Regular class attendance is expected of students. Faculty keep accurate records of class attendance and tardiness and these records become part of the official records of the institution. The College is committed to the principle that regular and punctual class attendance is essential to the student optimizing his/her scholastic achievement and that it is the responsibility of the student to attend class regularly without being tardy. As students are adults with many responsibilities, an occasional absence might be necessary. However, such absences in no way lessen the students’ responsibilities for meeting the requirements of the class. Online students are subject to the same attendance policy as traditional face-to-face students.
1. When the College offers a class, the faculty and staff shall work together to develop an accurate electronic class roster listing all students enrolled in the class. Student names are on the electronic class roster once they have officially made payment for tuition and fees with the Business office.
2. Students who have not entered class by the census date (10% point of the class) will be dropped as “Never Attend” without the possibility of reinstatement. Entrance into a face-to-face class is defined as attending at least one face-to-face class meeting before the census date. Entrance into an online class is defined as logging into the institution’s learning management system (LMS) and completing the required enrollment activity prior to the census date. Entrance into a hybrid or blended class is defined as attending at least one face-to-face class meeting or completing the required enrollment activity prior to the census date. Failure to attend class or complete the required enrollment activity prior to the census date will result in the student being dropped from the course. If the student does not attend class by the census date, the student will not be allowed to enter the course.
3. Once a student is officially enrolled in a class, regular class attendance is expected. Absences are a serious deterrent to good scholarship, and it is impossible to receive instruction, obtain knowledge, or develop skills when absent from class.
4. Inasmuch as the College’s students are adults, it is understood that absences may be required for a variety of reasons. When absences occur, it is the student’s responsibility to contact the instructor, in advance, when possible. It is the student’s responsibility to continue to work when possible, as per the course syllabus, until they return to class. It is also the student’s responsibility to make up missed class work or assignments, if makeup work is allowed by the instructor.
5. Arriving late to class or leaving early from class can be a disruption for both the faculty member and the students, hence tardiness is strongly discouraged.
6. A Student Withdrawal shall occur when a student officially withdraws/drops a class. The withdrawal/drop shall be effective as of the date the student takes his/her official action.
7. An Administrative Withdrawal shall occur when a student has consecutive absences exceeding one full week or fails to adhere to the criteria outlined in course syllabi and/or program student handbooks.
a. An instructor may execute an Administrative Withdrawal if class attendance as described in the instructor’s course syllabus or attendance records indicate there is a lack of participation by the student as evidenced by consecutive absences over a period of time. Students may be dropped when consecutive absences exceed one full week of classes. It is the student’s responsibility to contact the instructor when they are absent from class. Instructors may allow students to complete/submit assignments in a delivery mode other than the primary delivery mode of the class to demonstrate attendance with the exception of the required enrollment activity for online courses. Instructors may not allow students to complete/submit assignments in a delivery mode other than the primary delivery mode of the class to demonstrate attendance for periods that exceed 25% of the required contact hours.
Consecutive Absences for a Period Exceeding One Full Week of Classes
Face-to-face classes
Classes meeting one time a week – drop if not in attendance the second class.
Classes meeting twice a week – drop if not in attendance the third class.
Classes meeting three times a week – drop if not in attendance the fourth class.
Classes meeting four times a week – drop if not in attendance the fifth class.
Classes meeting five times a week – drop if not in attendance the sixth class.
Online classes – drop if non-participation exceeds one full week
Hybrid and Blended classes – drop if non-participation in online portion and face-to-face portion exceeds one full week.
b. Students taking Distance Learning (online/hybrid/blended) classes must adhere to the RCC Attendance Policy. All syllabi for online, hybrid, and blended classes will specify the attendance procedures for the class. Examples of attendance requirements include weekly test/quiz, class assignments, and/or discussion forum participation.
c. An instructor may execute an Administrative Withdrawal for a student if excessive absences, lack of effort or participation or other good cause demonstrate that the student does not intend to pursue the learning activities of the class
8. Students who attend Robeson Community College must attend 80% of the time scheduled for a regular class meeting to be counted present when the class meets.
Items 9-11 and Exception 1 of the attendance policy have been suspended for the 2020-2021 academic year and have been replaced with the following recommendation approved by the RCC Board of Trustees on August 10, 2020:
Due to COVID-19 and the unpredictable nature of the pandemic, a recommendation has been made that administration suspend the current curriculum and developmental attendance policy for the 2020-2021 academic year, thus making RCC a non-attendance taking institution. Faculty will be required to record all attendance in Web Attendance up through the census (10%) date. After which, only VA student attendance must be recorded in Web Attendance.
As modifications were made to the fall semester, classes will now be offered in a variety of methods, including traditional or face-to face with reduced class sizes, online asynchronous, online synchronous, hybrid, and blended. Since students with known, possible or suspected exposure to COVID-19, either directly, or indirectly, will be asked to self-quarantine for at least 10 days, suspending the current attendance policy will allow faculty the flexibility to accommodate a self-quarantining. Also, if a student’s situation changes during the semester and he/she is no longer able to attend a face-to-face, hybrid, blended, or synchronous online course but is still able to meet course requirements, then he/she would not be penalized per the current attendance policy.
Disclaimer: While the institution only requires attendance taking as noted above, some courses and programs may have additional attendance requirements beyond the census (10%) date.
9. Inasmuch as the faculty member of record for a class is responsible for official class attendance and tardy records, students who have a concern regarding class attendance or tardies shall resolve them with the instructor.
10. Curriculum Classes: Students attending Robeson Community College must attend 75% of the required contact hours for the class in order to receive credit for the class. If the student misses hours in excess of 25%, the student will be dropped from the course by the instructor. In no case will a student receive credit for a course if he/she misses in excess of 25% of the required contact hours. Should the student so desire, he/she may continue to audit the course after being dropped, but the grade will remain the same. Absences begin with the first session a class is scheduled to meet even though the student may register late. Instructors may allow students to complete/submit assignments in a delivery mode other than the primary delivery mode of the class to demonstrate attendance with the exception of the required enrollment activity for online courses. Instructors may not allow students to complete/submit assignments in a delivery mode other than the primary delivery mode of the class to demonstrate attendance for periods that exceed 25% of the required contact hours.
11. Developmental Classes: Student attending RCC must attend 85% of the required contact hours for the class in order to receive credit for the class. If the student misses hours in excess of 15%*, the student will be dropped from the course by the instructor. In no case will a student receive credit for a course if he/she misses in excess of 15% of the require contact hours. Should the student so desire, he/she may continue to audit the course after being dropped, but the grade will remain the same. Absences begin with the first session a class is scheduled to meet even though the student may register late. Instructors may allow students to complete/submit assignments in a delivery mode other than the primary delivery mode of the class to demonstrate attendance with the exception of the required enrollment activity for online courses. Instructors may not allow students to complete/submit assignments in a delivery mode other than the primary delivery mode of the class to demonstrate attendance for periods that exceed 15% of the required contact hours.
*Execption 1: RISE corequisite courses maximum absences allowed are set at 25% of total contact hours, the same maximum as curriculum gateway math and English courses. Students who are dropped from the corequisite course will also be dropped from the curriculum gateway course.
*Exception 2: Students (other than VA students) may exit the transition course upon completing the tier required for their gateway course.
Item 12 of the attendance policy has been suspended for the 2020-2021 academic year and has been replaced with the following recommendation approved by the RCC Board of Trustees on August 31, 2020:
Due to COVID-19, the unpredictable nature of the pandemic and the potentially dramatic effect it could have on student attendance, I would like to formally request that the College and Career Readiness 80-20 Attendance Policy be suspended for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year.
Funding for the College and Career Readiness Division is based in large part on student contact hours. Student contact hours produce FTE’ s (Full Time Equivalency). FTE’ s in turn serve as an important factor, along with academic performance and transitioning rates, in determining our yearly budget. Consequently, we cannot operate without being able to accurately document, assess and record student attendance. As a result, instructors will be expected to continue to monitor, record and report student attendance. In order to support our ongoing efforts to sustain active student engagement and academic success, we offer limited and controlled face to-face instruction along with electronic instruction using the State-Approved Software Programs. In addition, we also offer the State-Approved High Schools in the Communities program that allows us to provide curriculum-based learning packets to those students who are challenged by participating in face-t o-face instruction or who may have limited access to electronic instruction. Further, our Learning Labs will remain open and available to students as an additional instructional support on both a face -to-face and electronic basis.
12. College and Career Readiness Classes: Students in all College and Career Readiness classes will be expected to attend class a minimum of 80% of the class time (as established by each individual class schedule) per month to receive credit for the class. In addition, the student must attend a minimum of 80% of the class time for a particular day or the student will be counted tardy for the class. Three tardies will count as one absence.
13. Military: Students must provide prior official notification to instructors of duty-related military leave of absence(s). Responsibility for initiating such notice rests with the student. Military personnel must be able to attend/participate in the course prior to the course’s census date. Military leave of absence(s) that interferes with the student’s ability to attend/participate in the course before the census date will require that the student drop the course.
14. Religious Observance: It is the policy of Robeson Community College that any student of the institution must be granted two excused absences each academic year (July 1-June 30) for religious observances required by the faith of the student. The student must submit a written request to the Assistant Vice-President for Student Services or his/her designee for the excused absences at least ten days prior to the date the student intends to be absent for the religious observance. The Assistant Vice-President for Student Services or his/her designee may waive the ten school day requirement during the first ten school days of a student’s enrollment. For more information, please contact the Assistant Vice-President for Student Services or his or her designated representative.
Tardies
The College is committed to the principle that regular and punctual class attendance is essential to the student optimizing his/her scholastic achievement and that it is the responsibility of the student to attend class regularly without being tardy. Students who attend Robeson Community College must attend 80% of the time scheduled for a regular class meeting to be counted present when the class meets.
Tardy shall be defined as a student entering class after the roll is checked or after instruction has begun, and it shall also be defined as a student leaving class early regardless of reason. Thus, if a student is in class for 80% of the time but less than 100% of the meeting time, then that student shall be counted tardy. For the purpose of maintaining class attendance, faculty shall count three tardies as one absence.
Noncontinuous Enrollment
Noncontinuous enrollment is defined as not being enrolled for a period of one year or longer. Upon re-enrollment the student must comply with the requirements of the catalog and student handbook that is current at the time of reenrollment.
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