Academic Policies and Procedures

Academic Year

At New River CTC, the academic calendar is structured into three main semesters. The journey begins with the fall semester, spanning from August to December followed by the spring semester from January to May. Both these semesters offer 15 weeks of classes plus a week dedicated to final exams.

The summer session introduces flexibility in its schedule, with options including two five-week terms or one comprehensive ten-week term. The adaptability in the summer allows for variations in course lengths detailed in the class schedule to accommodate the condensed nature of this term.

Full-Time Enrollment and Maximum Term Hours

At New River Community and Technical College, understanding how credits work helps you navigate your academic journey effectively. For a typical semester:

• Full-time Status: You’re considered a full-time student if you enroll in 12 credits per semester.

However, aiming for 15 or more credits can put you on track to earn your associate degree within two years.

• Credit Limits:
  • Students on academic probation are limited to 13 credits.
  • Those in good standing can enroll in up to 18 credits.
  • Achieving a GPA of 3.00 or higher may allow you to take more than 18 credits, subject to the Dean’s approval, but keep in mind that the maximum load generally caps at 21 credits.
• Summer Term: The maximum load is seven credits. You’re typically restricted to attempting no more than four courses, and for lab courses, the limit is two without special permission from the Dean or Program Director.

Auditing Courses

With approval from the Dean and course instructor, you can audit lecture classes. You must register and pay the usual fees but won’t be allowed to switch your audit status to earn credit or vice versa after the class drop/add deadline without the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs’ consent. Audited classes are graded “AU,” which won’t impact your GPA or count towards credit hours.

Assessing Student Academic Achievement

There are three levels of assessment of student academic achievement at New River Community and Technical College. Institutional-level assessment measures student learning across all degree programs and campuses.

Program level assessment measures student learning within specific degree-granting programs. New River Community and Technical College’s curriculum committee identifies gateway and capstone courses to provide program-level assessment in its degree programs. Finally, course-level assessment ascertains student learning in relation to learning goals for individual courses.

Grades

• Your midterm and final grades can be accessed through our website, Click on the myNewRiver portal icon then click on Self Service Banner.
• Grades will not be mailed to you.
• You are encouraged to access Self Service Banner and check grades at the middle and end of each semester of enrollment.
• If you have any questions or concerns about grades on assignments in your classes or midterm and final grades, you are encouraged to discuss this with your instructor. For information on myNewRiver access, contact itsupport@newriver.edu or (304)929-6725 or ask for assistance at your local campus

Academic Grading System

The grading system at New River Community and Technical College is as follows:

A Superior, given for exceptional performance
B Good, distinctly above average
C Average
D Below average, lowest passing grade. Students may be required to repeat a course in which a D was earned for a higher grade to fulfill course pre-requisite requirements or program requirements.
F Failure, no quality points are received but the semester hours will be included when computing grade point average.
FIW Failure due to Irregular Withdrawal, also used as an Administrative Withdrawal awarded to students who fail because they have stopped attending class without following proper withdrawal procedures. No quality points are received but the semester hours will be included when computing grade point average (equivalent to “W”).
P Pass
I Incomplete, given only if you have a valid and exceptional reason for missing the latter part of the course. (See Incomplete Grade Status for requirements and procedures to obtain an incomplete grade.)
W Withdraw , conveys no credit and is awarded to students who withdraw from a course by the last day to withdraw. (Refer to the Academic Calendar for this date.)

In addition to the grades listed above, the following grades may also be found on a transcript:
AU Audit -does not count in attempted or earned credit hours and do not affect a student’s GPA.
NI Non-Instructional Credit - usually military credit or non-traditional credit.
* Indicates a grade that is counted in hours attempted, but not in hours toward a degree because the course was not eligible to be repeated. (ex. B*)
K Prefix placed in front of transfer grades; grades count in the GPA.
KCR Credit awarded by other institutions; grade does not count in the GPA.
NGR No Grade Reported by faculty

Incomplete Grade Status

An incomplete (“I”) grade may only be assigned if you are (1) passing the course with 70% of the total course requirements completed and (2) you have informed your instructor prior to the final exam that you have a justifiable and documented reason, beyond your control (such as serious illness or military service), causing you to not complete the coursework on schedule or causing you to miss the latter part of the course.

If you are absent from the final examination in a course due to exceptional reasons considered valid by the instructor, the instructor may request an incomplete grade (“I”) provided you informed the instructor prior to the final examination and the instructor considers the reason valid.

Steps to follow:

1. The instructor files with the Dean and incomplete Grade Status Report stating under “Reasons for “I” Grade” exactly the same reason given by the student. An instructor who is not returning the following semester will also file a copy of the final examination with a key indicating the score at which the student would earn each letter grade with the Dean.
2. The Dean must approve the incomplete grade being entered.
3. You must arrange with the instructor to finish the course by completing specific requirements that the instructor must list on the Incomplete Grade Status form.
   1. The requirements for completing the course may not exceed 30 percent of the total course requirements.
   2. The requirements must be made up before the end of the succeeding regular semester, excluding summer school, by contacting the course instructor and not through course re-enrollment.
4. Once the work in the course is completed, your instructor must complete a Change of Grade form and submit it to the Dean for approval.
   1. If the work is not completed within this time limit, the grade automatically becomes the default grade assigned by the instructor as indicated on the Incomplete Grade Status Form.
   2. If no default grade is assigned, the “I” grade is automatically converted to the failing grade “F.”

Grade Point Average (GPA)

The quality of your academic work is indicated by quality points. All work attempted at other colleges is included in the computation of the grade point average.

Quality points are earned as follows:

A 4 quality points per semester hour
B 3 quality points per semester hour
C 2 quality points per semester hour
D 1 quality point per semester hour
F no quality points are received, but semester hours will be included when computing average
FIW no quality points are received, is given when a student has not attended or stopped attending classes

Your grade point average is computed on all work for which you registered, with the following exceptions:
(a) Courses with grades of “W” and
(b) Course(s) with grade(s) to which D and F Repeat Policy has been applied.

Grade-point average can be computed by dividing the total number of quality points earned by the number of semester hours attempted for a grade (only those grades for which quality points are assigned) on your permanent record.

Repeated Courses

D and F Repeat Policy

• If you earn a grade of “D,” “F,” “UD,” “UF” or “FIW” in any course taken no later than the semester during which you attempt your sixtieth (60th) semester hour, and if you repeat the course, the original grade will not be used in the computation of your grade point average, unless the grade of “F” was earned as a result of academic dishonesty .
• However, the original grade will not be deleted from your record. A course may be repeated for purposes of dropping the original grade from the computation of your grade point average only once.

Other Repeated Courses

• Courses in which a grade of A, B, C or P were earned are not permitted to be repeated for credit.
• Repeating a course in which an A, B, C, or P grade was earned will forfeit the credit previously earned for the first attempt.
• Such courses will be marked with an * and credit will be excluded from hours earned. Credits excluded in this way from hours earned will not be used toward graduation requirements but will count in the overall GPA.

Academic Forgiveness

Academic Forgiveness is the forgiveness of the GPA caused by D or F grades a student earned previously for the purpose of graduation at New River CTC.

If a student has not been enrolled at any college/higher education institution on a full-time basis for at least four consecutive years, they may complete a form requesting Academic Forgiveness (located on the College website) to be applied to their student records under the following stipulations:

• The student must not have been enrolled in any college on a full-time basis during any semester or term in the last four consecutive years.
• Only grades for courses taken at least four years prior to the request for academic forgiveness may be disregarded for grade-point average computation.
• Courses eligible for the D/F Repeat Provisions will be processed under that rule before applying Academic Forgiveness to a grade (if applicable.)
• Grades eligible for Academic Forgiveness will not be deleted from the permanent record but the GPA for these courses will be recalculated.

Students should be aware that:

• Academic Forgiveness may not transfer or be recognized at another college. When Academic Forgiveness is applied to a student’s record and the student transfers to another college, the new college is not is not bound by the prior institution’s decision to disregard grades for grade-point average computation. Students planning to transfer should check with their future institution regarding that institution’s process for applying for or transferring Academic Forgiveness.
• Academic forgiveness is only applicable to graduation requirements at the College. It does not apply to requirements for professional certification, including but not limited to: licensure boards, external agencies, or the West Virginia Board of Education.

Academic Standing Policy

Your academic standing is computed at the end of each fall and spring semester. Academic standing is not computed for the summer semester, nor does it affect a student’s enrollment for a summer term.

Good Standing

• If you enter the College in good standing, your standing will remain “Good Standing” so long as each semester’s grade point average is at least 2.0.

Academic Warning

• If your semester grade point average falls below 2.0 or you receive a grade of “F,” “UD,” “UF” or “FIW” in any course, you will be placed on “Academic Warning.”
• After Academic Warning, you may return to “Good Standing” by achieving a semester grade point average of 2.0 and no grade of “F,” “UD,” “UF” or “FIW” and a cumulative GPA of at least 1.5. You will remain on Academic Warning if your semester GPA falls below 2.0 or you earn an “F,” “UD,” “UF” or “FIW” with your cumulative GPA between 1.5 and 1.99.

Academic Probation

• If, at the end of the semester of enrollment after academic warning, your cumulative GPA falls below 1.5, you will be placed on “Academic Probation.”
• You must consult with your faculty advisor and may register for no more than 13 credit hours in the next semester of enrollment.
• Academic Probation” will appear on your permanent academic record.
• If you are on “Academic Probation” and you earn at least a 2.0 GPA during your next semester of enrollment, you will return to “Academic Warning” and after another semester’s GPA of at least 2.0 you will return to “Good Standing.” If, during this second semester, the semester GPA is below 2.0, the student returns to “Academic Probation” with its limitations on enrollment.

Academic Suspension

• If you are on “Academic Probation” and you fail to achieve a semester GPA of 2.0, you will be suspended for one semester.
• A suspended student is not eligible to attend New River CTC during a period of suspension nor will credits earned at other schools during this period be accepted for transfer.

Readmission During Academic Suspension Semester

• Students on suspension from New River CTC may be allowed to register for courses, during their suspension semester, with the approval of the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs.
• If you wish to appeal academic suspension, you may write an academic appeal to the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
• If the appeal is denied by the Vice President for Academic Affairs, you may request a final appeal to the Academic Affairs Committee.
  • If the appeal is denied by the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs, you may request a final appeal to the Academic Affairs Committee.
• All students who are on readmission while on suspension must be advised by a full-time faculty advisor and is restricted in the selection of courses.
  • You may enroll in a maximum of thirteen credit hours per semester during this time.
• If you earn a minimum of a 2.0 semester GPA, you will return to “Academic Probation.”
• If you do not earn a 2.0 semester GPA, you will again be placed on “Academic Suspension.”
  • A second suspension is for one year.

Academic Honors

Dean’s List

To be eligible for the Dean’s List, you must carry a minimum of 12 semester hours, earn a grade point average for the semester of 3.25 or better, and fail no courses. Foundational/developmental courses (e.g.090, 099) do not count toward the 12-credit hour per semester hour minimum requirement.

President’s List

To be eligible for the President’s List, you must carry a minimum of 12 credit hours, earn a grade point average for the semester of 4.00 and fail no courses. Foundational/developmental courses (e.g. 090, 099) do not count toward the 12-credit hour per semester hour minimum requirement.

Phi Theta Kappa

Phi Theta Kappa is an international honor society for the community and junior colleges of America, which recognizes and encourages scholarship among associate degree students.

Full-time and part-time students who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or above and have completed 12 or more credit hours excluding foundational/developmental education courses (e.g. 090, 099) are eligible for membership.