Maximum Student Credit Hour Load per Semester POLICY 8.22

Team:  Kevin Dobreff  Jonathan Larson  Laura Moody  Anne Sherman  Paula Sullivan

Policy Statement: Students who want to enroll in more than 18 credit hours in a semester must get permission from the appropriate Associate Dean (e.g. the AD for Faculty Evaluation and Hiring in the School which houses the student’s program or the courses which takes the student over 18 credits).

Reason for the policy: Internal student success data, as well as external benchmarking, indicate that student success rates are negatively impacted when students enroll in too many credits in a given semester and that the most common limit on credits allowed per semester in Michigan is 18.

Meets HLC accreditation criteria: In accordance with the Higher Learning Commission’s Criteria for Accreditation and Core Components and Assumed Practices 2, GRCC monitors and where necessary makes improvements to promote student persistence and completion. Further, the College engages in reflective practices intended to ensure institutional integrity. This monitoring report provides insight into the levels of academic success experienced by those students who are allowed to enroll in more than 18 credit hours.

Purpose:  Report on the effectiveness of the process used for making exceptions.  Provide documentation that students were properly enrolled.  Report that documentation was duly followed.  Track success of students who were allowed to exceed 18 credits hours

History:  Dean’s Council in August 2012  Manual data collection  Teaching and Learning Quality Report: June  June 2013 – June 2015  Electronic tracking form implemented and continued  Current process working well

Overview:  Students must get permission from the appropriate Dean before enrolling in more than 18 credit hours. Associate Deans use the criteria stated in to make decisions as outlined in Policy 8.22, Maximum Student Credit Hour Load per Semester.

Exception criteria:  GPA  Average credit hours per semester the student had successfully completed  Average credit hours per semester the student had attempted  Combination of coursework for the semester in question  Number of different classes the student attempts for the semester  Number of semesters at GRCC

Process measures:  Number of exceptions granted

Outcome measures  Success of students allowed to exceed 18 credits in one semester The average end of term GPA for students exceeding 18 credits 3.04 (Range ) 3.30 (Range ) 3.03 (Range ) The average cumulative GPA for students exceeding 18 credits 3.08 (Range ) 3.12 (Range ) 2.93 (Range ) Range of credits approved

Recommendations:  Policy is working well  No recommendations at this time  Seeking re-approval

Questions? Feedback  Any questions, please contact  Feedback appreciated no later than February 26, 2016