Last updated 5/11/21
Piloted in Summer 2021, and commencing in the 2021/22 academic year, UC Merced will recalculate financial aid after the 15th day of instruction for all undergraduate and graduate recipients based on their enrollment status in those classes which we can confirm that the student began attendance. If we are unable to document the student’s attendance in a class, via CatCourse activity or instructor reporting, aid will be adjusted to exclude the units for that class. Student will have an opportunity to appeal if they have supporting documentation confirming their attendance.
What is Academic Activity?
Campuses are required to confirm that those students receiving federal financial aid began attendance in each of their courses by confirming some sort of academically related activity. These activities include, but are not limited to, any of the following activities:
- physically attending a 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 computer-assisted instruction;
- attending a study group that is assigned by the school;
- 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.
- For distance education,
- student submission of an academic assignment,
- student submission of an exam,
- documented student participation in an interactive tutorial or computer-assisted instruction,
- a posting by the student showing the student’s participation in an online study group that is assigned by the institution,
- a posting by the student in a discussion forum showing the student’s participation in an online discussion about academic matters, and an email from the student or other documentation showing that the student-initiated contact with a faculty member to ask a question about the academic subject studied in the course.
Academic Activities do NOT include:
- living in institutional housing,
- participating in the school’s meal plan,
- logging into an online class without active participation,
- participating in academic counseling or advisement.
- course registration
Why is Certification of Academic Activity Important?
If we are unable to document a student’s academic activity in a class by the end of the Add/Drop period, their aid will be adjusted to exclude the units for that class. Students will have an opportunity to appeal if they have supporting documentation from the instructor confirming their attendance.
How Academic Activity Confirmed?
The school, not the student, must confirm academic activity. Therefore, UC Merced has developed an online Banner Tool that offers multiple ways to confirm a student’s academic activity by the Add/Drop deadline.
- CatCourse Data Extraction: We will extract the date and type of student academic activity directly from CatCourses (e.g., assignment, quiz, test) and populate in table with this data. Please note, we will not extract any of the academic activity content, just type and date.
- For faculty who do not use CatCourses, they or a designated staff member from their School will need to log into our newly developed Tool, select their class, and easily confirm academic activity for their students by the add/drop deadline.
- Faculty Initiated Drop: The Registrar’s Office is implementing functionality within CatCourses that will allow faculty the option of dropping students who have not attended and have no other academic activity. These drops must occur within the first 10-days of instruction. More information can be found here: https://registrar.ucmerced.edu/faculty-and-staff/faculty/faculty-drop.
- Provide Last Date of Activity: OIT created a Last Day of Attendance field in CatCourses for faculty to complete when submitting a non-passing final grade at the end of the term. This information will be accessible by the Financial Aid Office to determine how much aid, if any, needs to be repaid by the student and/or returned by the institution.
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- By design, our Tool will only capture academic activity from CatCourses from the date instruction begins until the end of the Add/Drop period. Therefore, we are providing an optional field for faculty to populate a student’s Last Day of Attendance (or activity) when entering a failing grade. This date is used in our financial aid withdrawal calculations to determine the percentage of aid a student earned if they left school without officially withdrawing. If a faculty member does not enter a Last Day of Attendance with a failing grade, they will likely receive a follow-up request from our office to provide this information. Additionally, the Last Day of Attendance could be used as supporting documentation for a Student Appeal if we were unable to initially document the student’s academic activity in a class by the end of the Add/Drop period.
How does a Student Appeal?
For courses showing no academic activity, an Appeal button will appear after the 15th day of instruction, that will allow the student to submit an appeal with supporting documentation from the instructor confirming their attendance. If approved, the units will be used to recalculate their financial aid eligibility.
When will Certification of Academic Activity begin?
We plan to pilot this Tool in Summer 2021, with a full implementation commencing in the 2021/22 academic year. Academic Activity will begin being provided by faculty on the first day of instruction for each term or each session in the summer.
Information for Academic Support Staff
How can I see if Academic Activity has been certified for a student or students in a course?
Faculty, or their designee (e.g., TAs, Curriculum Managers), will be able to log into the Academic Activity tool and view and/or confirm academic activity for the students in each of their courses.
Example:
If I have been designated by a faculty member (e.g., TA, Curriculum Managers) to report Academic Activity on their behalf, how do I do it?
Details coming soon.
Information for Student Services Support Staff
How should I advise a student who is worried about Academic Activity being reported for a course?
Students will have an item on their checklist reminding them of this requirements. From the checklist, they can click on the requirement and will be taken to the Academic Activity tool where they can see the status of activity for each of their courses. For additional informaion, direct students to the Student Information menu on our project website.
A message box in the upper right of the screen will indicate whether the student is missing academic activity, as shown in the example below. The Academic Activity column shows the number of the student’s academic activities recorded for each course.
Example:
Once the add/drop period has ended, the student may submit an Appeal for courses where no academic activity was recorded.
How should I advise a student who feels they were dropped from their course by an instructor in error?
Direct the student to reach out to the instructor. If the instructor approves the student to re-add into the course, the student/instructor will need to reach out to the Registrar’s Office. All re-adds will need to be completed prior to the add/drop deadline for the term.
