Academic Policies and Practices
General academic policies and practices are outlined in the College catalog. Questions related to these should be directed either to a student’s academic advisor or to the Dean of the College. Specific questions or criticisms about individual faculty members or their classroom policies and practices should be directed first to the faculty member involved, then to the appropriate Division Chair and finally to the Dean of the College.
Registration
Class schedules for new freshman students are set by the Registrar. Students are placed in appropriate entry-level courses in their major along with general education courses required of all students. Students requiring remedial math or English will be placed in those classes if space is available. Generally, courses are blocked into morning or afternoon segments to accommodate the required work program. Transfer students may begin registering after the current students have completed registration for the semester. The process for incoming transfer students may be in person, by fax or mail, or by e-mail, depending on the student’s situation and location.
Current students go through a pre-registration process. After meeting with an advisor and when the student’s registration time period has opened (by cumulative number of hours completed), the student can select courses on Campusweb. At the close of the pre-registration period the various administrative offices will post holds, if applicable, on the account of students. Holds include BU-Business office (money due for fees, room and board, etc.), DW-Dean of Work Education hold, DS-Dean of Students hold, DC-Dean of College hold (overloads/underloads), etc. Students will have approximately one week to have all holds removed. Students who still have holds at that time will lose their pre-registration schedule and will be required to pay $100 reinstatement fee; or will be unable to attend the following semester.
Prior to the start of and during the first week of the semester a student may add or drop courses (with some exceptions). After the first week no classes may be added to the student’s schedule. With the approval of the advisor, Dean of the College and the payment of a fee, students may drop classes until the Friday after midterm.
Change of Status Policy
Students who wish to change their current student enrollment status (from part-time to full-time, commuting to the residence hall, or residence hall to commuting) must apply for a change of status. The change of status request form is available on Campusweb in student resources. The College has a limited number of full-time commuting positions available; once that number, dependent on enrollment, has been reached, the College may not consider further requests. The application must be made well in advance of the semester that the desired change would go into effect.
Applications must be submitted by February 15 for the Fall semester and September 15 for the Spring semester. Applications submitted after these dates are not guaranteed consideration.
Criteria for changing status from resident to commuting
Currently enrolled resident students at College of the Ozarks may be considered for commuting student status if they meet one of the following criteria:
- the student must be a documented veteran,
- live with parents/legal guardians,
- or be married
Students may be considered for off-campus status if they are student teaching or doing nursing preceptorship.
Students who do not meet at least one of these conditions must live in the residence hall. Commuting distance should not exceed forty miles (exceptions considered for student teaching/nursing preceptorship).
Application for change of status process
Students may apply for a change of status online at Campusweb by clicking the student tab and selecting Change of Status request under Student Resources. Students will be notified of acceptance or denial via e-mail at their student. cofo.edu e-mail address.
Applications for change of status are subject to approval by the Dean of Admissions, Dean of the College, Dean of Students, and Dean of Work Education. Students should be in good standing in academics, student life, and the Work Education Program.
Students should be aware that upon application for change of status, they are declaring their intent to vacate their residence hall rooms for the following semester, and reinstatement of residence hall status may not be possible.
Change of status during the semester
Students who elect to seek off-campus status that would go into effect during a semester, and are approved, will be charged for the full amount of room and board for that semester.
For students who move into the residence hall after the semester begins, room and board charges are prorated based on move-in date.
Students who elect to seek part-time status during the semester, and are approved, must work the full 280 hours for the semester.
Married students are not permitted to live in campus residence halls.
Withdrawal from College
A student wishing to withdraw from college either during the semester or between semesters should follow the withdrawal policy and procedure on the Campusweb or C of O website. The procedure needs to be followed in order for the student to leave the College in good standing. Charges/refunds (see “Costs and Financial Aid”) will be determined at the date of the withdrawal; all responsibility of the College for the student is terminated at the time the student is dropped from the College roster. The College reserves the right to dismiss students who fail to do satisfactory work, or who do not cooperate with official College policies.
Students withdrawing during the semester and after the final drop date will receive marks of failure in all courses for which they are enrolled. Under special circumstances, a student may request to withdraw from college after the official drop date and receive a WP/WF in all classes with approval from the Dean of the College. In addition to completing the Registrar’s withdrawal procedure, residence hall students must check out of the residence hall with a residence director or resident hall assistant. Failure to follow these procedures may result in loss of deposit or additional charges.
Student Account Settlement and Collections Policy
Upon a student’s withdrawal or graduation, the Cash Accounts Office will send a statement to the student’s address on file to remind them of their outstanding balance. If the balance remains unpaid after the six-month due date, a final notice will be sent. If not settled within 30 days, the account will be referred to a collections agency, and additional fees will apply. The institution reserves the right to report the unpaid balance to credit bureaus, potentially impacting the student’s credit rating. In cases where the collections agency is unsuccessful, the institution may pursue legal action, and the student will be responsible for any legal fees incurred. This policy ensures financial stability and compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
Cheating/Plagiarism
College of the Ozarks expects high standards of intellectual integrity from its students. High ideals of scholarship demand that dishonest work be rejected and that those students engaging in such work be punished. Students in violation of the ideals of honesty and scholarship can expect to receive a failing grade for the class. Cheating on examinations is (1) borrowing someone’s answers, (2) providing answers for another student, or 3) using unauthorized material during the examination.
Plagiarism is the presentation of the words, ideas, or opinions of someone else as one’s own. A student is guilty of plagiarism if he submits as his own work, a part or all of an assignment copied from another person’s essay paper or notes; a part or all of an assignment copied or paraphrased from another source, such as a book, magazine, or pamphlet, without crediting the source. The same sequence of ideas, arrangement of material, or pattern of thought of someone else, even though he expresses it in his words without acknowledgment in the paper is also considered plagiarism. Similarly, a student is an accomplice in plagiarism and equally guilty if he allows his paper, in outline or finished form, to be copied and submitted as the work of another; if he prepares a written assignment for another student and allows it to be submitted as that other student’s work; or if he keeps or contributes to a file of papers or speeches with the clear intent that they be copied and submitted as the work of anyone other than the author.
Student appeals should be directed to the Dean of the College who will first ask the appropriate Division Chair to investigate. Then, if necessary, the appeal will be directed to the Academic Standards Committee for review and recommendation to the Dean of the College.
Grade Appeal
A student who believes an error has been made in the recording of a grade or that a grade is unjust must first contact the instructor. If the situation is not resolved the student may appeal to the Division Chairperson and to the Dean of the College. For appeal of a work grade, the student should follow the procedure set forth in the Work Program.
Grade Probation
- A student will be placed on grade probation after the semester in which the cumulative GPA drops below 2.00 or semester GPA is below 1.00.
- A student on probation must take 16 or fewer semester hours and take IDS 021 - Learning Strategies.
- A student with a semester GPA of 1.00 or less will be suspended from the College unless he/she meets cumulative GPA requirements.
- A student who is suspended for academic reasons is eligible to reapply for readmission after one semester; however, readmission is not guaranteed. Such students will compete better in the readmission process if they attend college elsewhere on a full-time basis and demonstrate ability to be successful in college level work.
- A student may appeal a suspension to the Dean of the College. The appeal must be in writing and set out the basis of the appeal.
- The Dean of the College may choose to extend probationary status if satisfactory progress toward raising the cumulative grade point average is evidenced.
- Any student who goes on grade probation will also be placed on financial aid probation.
A student on probation may not participate in auditioned theatre roles, student government, intercollegiate athletics, extracurricular college trips, auditioned ensembles, and other programs and scholarships that have grade point requirements. It is strongly advised that students on probation terminate any off-campus employment. Many beginning college students do not realize how much time and effort a rigorous academic program demands; therefore, College of the Ozarks strongly encourages its students not to accept off-campus employment until they have proven that such employment will not jeopardize their academic program performance.
Commencement Exercises
All graduating students are expected to attend Commencement ceremonies unless excused by the Dean of the College. Students are expected to abide by business dress guidelines as noted in the handbook, including men to wear a button up dress shirt with tie, slacks, and appropriate closed-toed dress shoes. Shirts must be tucked in. Women may wear a dress or business suit and appropriate dress shoes are required. Flip flops are unacceptable. Students must conduct themselves in accordance with College of the Ozarks expectations including but not limited to inappropriate body piercings and keeping tattoos covered at all times. The issuance of diplomas is subject to being in good standing with the College and the satisfactory completion of the Commencement exercises.
