applied to any master’s or certificate program. There is no limit on the number of courses a student may audit.

Certificate Program Guidelines and Requirements

1. North Central College Graduate Certificates are predicated on the following:
   1. Graduate certificate programs utilize graduate courses.
   2. Students take courses for a grade
   3. Courses taken as part of a graduate certificate program can be counted toward a master’s degree, provided a grade of B- or better is earned, the course is appropriate for the graduate degree applied to, and it is taken within three years of beginning the degree program.
   4. Professors/Instructors maintain current pedagogy and content in courses designated for use in graduate certificate programs.
2. Graduate Certificate Specific Rules
   1. Completion of at least nine credit hours are needed to earn a graduate certificate.
   2. Courses used to complete specific graduate certificate requirements will be chosen from specific lists approved by the Faculty.
   3. Students must have completed the same prerequisites or have the same equivalent work experience as graduate degree candidates to enroll in specific courses.
   4. Each specific graduate certificate topic, proposed by graduate programs in conjunction with the appropriate department(s), will be brought through the governance process at the most local level appropriate, but also with approval of the Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies.
3. Graduate Certificate Course Requirements
   Students are required to complete the same assignments as are required for graduate degree candidates. No differentiation in course requirements will exist between students enrolled in graduate certificate programs and those in graduate degree programs. However, a student may meet the requirements for a graduate certificate by receiving a grade of C- or better. Nevertheless, courses taken as part of a graduate certificate program can be counted toward a master’s degree only if a grade of B- or better is earned, the course is appropriate for the degree applied to, and it is taken within three years of beginning work in a graduate degree program for which the previous certificate work can apply. However, no more than 18 credit hours (generally six courses) of graduate certificate work may be applied to any one graduate degree program. Once enrolled as a degree candidate, students may not use courses to count toward both their degree requirements and a Certificate Program.

Certificate Program Candidates

Students enrolled in Certificate Programs must attain a grade of C- or better in order to qualify for a certificate. Any Certificate Program student receiving a grade below a C- in any course will be placed on probation, and will be required to retake the course and attain a grade of C- or better to meet the requirements of his/her chosen Certificate Program. A Certificate Program student receiving a second grade below a C- will be dismissed from the program.

Academic Advising

Each student’s file is transferred to the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies 14 days after the start of the student’s first term. Students receive academic advising through the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies. With help from the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies and/or the specific program coordinator, the graduate student plans a course schedule usually a year in advance. Term by term adjustments can be made to the schedule as needed or desired by the student in order to facilitate steady progress toward completion of the master’s degree.

Registration and Changes in Registration

Registration for graduate courses is normally completed prior to the beginning of a term through the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies. After a term begins, all enrollments in courses and withdrawals from courses are governed by published deadline dates. Informal attendance in a class is not recognized as constituting registration in the course. Informal absence from class is not recognized as constituting withdrawal from the course. A student who wants to withdraw must contact the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies. This responsibility falls on the student and the student alone. See the sections below, “Dropping Courses” and “Withdrawal from North Central.” Please complete all registrations in writing and forward via fax, e-mail, mail or submit directly to the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies. Some On-line registration capabilities are allowed through Merlin at https://merlin.noctrl.edu.

Adding Courses

After the first day of a term and up to the first class meeting, a student may enroll in new courses only through the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies. After the first class meeting, the consent of the instructor must also be obtained. The instructor’s signature is required to add a class through the add/drop period.

Dropping Courses

A student may drop courses as follows (excluding summer term):

1. Through the eighth calendar day of a term, a student may cancel enrollment in a course without a grade or notation on the record, by request to the Office of Graduate & Continuing Education.
2. From the ninth calendar day of a term through the end of the sixth week of class, a student may withdraw with the notation WD on the record by request to the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies.
3. After the sixth week of class, any student who withdraws from a course will receive an F in the class.
4. The official date of withdrawal is the date when the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies completes withdrawal procedures. The amount of refund is determined by the official date of withdrawal. Consult current tuition and fee information for details. Absence from class does not constitute withdrawal from a course.

Students should contact the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies for official drop dates for summer terms.

Repeating Courses

A student who wishes to repeat any 500- or 600-level course where a grade of “C+” or lower was earned may do so. Both grades will appear on the student’s transcript. However, only the most recent grade will be used in calculating the student’s cumulative grade point average.

If a student repeats a course in which the original grade was a C+ or lower, and the subsequent grade is also a C+ or lower, the student is subject to academic dismissal. For advice on repeating coursework, a student should consult the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies.

Leave of Absence

It may be necessary from time to time for a student to interrupt his or her studies for two or three terms in order to accommodate a heavy work schedule or other demands. Under such circumstances, a student may apply for a Leave of Absence. The main advantage of being granted a Leave of Absence is that the student retains the program requirements that were in effect at the date of entry. Without a Leave of Absence, a student who interrupts course work for two or more terms, excluding summers, must be readmitted under the requirements of the catalog in effect at the time of readmission. The maximum Leave of Absence time period is one calendar year. For a degree candidate, the Leave of Absence is counted as part of the five year program time limit. A student must apply for a Leave of Absence during the term prior to the beginning of the Leave of Absence. Application is made through the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies. A student on Leave of Absence must notify the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies if his/her intention is to resume graduate study.

Undergraduate Students Enrolling in Graduate Coursework

A maximum of six credit hours of graduate coursework may be available to seniors with the approval of their faculty advisor and special permission from the Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies. An approval form, which must accompany the registration, is available in the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies.

If an undergraduate course is not available, a parallel graduate course may apply toward an undergraduate degree. A maximum of six graduate credit hours counts toward the 120 credit hours required for an undergraduate degree. Graduate courses taken for credit toward an undergraduate degree will not later be applied toward a graduate degree at North Central College.

Alternatively, graduate coursework taken as an undergraduate may apply toward a graduate degree at North Central. This coursework will not be applied toward the 120 hours required for an undergraduate degree or any other undergraduate requirement.

Grades and Graduation Requirements

North Central College uses the familiar letter grades A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, and F. Courses in which a student receives grades of D or F cannot be used to meet the course requirements of the graduate program and must be repeated. D and F grades are used in calculation of grade point averages. For computation of grade point averages, an A grade counts as 4.0, A- as 3.7, B+ as 3.3, B as 3.0, B- as 2.7, C+ as 2.3, C as 2.0, C- as 1.7, D as 1.0, and F as 0.0.

A student must pass the Master’s Project or Thesis with a grade of Pass or Pass with Distinction. If the Project or Thesis course cannot be completed by the end of the first term, the student will be assigned a grade of PR, indicating a course in progress. Students should consult their program coordinator or advisor regarding the maximum number of terms allowed for completion. Students are automatically registered for a second term (or more if program rules allow) unless a formal leave of absence is requested and approved. A student must complete the Project/Thesis within the time length allowed, including summers, or receive a grade of No Pass. Lack of contact with project/thesis advisor does not constitute a withdrawal or leave of absence from the project/thesis.

An I, or Incomplete grade, may be given to a student who has carried a course at an A or B level until near the end of the term and then, because of circumstances beyond the student’s control, has been unable to complete it. A grade of I on a student’s record must be changed to a letter grade by the fifth week of the following term, or it will lapse into an F.

Excluding the Project or Thesis grade, averages are computed for each term and cumulatively. Graduate work taken elsewhere and accepted as transfer credit is included in the computation of cumulative grade averages. A cumulative grade average of B (3.00) or higher is required for graduation. No more than one course in which a C+, C, or C- was earned may be applied toward a graduate degree. No grade below C- may be applied to a degree program.

Student Classifications

The following classifications apply to graduate students:

1. First year graduate student: earned fewer than 18 graduate credit hours.
2. Second year graduate student: earned 18 or more graduate credit hours.
3. Full-time graduate student: enrolled in six or more graduate credit hours per term.
4. Part-time graduate student: enrolled in less than six credit hours per term.

Writing and Speaking Proficiencies

Good writing and speaking skills are emphasized throughout all graduate degree programs. Each Master’s Project or Thesis must be presented in both written and oral form. A Project or Thesis will not be judged acceptable until both the written content and oral presentation are evaluated as satisfactory.

The College has developed a support program to identify and remedy deficiencies that a student might have regarding written and oral communication skills. Based on evaluations, either at the time of admission, or in early course work, the Dean of Graduate and Continuing Education or a Program Coordinator may require a student to improve communication skills through the Writing Center, tutoring, additional undergraduate course work, or other means.

Degrees and Commencement

An application for graduation must be submitted to the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies prior to the term in which a student’s degree program will be completed. Contact the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies for current submission deadlines.

A student completing all degree requirements in any term will receive a diploma on completion of that term and will be recorded as a member of the graduating class of that academic year. All work for the degree must be completed and documentation received by the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies by the last day of the examination period for that term. All graduates of the master’s programs are encouraged to participate in the June Commencement ceremony. If a student has completed the Project or Thesis by the end of the spring term and has only one class remaining, he or she may participate in the Commencement ceremony.

Academic Probation and Dismissal

A cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher is required for graduation. A graduate student shall be placed on probation after any term in which his or her cumulative grade point average is below 3.0, or any term in which he or she receives a graduate course grade of C+ or lower. Probation status warns the student that serious academic performance problems exist and that these problems must be diagnosed and corrected.

A student shall be dismissed when:

1. the grade point average earned during a single term falls below 1.0, or
2. the cumulative grade point average is below 3.0 for three consecutive terms of attendance, or
3. a graduate course grade of C+ or lower is received and all previous graduate course grades of C+ or lower have not been replaced with grades of B- or higher (see Repeating Courses) A dismissed student may apply for readmission after one year, upon demonstrating an improvement in motivation or preparation for graduate work. In the case of academic dismissal, an appeal may be made to the Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies.

The Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies, with recommendations from the Committee on Graduate Academic Standing, will decide on cases of academic probation and dismissal, as well as on appeals. The Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies may waive specific requirements in exceptional cases.

Academic Dishonesty

Any instructor who has assembled evidence of plagiarism will first offer the student a chance to provide an alternate explanation of the evidence or to admit fault. If the inference of plagiarism remains, the instructor may choose one of these options, listed in order of increased severity according to the extent and evident deliberateness of the deceit.

1. Reprimanding the student and requiring either a revision of the work or an additional paper or exam
2. Lowering the grade for the paper or exam (even as far as F) without opportunity to regain the lost credit The remaining three options come into play if the plagiarism is extensive, if it gave the student substantial academic advantage, or if the student had previously been warned against it.
3. Directed withdrawal of the student from the course
4. Failure of the student for the course
5. Referral of evidence to the dean of faculty for appropriate disciplinary action (which may go so far as suspension or dismissal)

The first two options suppose that the plagiarism is not extensive, that it would not have given the student substantial academic advantage such as full course credit or high course grade, or that the instructor has clear reasons to believe that the plagiarism can be accounted for by ignorance, which, though subject to discipline, is genuine.

Any sanction beyond will be reported to the Dean of Faculty for notation in the student’s file. The record of past plagiarism for a given student may affect the disposition of any new case. No notation will appear on the student’s permanent transcript, nor will any notation be sent off campus with the student’s records.

Withdrawal from North Central

A student considering withdrawal from North Central must contact the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies. The amount of refund due upon complete withdrawal is determined by the date that permission to withdraw is received from the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies. See Refunds .

Learning Outcomes Assessment

In order to provide for continual improvement in the quality of a North Central education, the College has developed an Outcomes Assessment Program, not just to find out how much and how well students learn, but also how and where they learn. Information and data discovered through the assessment program are used to make decisions about everything the College does, from curriculum planning to student activities to support services.

While not all students participate in every aspect of the assessment program, each student at North Central is expected to participate as needed in this important effort. Student contributions provide a clearer picture of what it means to be a North Central College graduate. Consequently, the College can communicate to employers and others the qualities which they can expect in a North Central graduate.