Academic Policies & Procedures

Standards of Academic Integrity and University Code of Conduct

All City Vision University students must comply with the Standards of Academic Integrity and University Code of Conduct. The consequences for violating these standards are described on the linked pages.

Credit Hour Policy

City Vision follows the Carnegie Unit requirement of “one credit is equivalent to 45 hours of student work”. Thus, a three (3)-credit course incorporates approximately 135 hours of student work. Reading is 25 pages per hour for standard books and 20 for dense textbooks. Where needed we use much more detailed guidelines provided by Penn State University – Hours of Instructional Activity (HIA) Equivalents at: http://weblearning.psu.edu/resources/penn-state-online-resources/HIA/

Requirements for Good Standing & Academic Probation

The academic policy of City Vision University is designed to meet ultimately the graduation requirement of a “C” average (2.00 GPA) on all work taken through the university, including credits accepted via transfer from other institutions.

To remain in good standing, a student must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average according to the number of credits completed at City Vision University, or accepted via transfer. The unit of credit is the semester hour.

The following minimum grade point averages apply to associate’s degree students;

• Up to 15 credits         1.50 GPA
• 16-30 credits              1.70 GPA
• 31 credits and above  2.00 GPA

The following minimum grade point averages apply to bachelor’s degree students:

• Up to 30 credits           1.50 GPA
• 31 through 59 credits   1.70 GPA
• 60 through 89 credits   1.85 GPA
• 90 credits and above    2.00 GPA

Graduate students must maintain at least a 2.0 GPA throughout the course of their studies.

To review City Vision University’ Satisfactory Academic Progress policy, which applies this standard specifically to students receiving financial aid, click the link below:

http://www.cityvision.edu/city-vision-university-satisfactory-academic-progress

Academic  Probation

Students who fail to earn the grade point average indicated above will be placed on Academic Probation for the next 6 credits of study. Students who are on Academic Probation and whose term achievements show substantial improvement but whose cumulative GPA is still just below the appropriate GPA for their Credits Completed level and thus would be subject to Academic Dismissal may instead be placed on Probation Continued status at the discretion of the Academic Oversight staff (Dean, Department Chair, or President).

Policy on Repeated Withdrawals for New Students

If a new student (who has not passed any City Vision courses) has withdrawn from six or more City Vision courses, they must either wait a year or complete a course at another school before they can sign up for courses again.

Grades and Grade Point Averages

Each course is given a final grade with the number of quality points per credit hour assigned as follows:

Students may repeat courses in order to earn a higher grade and more quality points.The credits will be counted only once, and the grade earned the second time will supersede the earlier grade. The record of the earlier grade will remain on the transcript, although it will not enter into the computation of the grade point average.

For more details on how the GPA is calculated, see here.

See the “Dropping Courses and Grading” policy for information on incomplete courses.

Academic Honors

Graduation honors are awarded for academic work performed by the student during his undergraduate program. Honors will be conferred as follows:

• Summa cum Laude 3.90 or above
• Magna cum Laude 3.75 to 3.89
• Cum Laude 3.60 to 3.74

The grade point calculation is made on all credits earned from City Vision University and transfer credits.

Course Registration Deadline

Students must register for courses before or on the first day of classes. Students may request an exception to register for courses after the first day of the term during the first week. Later course registrations are allowed only in exceptional circumstances, but not beyond the second week.

Dropping Courses and Grading

Our preferred method is that students should drop courses using the official drop request form, but they may communicate their intent to drop to City Vision by any method including calling the university office at (816) 960-2008 or emailing support@cityvision.edu or discontinuing participation in the course. Students that no longer participate in courses may be administratively dropped for lack of attendance (see date of last attendance policy below).

Attendance Policy

Students’ attendance in City Vision University courses will be evaluated at least every 14 days. Because this is an online program, attendance is based exclusively on the date of submission of coursework which would receive a grade, such as a written assignment, class forum post, or quiz.  Simply logging into the online classroom is not counted as attendance; neither is simply sending a message to a professor.

If a student has not attended a course, by the definition above, within the past 14 days, it will be determined whether the student is withdrawn from that course.

If a student could not submit gradable work in the past 14 days, this determination will be made on the following basis:

1. Communication with the instructor or staff and/or

2.  A review of their course progress and grade by Student Services staff assessing the student’s ability to successfully pass the course.

3.   How late the student’s current assignments are, based on their due dates.

Students may be notified weekly by City Vision if they are late in submitting assignments. Students that have a 14 day gap in submitting items for grading are administratively dropped unless they are granted an extension by their instructor or academic administration. The instructor or academic administration may grant an extension either through a documented email or by continuing to grade the late assignments. As of the 18-19 academic year, all extensions must be documented by email.

Last Date of Attendance Policy

Appeals Policy for Students Dropped Due to Non-Attendance

Late Assignment Policy

• Late but less than 1 week late: lose half a letter grade. For students with documented disabilities, this becomes “less than 1 week late, no penalty”.
• More than 1 week late less than 2 (after the following Sunday): lose 1 letter grade. i.e. “A” becomes a “B”. Students with documented disabilities will lose only half a letter grade.
• More than 2 weeks late will receive a zero unless granted an extension by City Vision’s president. Extensions are typically granted only for exceptional circumstances, such as an illness that would prevent you from doing course work at this time, or the death of a family member. For students with documented disabilities, we cannot extend this further except for in rare exceptions due to the difficulty that extremely late assignment submissions create in meeting US Department of Education requirements.
• Students not submitting anything for grading in the first two weeks will be dropped.

Course Extension Policy

1. Students may submit assignments or exams without an extension until the end of the 9th week after the beginning of the term (but, as of the 18-19 year, grading penalties listed in the Late Assignment Policy apply).
2. Applications for extension must be submitted via the online extension request form no later than two days before the course ends.
3. Extensions are typically granted only for exceptional circumstances, such as an illness that would prevent you from doing course work at this time or the death of a family member.
4. Course extensions will only be granted if you have completed at least half of the assignments in a course.
5. While working to complete a course for which an extension has been granted, the student can only take a maximum of one additional course.
6. In order for a course extension to be approved, the student and his/her professor must agree upon a date by which he/she will have completed all the remaining assignments in the course.
7. Course extension requests may be reviewed by the student’s professor and the Academic Oversight (Dean, Department Chair or President) for the student’s department. No course extension may be granted beyond the start of the next term unless approved by City Vision’s President.

Incomplete Grades Policy

Incomplete grades are assigned at the discretion of the instructor, with consultation from the Academic Oversight staff (Dean, Department Chair or President) overseeing the course in question, and other academic staff as needed. When incomplete grades are issued, the student will be informed as to how they may be resolved and the timeframe for resolution. This timeframe will be reasonable in length, and shall never exceed one academic term after the course was initially to have been completed. If the student does not meet the agreed upon timeframe, the grade will be converted to whatever grade the student would have received based on the work completed up to that point.

Proctor Requirement

As specified by the City Vision Standards of Admission, all City Vision students must comply with the Proctor Requirement policy.

Leave of Absence

Students may not request an official Leave of Absence from City Vision University, for financial aid purposes. Their financial aid status, as reported to NSLDS for Enrollment Reporting and used in R2T4 calculations, is always either enrolled or withdrawn. This policy supersedes any previous policies of City Vision pertaining to Leaves of Absence.

Class Levels by Credits

• Freshman: 0-30 credits
• Sophomore: 31-60 credits
• Junior: 61-90 credits
• Senior: 91-120 credits

Applications for extension must be submitted via the online extension request form no later than two days before the course ends.