ADMISSION AND RETENTION REQUIREMENTS

General Regulations

Student responsibility. College of Education students are expected to register for appropriate courses necessary to make reasonable progress toward completing program requirements by the expected date of graduation, and they must familiarize themselves with the requirements contained in this catalog. Faculty advisers in the offices indicated with each program's description on p. 178-192 are available to assist students.

Local mailing address. Each student is expected to maintain a mailing address at which communications from the College of Education will, with reasonable certainty, reach him or her. This address should be recorded in the Records Office.

Class hour load. The normal class hour load for College of Education students is 15-18 hours each semester. A load of fewer than 12 hours requires permission from the dean. Seniors who need 19 hours during the final semester to complete degree requirements may register for those hours without special permission. In all other cases, each student must earn a "B" average permit from the College's Office of Student Services in order to register for more than 18 hours. The maximum class hour load with a "B" average permit is 21 hours. During the summer session, the maximum load without a "B" average permit is 14 hours (7 hours per term). A student with a "B" average permit may carry a maximum of 15 hours (9 hours during one summer term and 6 hours during the other summer term).

Class attendance. Students are expected to pursue successful completion of all courses for which they are registered, including regular class attendance. The dean may withdraw a student from courses and/or may assign failing grades at any time during a semester when excessive unexcused absences have accumulated or when the student is disenrolled from a course.

Academic bankruptcy. The College of Education observes the general University policies governing academic bankruptcy and also maintains a committee to review all petitions for academic bankruptcy. The petitioning process begins in the College's Office of Student Services and Certification.

Academic forgiveness policy. The College of Education observes the general University policy on academic "forgiveness." However, the College's policy allows only certain general studies courses for which grades of "F," "D," "I," "N," or "WF" were earned to be dropped; courses taught in the College of Education may not be dropped (including BCT and BER courses). Furthermore, general studies courses that are also a part of the student's teaching field may not be dropped.

Requests for academic forgiveness must be submitted to the Office for Student Services and Certification. The student must indicate in the request that he or she understands and will abide by the provisions of the forgiveness policy. The student and his or her adviser must sign the request. (If the adviser's signature is difficult to secure, the student's program chairperson may sign instead.)

Auditing courses. With approval from the dean of the College, an education student may audit one course. No tests or final examinations may be taken when a course is audited. An audited course is counted as if it were a credit course in the determination of the class hour load. Normally, an audited course may not be repeated for credit.

Duplicate credit. A course that substantially duplicates the content of a course for which credit has already been earned may not count toward degree requirements.

Repeating courses for higher grades. With written permission from the dean, education students may repeat certain courses in which a grade of "D" was received. The dean's written permission must be filed with the registrar of the College of Education. When the cumulative grade point average is computed, each enrollment in the course will count as hours attempted. However, only the most recent enrollment may count toward degree requirements.

Transfer between divisions. Before transferring into the College of Education from another division of The University of Alabama, a student must attend an orientation session sponsored by the College of Education Office of Student Services and Certification.

Second bachelor's degree. If for any reason a student wishes to earn a second bachelor's degree in the College of Education, a minimum of 32 semester hours of additional credit must be earned in residence in the College of Education. These 32 hours must be over and above all credit earned for the previous degree. All quantitative and qualitative requirements for the second degree program must be met in full, according to standards in effect on the date of enrollment in the second program.