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Attendance Policy

Class attendance, preparation, and participation are integral to a student's academic success. Active attendance is determined by a student's continued participation and attendance in registered courses. As a result, the following attendance related policies apply to all students attending West Coast University.

University Attendance:

The university deems any student that has not attended for more than 14 calendar days, including holidays, breaks, and weekends, to have withdrawn from the institution. This determination will be made no later than 14 days after the student’s last date of attendance as determined by attendance records in the student information system. Students that are withdrawn for non-attendance will receive a WF (Withdrawal-Fail) or WNP (Withdrawal No-Pass) grade for all in progress courses at the time of the withdrawal.

Intent to Continue:

Eligible students who stop attending class may provide written confirmation of their attendance in a future module within the same payment period rather than being withdrawn from the University so long as their official Intent to Continue form is received before they have missed 14 consecutive calendar days, including holidays and weekends.

To qualify for a W Withdrawal grade:

  • The approved Intent to Continue is received by the Office of the Registrar on or before the published Withdrawal Date outlined on the Academic Calendar.

To qualify for a WP, WF, or WNP withdrawal grade:

  • The approved Intent to Continue is received by the Office of the Registrar after the published Withdrawal date found on the Academic Calendar.

Students who fail to return by the add/drop period of the next term will be withdrawn from the University with a date of determination of no more than 14 days from their scheduled return date.  Should a student require an extension to their Intent to Continue due to an extenuating circumstance, the student must provide a written request prior to the return date of their original Intent to Continue request.

The Intent to Continue policy does not supersede the add/drop policy, please refer to that section of the catalog to ensure understanding regarding requirements to continue attendance specific to new terms based on the add/drop policy.

The Intent to Continue policy also does not supersede the Refund for Dropped Courses policy. Students that attend after the add drop period and subsequently stop attending are responsible for tuition charges for all courses attended beyond add drop, even if they exercise the intent to continue. Please refer to the Withdrawal and Refund Policies section of the catalog.

While attending the APPE portion of their program, students attending the Doctor of Pharmacy program will be withdrawn if they fail to provide an intent to return within 14 days of their last date of attendance or if they fail to return on the date specified in their intent to return. Note, students that submit an intent to return will be considered actively engaged for up to forty-five (45) days from the last date of attendance. The date of determination for students attending the Doctor of Pharmacy program will remain 14 calendar days after the last date of attendance regardless of whether an intent to return was provided or not. To ensure students understand the attendance requirements, West Coast University will make every attempt to collect the intent to return on or before the last day attendance. 

Course Attendance:

The university also maintains standards regarding attendance for all courses attended. Students will be withdrawn from scheduled course(s) if the standards below are not met:  

  1. Students must have recorded attendance in scheduled courses by the end of the add/drop period or they will be unregistered from the course(s).
  2. Students must not exceed fourteen (14) consecutive calendar days of non-attendance in online asynchronous course(s), including holidays, or they will be withdrawn from the course with a failing grade of WF (Withdrawal-Fail) and/or WNP (Withdrawal No-Pass) in their course(s).  
  3. Students must not exceed the percentage threshold outlined below or they will be withdrawn from the course with a failing grade of WF (Withdrawal-Fail) and/or WNP (Withdrawal No-Pass) in their course(s).

Program

Face-to-Face, Blended, and Online Synchronous Courses: Maximum Percent of Absences (time missed in live instruction)

General Education

30%

Nursing

Theory 20%

Clinical 10%*

Dental Hygiene

Theory 20%

Clinical 0%*

Pharmacy

Theory Courses 20%

Clinical 0%*

Occupational Therapy

Didactic and Lab Courses 20%

Clinical Courses 0%*

Physical Therapy

Didactic and Lab Courses 10%

Clinical Courses 0%*
Physician Assistant - California

Didactic/lab 20%

Clinical Experience 0%*
Physician Assistant - Texas

Didactic/Lab 20%

Clinical Experience 0%*

*Students are required to make-up any missed clinical hours.

Please note because of the unique requirement of each academic offering, additional details are provided below. Students are also advised to review their programmatic handbook.

Attendance Policy Details by Delivery Modality

(1) Face-to-Face Courses: Each student participating in a face-to-face course is expected to actively participate through in-person, on campus attendance in each defined course. Absences in excess of the limits stated above will result in a grade of “WF (Withdrawal-Fail)”.

(2a) Online Courses, Asynchronous Learning: Each student participating in an online course with asynchronous learning (without live instruction) is expected to actively participate through Academically Related Activities ("ARA"), all of which contribute to the students' overall academic goals.

Academically Related Activities are used to determine a student's official last date of attendance and corresponding enrollment status at the University. ARAs are also used to determine the effective date of active and withdrawn enrollment statuses.

The following activities that occur on a weekly basis after the course start date and on or before the course end date will be considered Academically Related Activities:

  1. Submission of a gradable assignment, such as a paper, test, exam or quiz.
  2. Participation in a gradable online discussion, as directed by an instructor, with classmates, in a way that is substantively and academically related to the enrolled course.
  3. Participation in a gradable online discussion with an instructor (as defined by the University's Guidelines for Substantive Interaction Policy) in a way that is substantively and academically related to the enrolled course.

The purpose of substantive interaction in an online discussion forum or thread is to promote comprehension of the academic topic through a collaborative, collective and interactive conversation. Substantive interaction involves a sustained, interactive communication. A substantive post adds to the discussion and encourages a response from fellow students. A student's discussion post may include a well thought out opinion that applies ideas relevant to the course content. It may compare and contrast the posts of others, perceptions of each student experience of facts may also vary based on the student's perception. In some cases, the values of an outcome may be explored that further expands on the discussion thread. By substantively interacting, it opens up the lines of communication with fellow classmates and instructors to help foster and promote a deeper academic understanding of the topics discussed in the course, which will contribute to student academic achievement. Some examples of substantive posts that will be considered an ARA:

  • Making associations between coursework readings and the interactive discussion.
  • Apply lessons from your work, clinical rotations, and/or life to the interactive discussion.
  • Ask additional questions of your classmates.
  • Explain why you agree or disagree, offering specific examples to support your beliefs.
  • Craft comprehensive academic thoughts on the academic topic that are at least 25 words.

Some examples of non-substantive posts that will not be considered an ARA:

  • Discuss topics unrelated to the academic coursework (i.e., the plot line of your favorite television show).
  • Mocking or insulting classmates for their opinions.
  • Asking questions of the instructor that are not academically substantive in nature or related to the specific course (i.e., "will this test be hard?").
  • Offering a two word response like "I disagree," without further explanation.
  • Merely logging into an online course without active participation (as described above) does not constitute attendance.
  • Work submitted outside the Learning Management System does not count toward attendance.

A student is considered to be in continuous attendance as long as no more than fourteen (14) calendar days exist between ARAs.

During the add/drop period, students are required to establish class participation by logging into each course before the end of the add/drop period and submit a required assignment/test/quiz/paper. Students who log into the course(s) within the add/drop period of the term start date but fail to participate academically will be administratively withdrawn from the course(s).

After the add/drop period, students' participation and substantive interaction for academic attendance will be tracked using the tools within the learning management system (LMS). Throughout the term, students must participate in such a way as to ensure successful completion of the course by the end of the term (i.e., regularly submitting assignments and continuing to substantively interact with other students and the instructor). Students are expected to abide by the institution's Attendance Policy and Online Student Attendance Requirements. Students who do not engage in an ARA for a 14 consecutive calendar day period (including holidays and scheduled breaks) will be administratively withdrawn for lack of participation/substantive interaction, resulting in a grade of "WF (Withdrawal-Fail)" or "WNP (Withdrawal-No Pass)" recorded on the student's academic transcript.

A "class week" for online asynchronous learning courses starts on a Monday and ends on the following Sunday at 11:59 PM PST.

(2b) Online Courses, Synchronous Learning: Each student participating in an online course with synchronous learning (live instruction) is expected to actively participate through in-person, online attendance in each defined course. Absences in excess of the limits stated in the Face-to-Face section / chart will result in a grade of “WF (Withdrawal-Fail)”.

Online courses with synchronous learning are those in which all students and the faculty are online at the same time (e.g., attend a video conference class session; take an online quiz, test, or exam; engage in an assigned group). Attendance for courses with online synchronous learning is taken in a similar manner as on-ground / face-to-face web enhanced courses (i.e., time spent in live instruction).

(3) Blended Courses: Blended modality courses are subject to both the on-ground / face-to-face course and either the online asynchronous or online synchronous course attendance policies. Online asynchronous or online synchronous learning in blended courses is determined by each academic program. For blended courses with online synchronous learning, absences in excess of the limits stated in the Face-to-Face section / chart will result in a grade of “WF (Withdrawal-Fail)”.

For blended courses, the "class week" corresponds to the week between the on-campus meeting times. For example, if the on-campus portion meets on Tuesdays, the related online portion begins that same Tuesday and ends the following Monday at 11:59 PM PST.

Additional Attendance Policy Details

Determining Last Date of Attendance: A student's last day of attendance will be the last recorded day the student attended an on-ground class or online synchronous class or for those students taking an online asynchronous class, the last day the student participated in an academically related activity, as defined under the Online Course, Asynchronous Learning section.

Military Duty: Students whose military service requires them to be absent from their scheduled classes will not be penalized. The student must provide the appropriate program Dean/Director/Chair with written documentation verifying the required military leave and length of time requested. Students who are absent for more than the maximum allowed absences for the program including time for military service, will need to take a Leave of Absence.

Miami Campus - Veteran's Attendance Policy: Early departures, class cuts, tardies, etc., for any portion of a class period will be counted as unexcused absences. In addition, each minute missed will be counted toward overall time absent from the course. Additionally, students who exceed the published absence allowances in the University Catalog will be dropped from the course.

Students exceeding 20% total absences in a calendar month will have their Veteran Affairs Benefits terminated for unsatisfactory attendance. In order to show that the cause of unsatisfactory attendance has been removed, students must show good attendance (as defined) for one calendar month after being terminated for unsatisfactory attendance. After such time, the student may be recertified for VA education benefits. The student's attendance record will be retained in the veteran's file for USDVA and SAA audit purposes. 

Clinical Attendance Policy - Nursing

Students are expected to be present and prepared to begin all clinical (includes skills lab, simulation center, and clinical experiences) shifts at the scheduled start time. Students are not to contact the clinical site directly for a make-up experience as this will be assigned by the campus. There are no unexcused clinical absences and all absences must be approved and must be due to extenuating circumstances.  

If the absence is not approved, as extenuating, then the student will not be able to make up the clinical time, thus not meeting the direct care hours as prescribed by the state Boards of Registered Nursing and will receive a withdrawal/NP*** for the course. 

A student may only miss a maximum of 10% of the total scheduled course hours as required by the syllabus*. In addition, students may not miss more than one (1) in-person clinical shift. Any absences in excess of the 10% total or in excess of one (1) in-person clinical shift will result in withdrawal/NP in the course.

Every course has a minimum number of direct clinical hours that must be met and if a student absence prevents achievement of those required hours, students cannot meet the objectives of the course and therefore would result in a withdrawal/NP in that course.
* The clinical hours required are determined by the campus’s state board of nursing and if the required hours are not met, students may not be able to meet the requirements of the course, and this would result in a withdrawal/NP in the course.

Unapproved-documented clinical absences will result in course withdrawal or failure which in turn could lead to a delay in program progression due to clinical space availability.

Clinical Tardiness

Arrival after the scheduled start time constitutes tardiness.  

Regardless of the amount of time a student is tardy, if a clinical site prohibits a student from joining the in-person clinical shift late, the student will be considered absent and beholden to the attendance policy as stated above.

Additional clinical activities will be given to the clinical faculty by the Lead instructor and will be related to the course.

*Clinical: Denotes skills lab, simulation center or clinical experiences.

**Documented Extenuating Circumstance: Death in the family; auto accident; documented illness of self or immediate family member (spouse, child, parent, and grandparent); extreme weather (hurricane, fires) wedding (if the student informs the course and clinical faculty member(s) no later than week 5 of the previous term).

The following are not considered extenuating circumstances:

  • Childcare
  • Work Schedule Conflicts
  • Transportation
  • Traffic

***Withdrawal – No Pass (WNP): Nursing Corequisite Course Drop Policy:

Pre-licensure Nursing students who are enrolled in courses with corequisites must maintain enrollment in both courses throughout the term. If a student is seeking to drop, or is dropped/withdrawn from a course with a corequisite, the co-requisite course will also be dropped. The drop of the corequisite will not count as an unsuccessful attempt. When a student drops, or is dropped/withdrawn from a course with a corequisite after the Withdrawal (W) deadline, as published in the University Catalog, the student will be permitted to continue in the corequisite course.