College Policies & College Now

Administrative Handbook Shortcuts:

Students who register for a College Now course earn college credit while in high school. Because the course is offered for MCC credit, MCC administrative policies apply to the course. This distinction is important since high school processes for communicating with students, enrolling in a class, and grading schematics may be different.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) rules state: “When a student turns 18 or enters a postsecondary institution at any age, all rights afforded to parents under FERPA transfer to the student.” In essence, MCC will communicate directly with the student for purposes of registration and billing. With regard to College Now students, FERPA rules allow for the high school and MCC to share information freely about the student. College administrative offices are happy to assist parents, but may be limited with the information that can be shared.

Prompt and regular attendance at all class and laboratory sessions is expected. Excessive absence may be reported and will adversely affect the student’s academic achievement in a particular course.

High school teachers use the college curriculum and course assessments, and follow the college course information sheet. The textbook, assessments, and other instructional materials must be reviewed and approved by the MCC faculty liaison supervising the course.

In the academic process, it is generally assumed that intellectual honesty and integrity are basic responsibilities of the student. Violations of these responsibilities consist mainly of cheating and plagiarism. Cheating is defined as the unauthorized use or exchange of information by students or others for the purpose of achieving unfair advantage in the classroom or assessment process.

Plagiarism is using someone else’s work as if it were one’s own, whether or not it is done intentionally. This includes, but is not limited to: using the exact language, using nearly the exact language, and using ideas without showing they originated in another’s work. The work taken from another person or source (including publications, web sites, speeches, etc.) may be as little as an isolated formula, portions of a speech, a simple sentence, an idea, or as much as entire paragraphs, papers, or writings of professionals and other students.

The Monroe Community College Student Handbook describes the college’s expectations regarding academic honesty in more detail, and outlines the procedures for handling violations of this policy as well as disciplinary action which may be executed.

MCC has several academic degree, certificate, and micro-credential programs. Please visit the academic programs page and the course descriptions page for more information. Since the College Now course is a college class running at the high school location, MCC course prerequisites apply. Some courses require evidence of a level of skill or knowledge before a student can register.  In some cases, the MCC prerequisite is different than the high school prerequisite for the class. As stated in the MCC Catalog and Student Handbook:

“Admission to a particular course may be denied to students without the background and/or prerequisites deemed necessary by the College. The College reserves the right to evaluate students for their readiness for a particular course or activity and to require appropriate documentation of a student’s readiness.”

Students/teachers/schools will be asked to provide prerequisite information (e.g. in the form of transcripts and standardized score – SAT, Regents - reports).

Registration for College Now courses take place online in the College Now portal. Registration information is sent to schools in August for courses beginning in September and in January for courses beginning in late January / early February giving schools ample time to inform their community about the courses available to them. Since MCC does not have direct access to students in designated College Now classes, we rely on the high school teacher and school to disseminate registration information so that students and families are informed and can meet registration timelines.

The College Now Program adheres to the college schedule adjustment period. The schedule adjustment (add / drop) period is the first three weeks of each full semester course. During this time, students may drop the College Now course with no financial or academic penalty.

Only students who officially register during the open registration period will be added to the MCC roster.¹ This requirement is in contrast to high school policies that allow students to adjust their schedule via their counselor. Students who miss the registration period or add the high school class to their schedule after the MCC registration deadline has passed will not be eligible for MCC credit.

¹ Students added to the roster have also met MCC prerequisite requirements for the course.

No students may be registered for the class once registration has closed. The Enrollment Closure policy is to prevent late and retroactive registration, a practice that permits students to choose whether to register for college credit late depending upon his/her performance in the class, prior knowledge, or any other situation that prevented timely registration.

High schools will disseminate registration information so that students and families are informed and can meet registration timelines.

The College will calculate the MCC final grade according to the standard set.  The high school grade will be calculated according to the high school standard. The MCC grading standard for each course is outlined on a Course Information Sheet. Some College Now courses require an additional project or exam and / or may not accept extra credit and late work. For these reasons, a final high school grade may be different from the MCC grade.

*Semester hour credit and quality points shall not be granted.

**Administratively assigned grades, semester and cumulative averages are calculated only based on credit courses completed with grades of A through F.

The college uses a +/- grading system for courses. The grading system and corresponding numerical GPA are outlined above. Each MCC department determines the conversion of a numerical course grade to an MCC letter grade. The high school teacher will consult with his/her MCC faculty liaison for an explanation on grade conversion.

Students who register for College Now credit incur a bill from Monroe Community College.

The college uses email, post mail, and automated telephone messages to inform the student of the bill and encourage on-time payment.

Understanding that College Now students are generally under the age of 18, and not wanting an outstanding MCC bill to negatively impact the student, students who are dropped for non-payment will not owe any money to MCC and will not be eligible to receive MCC credit. They can however stay enrolled in the high school class and earn high school graduation credit.

All official academic transcripts can be ordered through an e-transcript system. Our partner, Credential Solutions, provide this service. Transcripts are issued at no cost to the student.

Order Transcripts

At times, conditions may exist that preclude the offering or warrant the cancellation of College Now courses. When a College Now course is “cancelled,” it is removed from the MCC schedule of course offerings. High school students that registered for the section are dropped with no penalty; meaning they incur no cost and there is no record of the course on their college transcript. The student remains in the high school class, which will count toward high school credit; however, there will be no MCC credit attached to the course.

College Now courses will be canceled when:

• The high school teacher is not approved to instruct the curriculum.
• MCC has credible evidence that the integrity of the course has been compromised.²
• When course minimum enrollment has not been met.

A high school principal may also request that an active MCC College Now course be canceled. Such requests must be made in writing and before final grades are recorded.

² Compromised Course Integrity: If during the term the faculty liaison determines the high school class is misaligned, or the liaison has lost contact with the high school teacher and is therefore unable to determine the progress of the course, the liaison will contact the College Now office and initiate a sequence of corrective action. The liaison and College Now office will outline a minimum of three measurable objectives that must be met by a specified date in order for the class to remain active. This plan will be shared with the high school teacher and College Now contact or principal. Once the date of plan completion has been reached, the faculty member will review the course progress and make a recommendation for the course to: remain active, be canceled, or outline further corrective plan. If the course is canceled, registered students will be de-scheduled and refunded accordingly.

If a student is not performing well in a College Now course, and it is believed they may earn less than a C grade, they may consider withdrawing from the course. A withdrawal is recorded on the MCC transcript as a grade of “W”. In general, a W is less academically harmful than a final grade of D or F. The W grade will not affect the student’s GPA, but it is important to note that W grades may affect the student’s future eligibility for financial aid.

Withdrawing from the MCC course has no effect on the high school schedule. This means a student may withdraw from MCC credit but remain scheduled in the high school class.

If the student and teacher agree that withdrawing from the course is in the student’s best interest, the teacher must contact the MCC faculty liaison.  In order to receive the grade of W a student must be officially withdrawn from the MCC course. It is important to note the strict withdrawal deadlines. A Withdrawal cannot be submitted and will not be accepted at the time final class grades are due. Failure to properly withdraw from a course will result in the student receiving the final letter grade earned.

Late withdrawals cannot be processed. Students who no longer attend class, quit school, or move out of the district also must be withdrawn from their MCC course. There is no tuition refund for a course withdrawal.

In the case of a serious illness, injury, or medical condition that results in an extended absence, students may withdraw from the course for medical reasons. These requests must be made in writing and must be accompanied by documentation. A committee reviews these requests and decisions are final. Health withdrawal requests can be submitted up until the date for final grades.