Student Records and Policies

• Student Records
  • Transcripts
  • Enrollment Verification
  • Semester Hours
  • Continuing Education Units
• Registration Status
  • Student Status
  • Registering for Courses/Registration
    • Eligibility to Use Online Registration
    • Drop/Add/Change
    • Course Substitution
    • Repeating Courses
    • Administrative Drops
  • Withdrawal from College
• Final Exams
• Privacy Rights under FERPA

Student Records

The Registrar maintains all official student academic records at Chesapeake College. 

Transcripts

Official transcripts of a student’s academic record at Chesapeake College will be sent to other institutions through a student initiated online ordering process. All financial obligations to the College must be satisfied before any transcripts will be released. Transcripts will usually be processed within two working days from the receipt of the request. Allow extra time during holidays, examination periods, commencements and at the beginning and end of the semester. Transcripts for currently enrolled students will not be processed at the end of the semester until final examinations are over and all grades for all students are entered and finalized. 

Transcripts are processed through a third-party servicer through a link on the College’s website. The College charges a $5 fee and the servicer charges a $3 convenience fee. Additional costs will apply for mailed transcripts.

Enrollment Verifications

To request an official enrollment verification, please submit a completed Verification Request form or a company-issued form to the Registration and Records Office located at the Wye Mills campus. Enrollment verification forms are completed after the end of the third week of a semester and within two working days from receipt of request.

Semester Hours

A semester hour is equal to 50 minutes of classroom instruction per week for 15 weeks. Two or three hours of supervised laboratory are considered equal to one lecture hour since the average student must spend two to three hours in preparation for a lecture class.

Continuing Education Unit (CEU)

The Continuing Education Unit, or CEU, is designed as a uniform unit of measurement to facilitate the accumulation and exchange of standardized information about individual participation in non-credit continuing education courses. One CEU is defined as 10 clock-hours of participation in an organized continuing education experience under responsible sponsorship, capable direction, and qualified instruction.

Registration Status

Student Status

A full-time student is one enrolled for the equivalent of 12 credit/load hours during the fall or spring semester and six credit/load hours for the summer. Students enrolled for less than 12 credit/ load hours during the fall or spring semester are classified as part-time. Exceptions to this classification occur when an external agency defines the status differently. For example, Nursing and some other health professions program students registered in a clinical sequence course are considered full-time with fewer than 12 credits.

Permission to take more than the recommended number of credits per semester (overload) will be approved by the Registrar or Associate Dean for Enrollment and Advising. 

Registering for Courses/Registration

Registration and semester dates are listed in the academic calendar. New students must meet with an advisor before registering. Priority registration is available to currently enrolled students. Pre-registration is the period during which students may register without payment. Students registering after the pre-registration period is over must make payment at the time of registration. Students for whom payment has not been received, financial aid finalized, or other authorization of payment received by the payment due date, will be deleted from their classes. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that payments are received on time.

In accordance with the Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-407), veteran students and dependents using Chapter 33 or Chapter 31 education benefits are allowed to attend classes and will not receive penalty for non-payment of tuition and fees covered by the VA for a period of up to 90 days from the date the veteran provides a certificate of eligibility or valid VAF-28-1905. Students will be responsible for paying the difference between the amount of the student’s financial obligation and the amount of the VA education benefit disbursement in accordance with the payment due dates for each semester.   Veteran students and dependents using VA educational benefits are required to request to use their benefits in writing by submitting a VA Enrollment Certification Request form and submit a Certificate of Eligibility at the time of enrollment.

Eligibility to Use Online Registration

Most current students are eligible to register online using Student Planning which is accessed through the campus portal, MyCampus, and then using WebAdvisor/CRAB.  Please refer to http://www.chesapeake.edu/students/online-registration for online information and help.

Students with 45 or more credits are prevented from registering online as a reminder to meet an assigned advisor to complete a Program Progress Review to ensure that students are completing the courses in their chosen academic program and are making satisfactory progress toward graduation.

Dual Enrollment students and non-degree seeking students are not eligible to register online.

Drop/Add/Change

Students may change or add courses prior to the third lecture-meeting hour. “Third lecture-meeting hour” is defined by the length of the semester: 

A student who wishes to reduce their course load after they have officially registered may do so. Consult the 2020-2021 Academic and Administrative Calendar  for the last day to drop.

There will be a charge of $5 for each Drop/Add form processed beginning the first day of classes.

NOTE: Students receiving financial aid should remember that reducing or increasing academic load hours may affect financial aid awards. Students must consult with the Financial Aid Office before dropping or adding courses.

Administrative Drops

Students will be administratively withdrawn from a course due to lack of attendance in seated classes or non-participation in online classes.   Students will be Administratively Dropped from the course(s) if they are reported as Never Attended or Stopped Attending. This action is permanent and will not be changed. In the event the student was reported in error, the faculty member must contact the Director of Financial Aid and the Registrar to inform them of the error. The information provided will be reviewed for appropriate resolution. . (Note: Due to Federal Requirements, this policy applies to any student receiving Federal Student Aid). Students who are administratively dropped from a course after the census date will receive a grade of “F” for the class.  A student who wishes to appeal their grade will need to request an F to W using the required form and provide substantiating documentation. 

Course Substitution

What is a course substitution? 

Course substitution is the process of garnering formal approval to use one or more alternative course/assessments not included in a program to satisfy specific course requirements at CC. Course substitutions may be appropriate when circumstances prevent completing one or more requirements published in the catalog. A course substitution shall not compromise the academic integrity of the program to which it is applied. 

Course substitutions may be used to satisfy requirements for:

• Associate degree requirements
• Certificate requirements

A course substitution may be appropriate when:

• Evidence is provided showing mastery of course content through other forms of assessment (ex - industry credential).
• A course is needed for a specific award and has not been offered or has been inactivated.
• Extenuating circumstances prevented enrolling in a particuliar course at a particuliar time.
• Extenuationg circumstances dictate that completion of a degree/certificate program requirements be within a specific timeframe.

The following restrictions apply:

• A course substitution will only apply to one award, and only to the award indicated on the signed Course Substitution Form. (All signatures need to be completed for approval, with the VP retaining override/appeal authority.)
• Course substitutions cannot be used more than once. 

More information on course substitution can be found in the Admissions and Placement  section of this Catalog.

Repeating Courses

A student may attempt a course no more than three times. This includes any course for which the student has earned a letter grade, an “L” for auditing a course, or a “W” for a course from which the student has withdrawn. Repeating courses in which a grade of “C” or better has been earned is not recommended. If a student would like to enroll in a course more than three times, the student must first complete the “Course Repeat Appeal” form available on the College Website, and meet with the Associate Dean for Enrollment and Advising or the Registrar for course repeat approval.

The highest grade earned in a course will be used in computing the cumulative grade point average. However, all grades will be listed on the student’s permanent record. Grades are counted only once in computing the cumulative grade point average.

Withdrawal from College

If a student, for valid personal reasons, is forced to withdraw from the College or to reduce their course load after the expiration of the withdrawal period, they may submit a request for withdrawal to the Vice President for Workforce and Academic Programs.

To obtain a late withdrawal, written notification of intention to withdraw from the College, together with reasons for this decision, must be furnished to the Vice President for Workforce and Academic Programs. The College does not recognize requests for withdrawal during the exam period.

Students formally withdrawing from the College must complete an exit interview with a member of the Students & Learning staff.

Final Exams

The final week of the traditional term, the last 2 days of accelerated terms, and the last day of interim terms are reserved for final exams or equivalent final assessments of student learning. Students taking courses for credit are required to take final assessments on the dates scheduled by the instructor during this time. Permission for make-up examinations is left to the discretion of the instructor.

Privacy Rights of Students/Student Rights under FERPA

Chesapeake College is committed to protecting the privacy of each student’s education record. The College will release any or all of a student’s education record to third parties only under the following circumstances:

• If the College is required to do so by law;
• If the student provides the College with written permission as outlined in the Federal Education Records Privacy Act (FERPA);
• In the event of a health or safety emergency as outlined in FERPA and interpreted by the College administration.

Parental disclosure will take place in accordance with the policy outlined above. Students will be informed of their right to provide their parents (or any other third party of their choosing) access to their education record during the College’s academic advising process. The College will provide information to parents, in both electronic and hard-copy forms, regarding the process for gaining access to a student’s education records.

Disclosure of information contained in a student’s education record will take place through the Office of Registration, which will certify that the student has provided written permission for the College to release information from the education record to the third party requesting that information. The responsibility for disclosure of information from a student record and oversight of this process rests with the Registrar or his/her designee.

FERPA gives students the right to inspect and review all educational records with the following exceptions: financial records of student’s parents, confidential letters, or statements placed in the file prior to January 1, 1975, and psychiatric or medical records retained by a professional for treatment purposes.

For more information, consult the Privacy Policy page on the Chesapeake College website.