The SISMAC has been charged with reviewing proposed policy changes to determine their implementation costs, whether policy statements can be turned into computer coded rules, and whether there are unforeseen implications that need to be considered.
Dr. Neilson presented the UPC recommendations for changes to the Undergraduate Catalog to the SISMAC on March 19, 1998. Phyllis Berk and her staff subsequently reviewed the proposed changes to determine which policy changes would require changes to STARS and how much time each would take. They also raised a number of issues that need clarification before the policies can be converted to coded rules. The SISMAC discussed these findings at two subsequent meetings and identified more issues that need clarification. The findings of the committee are presented in the following sections along with some recommendations.
| CONTEXT: | Non degree seeking students |
| REFERENCE: | Page 3, line 99 |
| TOTAL COST: | 80 hours |
| POLICY: | Non-degree-seeking students may not enroll for more than 6 hrs without permission of advisor |
| ACTION: | Need new advisor signoff which requires modification of 3 STARS programs |
| COST: | 30 hours |
| ISSUES: | Should "enrollment discontinued" be noted on transcript? If so, additional modifications will be required. |
| POLICY: | Non-degree-seeking students cannot continue at UAB if GPA < 2.0 and attempted >I5 hrs |
| ACTION: | Need new program to check after grades posted, put on hold, create report for Registrar’s office, notify students |
| COST: | 50 hours |
| ISSUES: | Student will already be registered for the next term and possibly in class when this is determined. How is this to be handled in terms of notifying the student and taking action? Do the 15 hrs have to be since the last admission? What if they have UAB hours from prior admissions? |
DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The committee also raised the issue of which catalog governs these students, the one for the quarter in which they are currently enrolled, or the one under which they first enrolled. The committee recommends that it be the one for the current quarter. If students become degree-seeking then they would be governed by the one in effect when they first enrolled as such.
Before these policies can be fully implemented it is necessary to have specific answers to the questions raised. The committee recommends that the lead time for implementation be at least one year to give currently enrolled students sufficient notice.
For future planning purposes it is essential that the UPC request an analysis of the potential effect of these policy changes on enrollment.
| CONTEXT: | Former UAB Students |
| REFERENCE: | Page 4, line 139; Page I5, line 583 |
| TOTAL COST: | 20 hours |
| POLICY: | Any student returning from suspension is required to see advisor prior to registering |
| ACTION: | First suspension students stay out 1 term; second suspension students stay out 1 year. In both cases computer currently puts on an academic hold which prevents registration. Second suspension students have to be readmitted and therefore the admissions office removes hold. Currently registrar’s office is automatically removing all first suspension holds. Must change procedure to have the academic advisor remove the hold, thereby requiring students to see their advisor. Change STARS code message to say ‘see advisor’ instead of ‘see registrar’ and change security check so advisors can remove the hold. |
| COST: | 20 hours |
| ISSUES: | None |
DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
It appears that this policy recommendation can proceed without significant consequences.
| CONTEXT: | Declaration of Major |
| REFERENCE: | Page 8, line 382 |
| TOTAL COST: | 100 hours |
| POLICY: | Students must declare a major after 64 hours before registering for additional hours. |
| ACTION: | Need new STARS program to check after grades are posted, put on a hold if needed, generate a report to Registrar’s office, and notify students |
| TIME: | 50 hours |
| ISSUES: | Student will already be registered for the next term and possibly in class when this is determined. |
| Is the 64 hours earned or attempted? How are students with undeclared majors to be identified? Does this apply only to General Studies students or also to students within a school who have undeclared majors? The answer to these questions determines whether the 64-hour rule can be applied uniformly across all schools, e.g., Engineering and Business. | |
| POLICY: | Transfer and returning adults have minimum of 2 terms to declare a major |
| ACTION: | Need a new STARS program to check for valid majors for these two situations that can run before pre-registration period, put on a hold if needed, generate a report to Registrar’s office, and notify students |
| TIME: | 50 hours |
| ISSUES: | How do we identify returning adults? What if a transfer student comes in with 60 hours, takes 4 the first term at UAB, and does not declare a major? Which rule applies first, the hour rule or the term rule? |
DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This policy needs additional clarification before it can be implemented.
On the issue of timing, it is possible to put a hold on registration before a student begins a new term by adding the hours for which the student is registering to the hours the student has earned or attempted (which is it?).
The definition of a returning adult student is problematic. There must be specific criteria defined before this can be coded as an "If…then…" rule.
The application of the hour rule and the term rule to transfer students must be clarified.
| CONTEXT: | Add/Drop after classes begin |
| REFERENCE: | Page 9, line 323 |
| TOTAL COST: | 40 hours |
| POLICY: | Charge a fee for each course added or dropped |
| ACTION: | Change program to count each course added or dropped and charge accordingly, as opposed to charging per form. This would be true even if student is switching sections. We currently charge the drop/add fee if students withdraw after census date. This will no longer be charged. |
| COST: | 40 hours |
| ISSUES: | Currently the override flag on the Registration menu applies to all 3 fees-drop/add, withdraw all and late registration. Will this apply to the new per course drop/add fee and, if so, would it apply to all courses? |
DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The committee recommends defining the add/drop period in calendar days rather than week days. Thus, a student would be able to drop a class that starts on a Monday on the following Monday.
See section on Withdrawal from Course for more details.
| CONTEXT: | Withdrawal from Courses |
| REFERENCE: | Page 9, line 336 |
| TOTAL COST: | 110 hours |
| POLICY: | Charge a fee for each withdrawn course |
| ACTION: | Change program to eliminate the tracking and charging of a ‘withdraw all’ fee and charge a per course withdrawal fee. |
| COST: | 20 hours |
| ISSUES: | What if a student drops a class with a "DROP" code instead of a "WITHDRAW" code after the census date? Is the charge $10.00 or $20.00? How will the override flag apply to withdrawals? |
| POLICY: | Do not allow grades of ’WP’ or ‘WF’ |
| ACTION: | Change all programs that allow posting of these grades: Registration, Grade processing, online Grade posting |
| COST: | 40 hours |
| ACTION: | Changes to Grade Reporting Sheet |
| COST: | 50 hours |
| ISSUES: | None |
DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Although completion of this change is not contingent upon any other changes to the billing programs, the committee recommends that the programming changes necessary to implement the policies for Add/Drop and withdrawal wait until a decision regarding differential tuition is made in June.
The committee also recommends that actual implementation start in the winter term to provide students with ample notification of the policy change.
| CONTEXT: | Auditing Classes |
| REFERENCE: | Page 9, line 347 |
| TOTAL COST: | 250 hours as recommended by the UPC; 20 hours as recommended by the SISMAC |
| POLICY: | Instructor may assign a grade of audit pass or audit fail. |
| ACTION: | Currently in STARS, ‘AU’ is a grade, not a status. Changing it to a status is complicated. It would require a flag on each course to designate audit. A new field would have to be added and the registration programs changed. Any STARS program that checks for enrolled hours, looks for audited classes and those would all need changes Financial Aid and A/R programs as well as Registration and Records programs. The Web registration system would also need changes. |
| COST: | 250 hours |
| ISSUES: | When grade sheets print, how will the instructor know the student is auditing this class –currently the ‘AU’ prints on the grade sheet? |
| POLICY: | Permission of instructor needed |
| ACTION: | Students will need to present a form signed by instructor and therefore won’t be able to register via the web. The Web registration program will have to be changed. |
| COST: | 20 hours |
| ISSUES: | None |
| POLICY: | After classes begin, no change between audit and credit |
| ACTION: | None |
| COST: | None |
| ISSUES: | None |
DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The changes proposed here had the highest cost in terms of hours of all the proposals. It also affects the smallest number of students. Institutional Studies found that for the fall quarter there were only 9 individual students who were only auditing a course. Of the almost 2400 sections offered there were only 22 with a registered audit representing about 25 students. The faculty members of the SISMAC also felt that the demands placed on students by an instructor is a matter of individual discretion depending on the nature of the assignments in a course and a faculty member can always withdraw a student from a class. Given this fact, the small number of students who would be affected, and the high cost of making the changes as proposed, the committee recommends that assigning pass/fail grade notations to an audit not be implemented. The remaining changes can be easily done.
| CONTEXT: | Academic Warning and Suspension |
| REFERENCE: | Page I5, line 561 |
| TOTAL COST: | 30 hours |
| POLICY: | New criteria for Academic Warning either cumulative or term GPA less than 2.0 |
| ACTION: | Change program check |
| COST: | 5 hours |
| ISSUES: | None |
| POLICY: | Mandatory advising before registering after Academic Warning |
| ACTION: | Change program to put the academic encumbrance code of ‘8’ on students’ demographic records instead of just the term summary. This prevents registration. Allow the advisors to remove that hold, thereby requiring students to see an advisor. |
| COST: | 20 |
| ISSUES: | None |
| POLICY: | Suspension changes in the number of semester hours attempted |
| ACTION: | Change program that determines academic suspension. |
| TIME: | 5 hours |
| ISSUES: | None |
DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
No problems here.
The estimated total cost as proposed is 630 hours of STARS staff time. If the audit grading changes are dropped the total cost becomes 400 hours.
The current STARS staff commitments include finishing the year-2000 changes for implementation at the beginning of May. After the implementation, 2-4 staff will continue to deal with any problems that may arise with that implementation. In addition, one person will be working on the Web/Kiosk student access project and 2.5 people will be working on implementing changes in the accounting and financial aid programs required by policy changes. These commitments mean the any work that will be done on the recommendations here cannot be started until around the first of June. The time window for completing any changes required for the fall term is approximately a month. It is therefore essential that the UPC set priorities on the recommendations so the STARS staff will know how to proceed.