As a new semester gets underway, the Registrar’s Office is asking students and faculty and staff members to be aware of a new Mandatory Participation Verification Policy now in effect.
To comply with Title IV regulations for federal financial aid, Metropolitan State University of Denver must determine whether a student earned and maintained eligibility for their financial-aid funds. Financial-aid eligibility is determined based on a student’s academic participation in an academically related activity during the term.
Under the University’s new policy, students who don’t participate in a course by the census date will be automatically dropped from the class, potentially impacting their financial aid, tuition-and-fee statement, veterans education benefits and other education benefits.
All faculty members are required to report students who fail to begin participation in a course by the census date: Sept. 6 at noon (for full-term courses).
“Participation” means a student engages in an “academically related activity” as faculty members define in their course syllabi, said Registrar Connie Sanders.
“Knowing that colleges, schools and departments have unique approaches to tracking and evaluating attendance, any inclusion of language about nonparticipation in course syllabi should consider the guidelines of one’s home department, college or school,” Sanders wrote in a message to faculty last week.
When faculty members report that a student has not participated, the student will be administratively dropped from the course by the Registrar’s Office, will no longer appear on the roster and will not receive a grade in the course.
Sanders urged faculty members to carefully collect and report participation data so it will be accurate because students who are dropped could be impacted negatively.
There’s a step-by-step guide on how to report participation data on a new participation-policy website under FAQs. If a student is inaccurately reported as nonparticipating and is subsequently dropped, the Registrar’s Office has developed a form and process to reenroll them. The form, also available on the website, will be initiated by the student and routed to the faculty member for approval, then to the Registrar’s Office for processing.
The Registrar’s Office is finalizing that website and adding new resources and information daily. Meanwhile, the office has developed a checklist for faculty members:
- Include the course definition of “participation” in each of your syllabi.
- Track student participation.
- Report students who did not “participate” in your course by Sept. 6 at noon (for full-term courses) through Banner.
- For students who receive a failing grade in the course, the last date of attendance will still be required when submitting grades.
Sanders said faculty members who have questions regarding defining or tracking participation for their course should contact their department chair. For other questions regarding the process, faculty members should get in touch with the Office of the Registrar at [email protected].