Academic Information

Grading System

Quality Points per Semester Hour for Computing

Grade Reports

Student Schedules

Attendance

Audits

Confidentiality and Review of Records

Career Placement/Cooperative Education

Credit for Prior Learning

Dean’s List

Dismissal from the College

Graduation Requirement

Graduation Awards

Honors Program

Inter-Institutional Agreement

Placement Tests - ACCUPLACER English and Math

Plagiarism

Program Changes/Change of Major

Re-admission to CCRI

Study Abroad

Army ROTC

Transcripts

Liberal Arts Electives

Student Schedules

Semester Schedules

Fall semester begins in September. Spring semester begins in January. Most classes offered in Warwick, Lincoln, Providence and Newport during these semesters are 15 weeks in length.

Two academic sessions are held throughout the summer. Session I begins in May, and Session II begins mid-June. Most summer session classes run for six weeks.

Course Load

To be full-time, students must register for at least 12 credits. Any student who is registered for fewer than 12 credits is considered to be a part-time student and is billed accordingly.

Financial Aid students are granted awards based on the number of credits carried: full-time (12 or more credits), three-quarter time (9 to 11 credits), and half-time (6 to 8 credits). Some Pell Grant students may receive awards for less than half-time registration. Failure to observe this regulation results in loss of aid for the semester.

Veterans and their dependents must carry a minimum of 12 credits to receive full benefits under the Montgomery Bill (Chapter 106 and Chapter 30, VEAP, Chapter 32; War Orphans and Widows, Chapter 35; and Vocational Rehabilitation, Chapter 31). For fewer than 12 credits, veterans receive proportionate benefits: three-quarter time, half-time or less than half-time according to the number of credits carried.

Adding a Course

During fall and spring semesters, students may add courses to their schedules through Campus Pipeline or in person during the first week of the fall or spring semesters. Written permission of the instructor is required if the course selected has reached maximum enrollment.

During the summer sessions, students may add courses through Campus Pipeline or in person during the first two days of each session. At that time, written permission of the instructor is required ONLY if course selected has reached maximum enrollment.

Late Registration

The rate registration period begins two-weeks prior to the start of the Spring and Fall semesters and continues through the end of the Add Period for the Spring and Fall semesters (a late fee will be in effect for students registering one week prior to the start of classes). Policies relating to late registration do not apply to Summer sessions.

Students may change their schedule by adding or dropping courses during the Add/Drop Period. Students who register or make changes to their schedule that require additional charges are required to pay their bill in full at the time of registration. Students registering after the tuition due date must make payment on the day they register or their registration will be canceled.

Dropping a Course

A student may officially drop a course(s) from a schedule (leaving other courses in the schedule) through week ten (10) or two-thirds the length of the course by:

• Getting the instructor’s signature
• Signing a schedule adjustment form in Enrollment Services (or satellite campus office)
• OR using Campus Pipeline

Courses may be officially dropped during the first two weeks of class for fall and spring semesters and the first four days for summer sessions. These courses are not graded and do not appear on the college transcript. Courses officially dropped after these times but prior to the Last Day to Drop without Academic Penalty (see calendar) are graded “W” (official withdrawal). Official withdrawal from a course is not permitted after week ten (10) or two-thirds the length of the course.

Repeating a Course

When a student retakes a course for any reason, only the highest grade earned will be figured into his/her cumulative grade index; however, all the grades received for the course will appear on the student’s transcript. The re-computation of the highest grade earned in the cumulative index is automatic. This change must be made before the degree or certificate program is completed.

Withdrawal from College

If a student drops all courses (or a course which is the only one for which he or she is registered), the student is considered to be withdrawing from the college. In this case, the Dean of Students must be notified.

Withdrawal from School or Non-Returning Students

Students who withdraw from CCRI do not return the following semester are sent registration materials for the following three semesters. If after that time individuals do not register, they no longer receive course registration materials. Students who return to school after this three-semester period are placed into their original programs if they were enrolled in Liberal Arts, Science, Business Administration, Fine Arts or General Studies. Students who were enrolled in other programs and who have not negotiated a Leave of Absence are automatically classified as a General Studies students and need to follow change of major procedures for readmission to programs.

Leave of Absence

Students may request a leave from the college and their program of study by filing a Leave of Absence Form available from the Dean of Students.

Students who find it necessary to leave school and who are enrolled in the programs of Liberal Arts, Fine Arts, General Studies, Science and Business Administration do not need to fill out a Leave of Absence Form. They must, however, officially withdraw from the college.

Students who are accepted and enrolled in any program other than those stated above and who find it necessary to leave school must file a Leave of Absence Form if they plan to return to school in the same program. If they do not file a Leave of Absence Form, they may not be readmitted to their program when returning to CCRI. Students whose Leave forms are signed by the department chairperson may be granted a leave of up to two consecutive semesters.

Attendance

Regular class attendance is an essential part of student success in community college life. When the number of absences becomes excessive, the privilege of continuing in the course is jeopardized. Students are responsible for making up all academic work missed for any reason.

Students must attend one of the first three class meetings or contact the instructor to make arrangements to continue the course. If the instructor does not hear from the student by the fourth meeting, the instructor has the option of dropping the student as a "no show" and adding another student to the class. This policy applies only to daytime (not to extended day or off-campus) classes.

Audits

Individuals may audit lecture courses. This means that students may attend and participate in classes but choose to receive no grade or credits. To register as an auditor, students should follow the in-person registration procedures, indicating at that time the desire to audit. Auditors pay tuition and fees.

Confidentiality and Review of Records

The "Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act" of 1974 guarantees students and, in certain cases, a student’s parents: (1) protection against disclosure of the student’s records without prior consent of the student and (2) the right to review his/her record. It is the policy of the college not to divulge information concerning a student without his/her consent within the limits specified by the Act. For more information regarding these rights, consult Enrollment Services.

Career Placement/Cooperative Education

Cooperative Education (Co-op) is an educational strategy which allows students to be employed in their field of study while attending college. The basic premise of Cooperative Education is that personal growth and professional development are fostered by combining classroom learning with supervised work experience. Students attend seminars and receive academic credit for both their academic work and the knowledge gained on the job. The seminar is also available online.

Co-op assists students in exploring and choosing a career, preparing for full-time employment or advancing in their present career. Coordinators assist students in securing positions related to their academic interests. In addition, resume writing and interviewing workshops, along with job referrals to Co-op employers, are an integral part of the Co-op experience.

For more information, call Career Placement / Cooperative Education (825-2050 in Warwick, 333-7254 in Lincoln).

Note: Students presently working in a professional job related to their major may be able to use their position as a Co-op placement.

Credit for Prior Learning

CCRI evaluates prior learning experiences of students and, if appropriate, awards credit for these experiences. Learning experiences may include:

•  Learning from workplace experience
• Armed Services training and courses offered by non-collegiate institutions which can be documented, verified and determined to be college-level.

Students can earn credit through one of four methods:

(1) College Level Examination Program (CLEP) is a national system of awarding college credit by examination. It is used by more than 1,800 colleges and universities in the US. There are two types of examinations. They are:

• General examinations designed to provide a comprehensive measure of undergraduate achievement in five basic areas of liberal arts (English composition, mathematics, natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences-history). Tests are equated with specific courses in the current CCRI catalog. When acceptable scores are achieved in any of the General Examinations, students may receive college credit.
• Subject examinations designed to measure achievement in more than 30 undergraduate subjects including: foreign languages, science, mathematics, business, literature, history and social sciences. Students may earn credit by passing subject examinations in specific courses comparable to those in the current CCRI catalog.

Students pay a fee of $70 for each CLEP exam. Students interested in learning more about CLEP examinations should contact the Associate Vice President of Student Services (Warwick 825-2221, Lincoln 333-7159).

(2) Departmental Challenge Exams are generally offered only when an appropriate CLEP examination does not exist and when the specific skills are best assessed using a test format. Student fees associated with challenge exams are collected when testing has been approved and arrangements for the exam have been finalized. For more information about a particular departmental challenge exam, contact the chairperson of the academic department in which the subject of the exam is offered.

Faculty will offer challenge exams in group settings during fixed time periods established by the department chairperson. In order to be eligible for taking a Departmental Challenge Exam, you must be accepted into a degree program and be registered for courses at CCRI. Students pay $10 for each credit hour associated with an exam before taking the exam. This fee is charged regardless of student success or failure on the exam. Students interested in a challenge exam should contact the academic department in which the course to be challenged is offered.

(3) Advanced Credit Standardized Award: This category includes standardized awards for most non-collegiate sponsored learning such as: military training, Municipal Police Academy training, state-approved apprenticeship training, and other formal training programs which have been evaluated for a standardized credit award. In order to be eligible for an Advanced Credit Standardized Award, you must be accepted into a degree program and be currently registered for courses at CCRI.

Students seeking credits for completion of their Municipal Police Academy training may submit a copy of their diploma directly to Enrollment Services. Students with certificates indicating completion of semester -length training programs (e.g. apprenticeship training programs, LOMA courses) should have a copy of their Journeyman papers or transcript sent to the Office of the Dean of Business, Science and Technology at the Warwick campus.

Veterans and active duty military personnel seeking credits for their military training should have a copy of their AARTS, SMARTS, or Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) transcript sent directly to Dean of Business, Science and Technology, CCRI, 400 East Avenue, Warwick, RI 02886-1807.

A fee of $25 is charged for adding advanced credit awards to your transcript. (There is no charge for CCAF awards.) This fee must be paid before credits will be added to your transcript. CCRI only documents credits that can be used toward the completion of the degree program in which you are enrolled.

(4) Credit Award Based Upon Experiential Learning Documented in a Portfolio Prepared by the Student: This category includes all requests for credit by students for their experiential learning activities which are non-standard and for which CLEP/challenge exams are neither available nor appropriate. Assessing a claim for learning is done by portfolio. A portfolio is a formal written communication, presented by a student to the college, requesting credit for extra-collegiate learning. In order to be eligible to participate in the portfolio process, you must be accepted into a degree program and be registered for courses at CCRI.

All students seeking credits for prior learning based upon a portfolio are required to participate in a non-credit portfolio development course. Students wishing to submit their completed portfolio(s) for consideration of academic credit are charged a fee of $10 for each credit hour which is awarded based upon a faculty member’s evaluation of their portfolio.

Each portfolio is assessed by a faculty member who has expertise in the subject area documented in the portfolio. If the faculty member determines that your knowledge of the subject is college-level, then he or she will recommend that you receive credit. If more information is needed in order to make a recommendation, the student is asked to submit additional documentation. If your knowledge is judged to be insufficient, credit will be denied.

This assessment process is also used to determine non-standard experiential learning awards leading to the Associate in Applied Science - Technical Studies Degree.

For additional information on this program, visit the Prior Learning Web site at
www.ccri.edu/priorlearning, or contact Prof. JoAnn Warren at (401) 825-2321, or Dr. Peter N. Woodberry, Dean of Business, Science and Technology at (401) 825-2147.

Dean’s List

A Dean’s List is published at the end of each semester. A student is eligible for Dean’s List honors when he or she:

• is enrolled in a degree program.
• has earned 12 or more credits in one semester.
•  has achieved a current grade point average of 3.25 or higher with no grade lower than “C”.

Dismissal from the College

Students dismissed from the college or a program for academic, social or other reasons are notified in writing at the time of dismissal. Some departments and programs have specific dismissal policies and students should acquaint themselves with them.

Graduation Requirement

A cumulative grade point average of 2.00 (on a 4.00 scale) in a student’s program of study is required for graduation for all students entering CCRI effective fall semester, 1982-83 or later.

Graduation Awards

Academic achievement will be recognized at graduation for students who have met the following criteria:

• Graduation Honors: 3.25 cumulative grade point index
• Graduation High Honors: 3.50 cumulative grade point index
• Graduation Highest Honors: 3.75 cumulative grade point index

Note: In order to be eligible for honors, a student must earn at least one-half of the credits for his/her program at CCRI.

Honors Program

The Honors Program reflects the college’s commitment to academic excellence. By creating learning communities and by strengthening the opportunities for intellectual dialogue, the Honors Program enhances the educational experience at CCRI.

Students can earn honors credits through independent study projects, supplementary projects within existing course sections, and specially designated "Honors" courses. Each honors project must be sponsored by an instructor. Students may take a maximum of two honors projects in any one semester.

To be eligible for the Honors Program, students must have completed at least 15 semester hours and earned at least a 3.25 grade point average.

Participation in the Honors Program provides students an opportunity to acquire additional knowledge and skills. Students and faculty work together as "colleagues in learning" – a cooperative spirit that reflects the fundamental purpose of the academic community. In addition, the student’s official transcript will reflect all honors credits. These unique designations on the transcripts not only promote transfer to four-year institutions but also can lend an advantage with regard to competitive status in the workplace. An extra .5 credits are available for honors projects integrated into existing course sections; the amount of credit for independent study projects is determined by contractual arrangement between the student and the instructor. Students who complete four honors projects or more at CCRI will receive special recognition at the graduation ceremony.

For more information, call Dr. Lynne Andreozzi-Fontaine at 825-2239 or Professor Karen Kortz at 333-7443.

Inter-Institutional Agreement

Any student enrolled in a degree program who has paid full-time fees at CCRI may take a maximum of seven (7) credits during each of the fall and spring semesters at the University of Rhode Island or Rhode Island College or both without paying additional fees. Students must be enrolled for at least five (5) credits at CCRI and the total number of credits taken at all institutions combined must be 18 or less. Summer session registrants are not eligible for this program. Students interested in participating in this agreement should contact Enrollment Services.

Placement Tests - ACCUPLACER English
and Math Placement Assessments

Upon acceptance to a CCRI program or enrollment in a course requiring a prerequisite, students are contacted or advised to schedule the ACCUPLACER. This assessment does not affect admission, but the results help to place students in appropriate courses. If a student has taken ACCUPLACER at another college within the last year, he or she must have an official copy of the scores sent to the Office of Advising and Counseling at any campus.

Testing takes approximately 2.5 hours and can be completed in the Office of Advising & Counseling.

Plagiarism

The term "plagiarism" includes, but is not limited to, the use, by paraphrase or direct quotation, of the published or unpublished work of another person without full and clear acknowledgment. It also includes the unacknowledged use of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials.

Any student found to have committed plagiarism misconduct is subject to the disciplinary sanctions outlined in the Student Handbook available in the Dean of Students office or view the Student Handbook online.

Program Changes/Change of Major

Students may change from one CCRI program or curriculum to another through the Office of Enrollment Services by submitting a Change of Major form. In some cases, this requires approval from the academic department. (see new Performance Based Application Process for high-demand Health Sciences programs).

Re-admission to CCRI

Students seeking to be re-admitted to the Community College should contact the Office of Enrollment Services.

Certain programs may have special readmission criteria.

Students who return to CCRI after a break in continuous enrollment are held to the degree requirements published in the catalog for the year they return.

Study Abroad

CCRI offers a Study Abroad Program through the College Consortium for International Studies. This program offers students the intellectual challenge of studying in any of 30 different countries to enhance their educational experience through exposure to new cultures and educational systems. Students may select from programs in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Spain and Switzerland.

The Consortium consists of over 200 two- and four-year, public and private colleges and universities that cooperate to offer over 2,000 students study abroad opportunities each year. A wide range of academic programs are offered, including liberal arts, business, intensive languages, visual and performing arts, art history, and human services. Except for language studies, most courses are taught in English. Courses vary from one month to a full semester in length; summer programs and internships are available in some of the countries.

A program in Quebec is also offered through the New England/Quebec Student Exchange Program. Eligible students may spend one or two semesters at any one of 18 colleges in the Province of Quebec. Students must be US citizens who have completed at least one year of a degree program at CCRI and remain in that program during their year in Quebec. They must be in academic good standing at CCRI, and unless they are applying for a program in French language, must possess a command of that language.

All students studying abroad must be full-time (registered for a minimum of 12 credits). Students are eligible for financial aid in any of these programs.

Army ROTC

Under an arrangement with the United States Department of Defense and Department of the Army, Community College of Rhode Island students may attend Military Science classes on the Providence College campus and thereby complete their first two years of the four-year ROTC program while attending CCRI.

The courses included are ROTC 1010, Freshman Military Science, and ROTC 2050, Sophomore Military Science.

Students who successfully complete the four-year ROTC program and graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree will be commissioned second lieutenants in the United States Army Reserve.

Transcripts

Transcripts are issued from CCRI Enrollment Services and are issued only after all financial obligations to the college have been paid. One week is required for transcripts to be processed during grading, graduation and registration periods.

Liberal Arts Electives

Liberal Arts electives for all programs of study except the A.A. degree in Liberal Arts and General Studies are to be selected from the following, provided any prerequisites shown in the catalog are completed (Engineering students should refer to department requirements):

Program of Study	Liberal Arts (A.A.) Degree Electives
Computer Studies	COMI
English	ENGL any course except 2050, 0312, 1010, 1005, 1300, 1400, 2015
Speech	SPCH
Fine Arts	Art-ARTS , Music - MSC, Theatre-THEA
Foreign Languages	Chinese-CHIN , French-FREN, German-GERM Italian- ITAL, Japanese- JAPN Portuguese- PORT, Russian- RUSN, Spanish- SPAN
Mathematics	MATH any course except MATH 0500, 0600 and 0700
Science	Astronomy-ASTR , Biology-BIOL, Chemistry-CHEM, Geology- GEOL, Oceanography- OCEN, Physics- PHYS
Social Sciences	Economics-ECON , Geography-GEOG, History-HIST, Philosophy- PHIL, Political Science- POLS, Psychology- PSYC, Sociology- SOCS
General Electives	All of the above subjects and any other course offered for college credit for which all prerequisites are completed, and space is available. [see full listing of course descriptions] [ see available courses]

 

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This page last modified on: April 30, 2008