Course Load/Overload
The normal load of a student is eight units for each academic year. The student is expected to enroll in four units in each regular term; however, three units constitutes full-time status. A minimum of 33 academic units (including at least one unit of intensive learning), and two one-fourth units of physical education activities (or the equivalent) should be completed over a four-year period.
The College recognizes that some students must complete their study as rapidly as is consistent with sound academic standards. Students may therefore carry an academic overload commensurate with their ability.
An overload fee is charged for each full unit taken in excess of five units. Approval to enroll in six or more units requires written permission from the Assistant Vice President for Academic Operations.
Further acceleration is possible by enrolling in Intensive Learning terms (beyond the one required) and/or Summer sessions. A student may enter the College in January, June, July, or August and may complete the requirements for a degree in three regular sessions (i.e., six semesters) and three Summer sessions.
Online Courses
Online courses may be offered by faculty members at Roanoke College. Courses taken online may be in an asynchronous format (with no set meeting time) or a synchronous format (with regularly occurring meeting times). Note that asynchronous courses, despite having no set meeting time, must still have assignment deadlines to adhere to college-wide midterm and final grading deadlines.
With the exception of full-time degree-seeking non-transfer students in their first two semesters, undergraduate students in good academic standing may take up to 2 units of coursework in an online format during a regular fall or spring semester. Any student may take online courses in the summer, subject to the overall limit on the number of summer courses. As they are becoming acclimated to college work and to the Roanoke College community, new, full-time, non-transfer, degree-seeking students are limited to 1 unit of online coursework in their first year (excluding summer) at Roanoke. Exceptions to these limits must be approved by the Panel on Admission, Readmission, and Appeals (PARA).
Repeating Courses
Students may repeat any course except for prerequisites for courses that have already been taken or are currently being taken. Such prerequisite courses may be repeated only with the approval of the department. All grades for courses will be reported on transcripts, but only the most recent grade for any given course will be used to compute the student’s grade point average, with the exception of grades of “XF” which will be used in computing the grade point average. A grade of “W”, resulting from a student’s withdrawal from a repeated course, will not remove a previous grade for that course, nor will courses retaken on an audit (AU) basis. Students who are no longer part of the Honors Program may use the corresponding General Education course to replace the grades from any courses from the Honors curriculum (HNRS).
Units for a repeated course that has previously been passed will be counted only once toward graduation. A student’s academic standing and grade point average in any given semester will not be recalculated retroactively when a course is repeated in a later semester. Upon graduation, courses cannot be taken on a repeat basis. Transcripts will assign units attempted for each time a course is taken, but will mark repeated courses “R” to indicate that they are not to be assigned quality points or used in computing the grade point average.