Attendance
Students taking courses in any format at the University are expected to be diligent in their studies and attend class regularly. Regular class attendance and academic engagement is important in achieving learning outcomes in the course and correlates in many cases with participation. As such it may be a valid consideration in determining the final grade. At the beginning of each course, the instructor will inform students of the relevance of class attendance to the final grade.
Students who are officially enrolled in classes are expected to be in regular attendance or communicate with the instructor prior to the scheduled class meeting date. All online (e.g., online, online asynchronous or Flexcourse, online synchronous, enhanced distance learning, or performance-based distance learning) and in-class (e.g., in-class or mixed mode), classes are assigned regular attendance rosters. Students who are absent without prior approval of the instructor will be marked as absent. Consecutive absences by the student may indicate the student has vanished and may result in the student being withdrawn from the class by the university.
Documentation of Attendance
The U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA) requires documentation of course attendance/academic engagement for students receiving VA benefits. The U.S. Department of Education requires documentation of course attendance/last day of academic engagement for students who receive federal financial aid.
StudentAid BC and the Canadian National Student Loans Service Centre require documentation of course attendance records, withdrawals (last day of contact) for students who receive provincial/federal financial aid.
StudentAid BC
To stay eligible for StudentAid BC loans or grants, students must attend school full-time for the entire study period for which they have received funding.
If a student drops below the required course load during their first quarter /term and they plan to attend full-time in the second quarter, they must submit a new application for student assistance. The student’s new application will be assessed once the withdrawal process at CityU is complete.
If a student stops attending classes, drops below their required course load, or fails to maintain the minimum number of weekly instructional hours for their entire study period, and they fail to formally withdraw from school, the student may still be considered withdrawn for student assistance purposes.
The student will be considered withdrawn if:
- They miss two consecutive weeks of study (no attendance), or
- They fall below 60% of a full-time course load for three consecutive weeks of study, or
- They miss enough classes that CityU school officials feel the student cannot successfully complete the program.
If the student withdraws from school two times while receiving BC student financial assistance, they will be denied further funding by StudentAid BC.
Alberta Student Aid
CityU is expected to notify Alberta Student Aid of any amended registrations, providing the reason for the amendment and indicating the last day of full-time attendance if applicable. Once Alberta Student Aid is notified of the change, any undisbursed funding will be cancelled, and the student’s application will be reassessed.
Institutions are required to monitor and record student attendance and keep track of details relating to contact with the student and the reason for the absence in the student’s file.
For the purposes of Alberta Student Aid funding, a student is considered withdrawal if they have excessive absences that will prevent them from successfully completing their program within the scheduled study period. In this case, the effective date of the student’s withdrawal is the last day that the student was in attendance (used as the effective dates to report withdrawals and for refunding tuition).
Course Withdrawal and Grading
It is the student's responsibility to officially withdraw from a course in which they have enrolled but do not intend to continue. Students must contact their academic advisor to officially withdraw from a course. If a student vanishes before 60% of the course has transpired, has not done the work, and fails to initiate the procedure for official course withdrawal, a grade of 0.0 or Unofficial Withdrawal (UW) will be awarded. If the student's attendance/academic engagement has been documented through 60% or more of the course, but the student has not been diligent about turning in the required assignments according to the course syllabus, the final grade will be awarded based on the work completed.
(Policy #3500.18)