Attendance and Withdrawals
A student’s full participation in class and community activities is vital to their academic success at Midland. As a general university practice, students are expected to attend all classes and, when absent, are responsible for work missed. Please see course syllabi for guidelines. Violation of attendance guidelines may be reported to Academic Affairs and excessive absences may be accompanied by a recommendation for administrative withdrawal from a course. The responsibility of arranging for and completing work missed rests with the student involved and should be arranged prior to a class absence.
Students will be considered active and in attendance when they are completing an academically related activity. This includes, presence in class, completing assigned work outside of class for hybrid or online courses, taking an exam, submitting an academic assignment, or the like. Students may be excused from courses for Midland-sanctioned events. It is the responsibility of the student to communicate with the faculty member regarding these events. Designated university staff will be responsible for reporting sanctioned events.
Withdrawals
It is the responsibility of the student to register for and drop or withdraw from classes in accordance with the policies and procedures outlined in the University Catalog and/or Student Handbook. Adjustments to their schedules must be made before the official Census day of that term, as indicated in the Academic Calendar.
A student who finds it necessary to fully withdraw from Midland before the end of a term should obtain and complete the necessary paperwork from the student’s academic advisor. This must be done within one week following the last attendance at class. This procedure must be followed in order to ensure an official withdrawal. If withdrawal occurs prior to four weeks before the last day of classes in that term but after the last day to drop, a grade of W is then assigned to all courses unless an AW or IW has already been assigned. Failure to attend class for any period of time does not constitute a withdrawal. Failure to complete the withdrawal procedure through academic advising or the University Registrar’s Office will not constitute withdrawal and may result in failing grades being placed on a student’s permanent academic record.
Administrative Withdrawal
Students are expected to prepare for and attend all classes for which they are registered and to act in a manner consistent with an academic environment while attending class. An Administrative Withdrawal (AW), subject to approval of the Chief Academic Officer, may be assigned when the student consistently fails to abide by the policies established for the class and/or exhibits disruptive or unruly behavior in class. For GPA computation, an AW is computed as an F.
Students who are administratively withdrawn will be notified through an email message from Academic Affairs. Students will have 24 hours to appeal their removal. If disruptive or unprofessional behaviors are the rule rather than the exception, the student is subject to dismissal from the University. An AW grade, once assigned, is final and cannot be erased by withdrawal from the course or from the University.
Institutional Withdrawal
On rare occasions, the University will not permit a student to be on campus due to disciplinary or non-academic reasons. In these instances, it is not appropriate to assign a grade on the basis of missed assignments since the student cannot participate in class. A grade of Institutional Withdrawal (IW) will be assigned by the Chief Academic Officer when the University has taken action to remove a student for non-academic reasons. In this circumstance, the student has not chosen to withdraw from the University (W), nor has the institution administratively withdrawn the student for academic reasons (AW). The IW grade will result in zero credits earned and will require a last date of attendance from the instructor(s) involved. This grade will not calculate into the student’s GPA.
Unofficial Withdrawal
Per federal regulations, schools are required to review students who received federal financial aid and did not pass any classes. An assessment must be made to determine whether the student earned the non-passing grades while attending classes or stopped attending classes but did not officially withdraw. Students who stopped attending classes may be required to repay a portion of the federal financial aid for that semester. If it is determined that a student never began attendance in some or all classes, aid may be canceled completely. The review process must be completed within 30 days after the end of each semester.
The midpoint of the semester is used to calculate the amount of federal financial aid refund the student owes unless a later date of academic activity can be verified by the instructor. If academic activity beyond the midpoint of the semester can be verified in even a single class by the student or an instructor and the student began attendance in all classes, the amount of financial aid the student is required to repay may be reduced. If academic activity beyond the 60% point of the semester can be verified in even a single class by the instructor and the student began attendance in all classes, the student may not need to repay any financial aid.