Title

Failure for Non-Attendance (FN) Policy

Steward

Steward:

Vice President of Student Affairs

Category:

Educational

Effective date:

May 17, 2017

Last content update:

January 8, 2025

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to comply with federal regulations regarding Title IV Federal Financial Aid disbursement as it relates to student attendance. The Failure for Non-Attendance (FN) grade serves to ensure appropriate adjustments to student financial aid awards by verifying enrollment status and allowing recalculation prior to fund disbursement. The FN grade also serves as notification to Student Affairs that the student’s academic success is at risk and intervention is warranted.

The College is required to return funds disbursed to students who fail to begin attendance as soon as possible but no later than 30 days after the date the school becomes aware that a student has not begun. If a payment is made to a student who is later found not to be in attendance, it is considered an overpayment and the College is liable for that payment and the return of those funds.

Definitions

Failure for Non-Attendance (FN)

FN is a grade designation given when a student has not begun attending a course within the first seven (7) calendar days of the course’s start.

Class
Any academic course offered by the College for credit in any modality (e.g. on campus, online, HyFlex, etc.)

Attendance

Students are considered to be in attendance when they have been physically present in a land-based course or the online environment and have completed at least one academically-related task within the first seven (7) calendar days of the course’s start. The Federal Student Aid Handbook explains it as, “a student is considered not to have begun attendance if a school is unable to document the student’s attendance in any class. For classes that begin during the first week of the semester, the seven days start the first day of the semester.

Task

For the purposes of this policy, an academically-related task for a course that is not in-person is a single simple assignment, but more than logging into the course or Learning Management System. Examples of a simple assignment include but are not limited to: a discussion assignment (introduction, ice breaker), course orientation/syllabus quiz, or another form of active assignment participation in the course.

Academic Attendance and Academically Related Activities

The Federal Student Aid Handbook identifies the following parameters regarding academic attendance and academically-related activities in relation to Title IV funding.

Academically related activities include but are not limited to:

Physically attending class where there is an opportunity for direct interaction between the instructor and students;
Submitting an academic assignment;
Taking an exam, completing an interactive tutorial, or participating in a computer-assisted instruction;
Attending a study group that is assigned by the college;
Participating 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.

Examples that are not considered evidence or proof of academic activities or academic engagement with the college include but are not limited to:

Living in institutional housing;
Participating in the school’s meal plan;
Logging in to an online class without active participation;
Participating in counseling or advising.

The Federal Student Aid Handbook specifically states that documenting that a student logged into an online class is not sufficient to demonstrate academic attendance. The College must demonstrate student participation in class or via other academic activities.

Examples of online academically related activities may include but are not limited to:

Participation in an academically relevant online discussion;
Contact (to include email) with the faculty member to ask a course-related question;
Student submission of an academic assignment;
Student submission of an exam;
Documented student interaction in an interactive tutorial or computer-assisted instruction (third-party software);
Posting in an online study group assigned by the instructor/institution.

Policy

A grade of FN is posted for any student who has not attended class during the first seven (7) calendar days of the course’s start. In a class that is not in-person, the student must have demonstrated participation by completing an academically relevant task as defined in the definitions section of this policy.

Students are responsible for attending and actively participating in their courses within the first seven (7) calendar days of each course’s start. Attendance or participation in one course does not qualify as proof of attendance or participation in other courses.

A grade of FN may prevent all or some of a student’s financial aid award from applying to a course, and/or may force a recalculation of financial aid awarded before the posting of an FN grade.

An FN grade is final but does not affect a student’s grade point average. Posting a grade of FN restricts student access to any content for that course, including electronic access to the Learning Management System.

Removal of an FN grade is at the discretion of the instructor. Faculty have the authority and right to uphold a grade of FN and are under no obligation to reinstate a student if the student has met the conditions for a grade of FN. If a student does not agree with an issued grade, the student may appeal the grade using the criteria outlined in the College's Grade Appeal Policy.