FAQs for Instructors

The College has more than 80 departments and programs, 800 tenured/tenure-track faculty, 500 non-tenure faculty, and 10,000 active undergraduate students. The College includes the School of Art and Design, School of Global and International Studies, and The Media School.

You should first contact the staff and administrative team in your own department. If they cannot answer your question, contact the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs at 855-1647 or 855-8245 or via email at coasaado@indiana.edu.

Most freshmen are advised by a University Division academic advisor. Once a student is admitted to a degree-granting school, the school takes over the advising. There are also other advising support units on campus, including the Hutton Honors College, Athletics, Groups Scholars Program, Hudson and Holland Scholars Program, and 21st Century Scholars Program.

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), Bachelor of Arts in Journalism (B.A.J.), and Bachelor of Liberal Studies (B.L.S.).

Except for directly-admitted freshmen (approx. 1000 students per year), students must complete the English Composition requirement and 26 credit hours towards a College of Arts and Sciences degree with a minimum 2.000 cumulative College GPA and a minimum GPA of 2.000 in the intended major.

The undergraduate Bulletin in effect at the time students matriculate governs the requirements a student will follow; when requirements change, students may elect to stay with those in effect when they matriculated (for up to 8 years). All College undergraduate students have requirements in foundational skills, breadth of inquiry, culture studies, and a major or concentration; electives bring the minimum total to 120 credit hours; most of these credit hours must be taken in courses offered by the College.

In accordance with federal law, student records (e.g., quick "chats" about a student's progress in a course) are protected from third parties unless you have a written release signed by the student. Parents are third parties, even if they pay tuition. Also, do not post grades in any form on walls, doors, etc., and do not discuss grades or indicate student ID numbers in e-mail. Conversations with students about their grades must occur in a private setting.

Students withdraw from ("drop") classes electronically. Full-semester classes can be dropped electronically for the first half of the semester only. The key date to know is the Automatic-W deadline, which occurs about mid-way through the semester (current deadlines are printed in the Enrollment and Student Academic Information Bulletin); note that classes which do not meet for the full semester have different deadlines); after the Automatic-W deadline, students must have dean's permission to withdraw and the process is not electronic; it is all paper-based at that point.

• Prior to the Automatic-W deadline, students may withdraw with the automatic grade of W without special approval from the dean. Students log onto to the Student Center in One.IU, following directions there for dropping/withdrawing from a class. Students who want to drop ALL their classes cannot do so electronically but must go to the appropriate campus office (in most cases, the Student Advocates Office).
• After the Automatic-W deadline, only the dean of the student's school can grant approval. Evidence of urgent reasons related to extended illness or equivalent distress occurring after the Automatic-W deadline is required. College students must follow this procedure:
  1. Student fills out late-withdrawal petition for dean's review (Owen 003)
  2. If approved (and many are not), student picks up late-withdrawal form to submit to instructor
  3. Instructor must assign a grade on the form (W for doing passing work at the time of withdrawal, or F for doing failing work)
  4. Student submits form to the Registrar's Office in Student Central at 408 N. Union St.

NOTE: The instructor's willingness to allow a student to withdraw from his/her class does not guarantee final approval of the late-withdrawal request by a dean. Above procedures apply only to students certified into the College. Refer students in other units to their academic advisors.

Instructor or university error only. (The College will not approve requests to change grades for students wanting to raise a grade with extra work after the semester is over, nor will it approve changes of grade for students who forgot to add or drop a course at the correct time.) A clear syllabus—with a statement of expectations and policies in the course, especially how students will be evaluated—will eliminate many problems; you may also find it helpful to remind students to monitor their enrollments. Requests to change grades are initiated via the eGrade Change app in One.IU by the instructor of the course. If approved by the department chair, they are then routed to the College dean for review. Additionally, a request to change a grade in a course can be considered only if it is within one year from the end of the semester in which the course was offered, if a "W" or "I" is involved, and if the student did not take the final exam, complete the final paper/project, etc. Note: you may be asked by other offices (such as the Student Advocates Office) to consider a student's request for a grade change; please know that the ultimate authority for grades rests with the instructor and the College. Do not feel pressured to change a grade.

Incompletes are rare and must be agreed upon in writing by both instructor and student. The student must be passing the course at the end of the semester and NOT have taken the final exam. The student must produce official documentation of circumstances (generally a serious medical condition or other compelling circumstance), rendering it (almost) impossible for him/her to complete the course by the end of the semester. A copy of the written agreement between the instructor and the student for removal of the "I" must be kept on file in the department (this form is available on the College's Faculty/Staff Intranet). Students do not subsequently re-enroll in the course. After one year, the "I" automatically converts to "F" if the stipulated conditions have not been met. See also ACA-67 for the official policy on Incompletes.

"F" indicates a student did not sufficiently master the course material to pass. "FN" is necessary for financial aid issues and is only used internally for students who began attending a course, then disappeared, but didn't officially withdraw. If you have such a student, put "FN" on the final grade roster and note the last known date of attendance. The "FNN" grade is an "FN" with no recorded last date of attendance (i.e. the student never attended). "F*" is the grade corresponding to the instructor's sanction of "F in the course for academic misconduct," when appropriate.

The FX policy itself no longer exists. In its place, there is the Extended-X policy, which allows students to re-take some courses and have the earlier grade no longer factor into the GPA. The College recognizes this only for IU transcript purposes; for internal GPA calculations for most College degree programs, both grades are included in GPA calculations.

Follow the steps outlined on the College’s Academic Misconduct Procedures webpage.

Students should establish contact with the IU Office of Disability Services for Students (DSS) in Wells Library W302, 812-855-7578, to ensure they receive every service for which they are eligible. To ensure equitable treatment of all students, instructors must require students to present the DSS Memorandum of Classroom Accommodation before making special arrangements with students requesting accommodation(s). Accommodations are not permitted if a student does not present current (each semester) documentation from DSS.

It is up to the individual faculty member and/or departmental policy to determine what excuses, if any, are acceptable, as well as the amount of documentation required to support a student request. In the case of classes missed for religious observances, students and instructors must adhere to the Accommodation for Religious Observances policy (ACA-59). Note also that the College endorses IU's policy on University Approved Curricular and Extracurricular Activities about which you can find more information through the Division of Student Affairs. As with other matters mentioned here, it is important to clarify on the syllabus your expectations concerning attendance and absence.