Class Attendance
Class Attendance Requirements
Specific attendance requirements arise from various sources including instructor policies, financial aid requirements and guidelines attached to scholarships, grants, and employer-funded programs. Students are responsible for knowing and adhering to these policies because attendance can affect enrollment, grades and financial support.
Each instructor establishes a course attendance policy and fully informs students of the policy at the beginning of the term. Students agree to adhere to a course’s attendance policy by virtue of being enrolled in a course. Each instructor’s policy is included in course materials distributed at or near the beginning of a course.
The College enforces policies related to attendance at the beginning of a course and requires instructors to indicate the date of last attendance when a student earns an F grade in a course. The lack of attendance at the beginning of a course and the last date of attendance when a student fails a course can have implications for a student’s financial aid status.
Never Attended (NA) Policy
Florida State College at Jacksonville requires that students demonstrate course attendance within the first week of each class.
Extenuating circumstances (car problems, illness, etc.) may be considered as a replacement for physical presence, so long as there is documented engagement with the faculty member within the first week of class.
Being marked as NA may affect your financial aid. Students who are removed from a class roster based on NA reporting should contact financial aid to determine the impact on their financial aid status and their academic advisor to determine the impact on their academic plan.
On-Ground and Synchronous Classes
(including classroom instruction, hybrid courses, and live online courses)
Students must be physically present for the majority of a class session at least once during the first week of class.
For synchronous and online hybrid classes, any documented engagement with course materials indicates academic engagement and attendance for the purpose of the NA policy.
Rationale:
Federal Title IV regulations require a student must be “attending” class in order for the student to receive financial aid.
Students are more likely to be successful if they attend the first week.
Asynchronous Online Classes
Student must display academic engagement during the first week of a class. Simply logging into an online class does not display academic engagement.
Academic engagement includes any documented engagement with course materials. Examples include but are not limited to:
Submission of an assignment or student acknowledgement of reviewing key course documents.
Taking an exam, completing an interactive tutorial, or participating in computer-assisted instruction.
Participation in an online discussion about academic matters.
Initiating contact with a faculty member to ask a question about the academic subject studied in the course.
Rationale:
For asynchronous online classes, the federal government has taken the position that simply logging into an online class does not display academic engagement.
Student Success in the Classroom
The faculty and staff at Florida State College at Jacksonville want students to succeed. Because studies indicate a positive relationship between good attendance and better grades, students are strongly encouraged to attend all classes and arrive on time. Although they do not relieve students of the requirements of attendance policies, best practices to follow if you must miss a class include:
Consulting the course policy on attendance whenever absent in order to understand the policy and the impact of missing the class.
Notifying instructors in advance, whenever possible, when it is necessary to miss a class.
Reporting any anticipated prolonged absence to instructors as soon as possible.
Consulting with instructor(s) and an advisor about possible withdrawal from any class(es) before making a decision to stop attending.