Academic Information
Petitions
Undergraduate Students:
In unusual circumstances, students may request a change to their academic record, a course substitution, or an exception to an academic regulation or program requirement.
Actions one may petition include (but are not limited to):
- Retroactively add, drop, or withdraw from a course after the appropriate deadline.
- Regulation waiver: Request waiver of institutional policy or requirement
- Appeal a course substitution; Substitute a course for a program requirement
To initiate a petition, complete and submit the Undergraduate Petition Form, located on the Enrollment Services Forms webpage, for consideration by the Petitions Committee at their monthly meeting. The Undergraduate Petition Form is not for appeals for readmission or to appeal a grade. Final course grade appeals should be sent to the college offering the course, following the college’s procedure.
The Undergraduate Petitions Committee will review all petitions on a case-by-case basis to determine appropriate action. Requests for retroactive adjustments must be supported by documentation of extenuating circumstances. Extenuating circumstances are situations that arise during the semester that significantly interfere with the student’s academic work and/or ability to attend classes. These circumstances must be beyond the student’s control, such as serious injury or illness, death of an immediate family member, disability, military call to active duty, or other unanticipated issues.
Any retroactive petition must be submitted within 12 calendar months of the last day of classes of the full academic term for which the adjustment is requested. Petitions submitted after this time period must explain and document why the retroactive action being sought was delayed.
If the committee denies a petition, a student may appeal one time, by the last day of classes of the following academic term, with substantial and new information. To appeal a denied petition, petitioners should submit a request for an appeal using the Undergraduate Petition Form on the Enrollment Services Forms and Resources website. A denial of an appeal is considered to be the final decision of the committee; a second appeal will ordinarily not be considered by the committee.
After a degree has been awarded to a student, his or her record is closed. The committee will consider requests after a degree has been awarded only when they involve clerical or procedural errors. The committee will not consider retroactive drops or withdrawals after a degree has been awarded.
Administrative Adjustment: The University Registrar may approve petitions that involve university or administrative errors or require a retroactive administrative drop for verified non-attendance. Such petitions must meet all other standards set forth by the committee and the Faculty Senate. The University Registrar will notify the Undergraduate Petitions Committee of any such approvals.
For more information, please refer to Wright State Policy 4090.
Graduate Students:
Applicants and students who wish to deviate from policies governing graduate students may submit a petition to the College of Graduate Programs and Honors Studies requesting a waiver of a policy. Please be aware, however, that some policies are tied to accreditation standards and other external regulations and consequently may not be waived.
Petition guidelines:
- Petitions requesting a waiver of an academic policy should include the recommendation of the student’s official program-level academic advisor.
- Petitions relating to courses (e.g., withdrawals, registration corrections, etc.) must also include the course instructor’s recommendation.
- Petitions requesting an extension to the seven-year limit for completing master’s degree requirements (Policy 5520), the ten-year limit for completing doctoral degree requirements (Policy 5720.3), or the five-year limit for completing certificate requirements (Policy 5810.2) should include the anticipated graduation date (advisors should stipulate on the petition which courses that will be more than seven/ten/five years old will remain valid for the program requirements).
- Petitions to waive university policy are in effect appeals of an otherwise official decision. The results of the petition process thus may not be further appealed.
To initiate the process, complete and submit the Graduate Academic Petition Form to the College of Graduate Programs and Honors Studies. All petitions shall include a rationale with supporting documentation for a waiver of any policy or standard. Students who do not have active student status (Policy 5220) or have not been admitted into a graduate status cannot petition an academic policy unless the request involves a documented clerical or procedural error regarding an already awarded degree.
When petitions request a waiver of a program requirement that is not a policy or procedure under the College of Graduate Programs and Honors Studies’ authority, the College of Graduate Programs and Honors Studies may request that academic programs make a final decision and notify the students.
Students wishing to appeal or request a grade change should follow the academic mediation procedure of the student’s college or school.
After a degree has been awarded, the student’s record is closed. The College of Graduate Programs and Honors Studies and (as appropriate) the Graduate Student Affairs Committee (GSAC) will consider requests after a degree has been awarded only when they involve clerical or procedural errors. Neither the Graduate School nor GSAC will consider retroactive drops or withdrawals after a degree has been awarded.
Administrative Adjustment: The University Registrar may approve petitions that involve university or administrative errors or require a retroactive administrative drop for verified non-attendance,
Credit Hours
Wright State University operates on a semester calendar. The academic year is divided into two semesters (fall and spring) and summer sessions. Each class is assigned a number of credit hours. The minimum full-time undergraduate load is 12 credit hours per semester. The minimum full-time graduate load is 6 credit hours per semester (policy 4002).
Definition of a semester credit hour
A “credit hour” is an approximate measure of effort/time required for a typical student to achieve the learning outcomes of an educational experience. Typically, a credit hour represents 750 minutes of formalized instruction accompanied by an average of twice that amount of time at out-of-class assignments (1,500 minutes). Effort/time calculations may differ by the modality of instruction, but shall require a minimum of 2,250 total minutes of student effort/time per credit hour, and shall remain consistent with Federal Credit Hour Definitions [34CFR 600.2].
Equivalence of course offerings
Student learning outcomes for a course, and the approximate amount of student effort/time for a typical student required to meet those objectives, shall be reasonably equivalent regardless of the instructor or the modality of instruction used. The faculty is responsible for the communication of course learning outcomes, clearly communicating the goals of unsupervised learning effort/time (homework), and assessing the achievement of individual student mastery of the course learning outcomes. Every course offering is expected to have approximately equivalent student learning outcome goals and to require approximately the same amount of student effort, regardless of the particular instructor of record or the modality of instruction. For example, online courses which have traditional lecture course equivalents are expected to require and demonstrate equivalent student effort/time and achievement of student learning outcomes. The responsibility for the oversight of equivalence lies both with the instructor of record of each instance of the course specifically and the curricular oversight bodies of the faculty in general.
For additional information on the assignment of credit hours of various course modalities, see Policy 4002.2.
Graduate student non-contact course credit
Non-Contact Course Credit is defined as credit hours earned for activities such as laboratory work, studio work, internships, practica, experiential learning activities, independent studies, independent readings, theses, dissertations, and other academic work. Any WSU graduate student engaged in non-contact academic work will receive credit for that work only if it is performed under the supervision of and with approval from a WSU faculty member, with a formal written agreement noting the nature of the academic work and filed with the appropriate program or department. Students engaged in non-contact academic work should typically spend no less than 37.5 hours per semester on that work for each credit hour earned (Policy 5350).
Academic Load
Undergraduate students will normally not be able to register for more than 20 hours of undergraduate credit. For an exception to policy 3404, students must submit the completed Registration Activity Form to Enrollment Services.
Graduate students may not register for more than 16 hours of graduate credit. Students appointed as graduate assistants shall register in accordance with the requirements specified in Policy 5120. In order for a student to deviate from the regular registration limits listed above, the student’s official faculty advisor must submit a written request to the Dean of the Graduate School for an exception.
Class Attendance
Wright State University recognizes that students who regularly attend and actively participate in classes taught in any format (face-to-face, online, hybrid, etc.) are more likely to succeed; therefore, Wright State expects students to attend classes regularly and punctually and to be prepared for class meetings (Policy 3430.2).
Instructors establish attendance policies and penalties for absences for individual courses; penalties may include lowering of the grade or even failure if the absences exceed those permitted by the instructor. Such policies and penalties should be included in the course syllabus and available to the students at the first class meeting, or the first day of the term for online courses.
Students must establish attendance or complete an academically related activity for each individual course.
For face-to-face, mostly or partially online courses, the establishment of attendance means students must attend/participate in at least one class session or complete an academic-related activity as described below.
For fully online courses, documenting that a student has logged into an online class is not sufficient, by itself, to demonstrate attendance. Examples of participation in an academically related activity in an online class include:
- 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 Classification of Undergraduate Students
Academic classification for undergraduate students will be determined using semester credit hour equivalents. Courses taken under quarter-term credit hours will be converted to semester credit hours at a ratio of 3 quarter credit hours to 2 semester credit hours (policy 3320).
Freshmen classification is assigned for students who have completed 1-29.9 semester hours. Sophomore classification is assigned for students who have completed 30-59.9 semester hours. Junior classification is assigned to students who have completed 60-89.9 semester hours. Senior classification is assigned to students who have completed 90+ semester hours.
Final Examinations
Faculty shall use the final examination period for its intended purpose by administering exams or leading other culminating class experiences during the final examination time period designated by the Registrar unless the appropriate department chair or dean has provided written approval for a deviation from this requirement.
Faculty will not give comprehensive final exams during the last week of classes. If a faculty member schedules a comprehensive final exam, it shall be given during the time period designated by the Registrar unless the appropriate department chair or dean has provided written approval for a deviation from this requirement (policy 2350).
The published final examination schedule can be located on the Enrollment Services page.
Final Grades and Transcripts
Grade reports are made available to students through WINGS Express. Grade reports are not mailed or e-mailed to students or parents from WSU. Parents/guardians may only access student grades if the student has granted proxy access.
Students who notice discrepancies with grades should contact Enrollment Services within 30 days.
Current students may use WING Express to order official transcripts. Alumni/former students may access the National Student Clearinghouse to order transcripts online. Unofficial transcripts can be viewed through WINGS Express > Registration & Records page.
For questions about transcript requests, please contact Enrollment Services.
Degree Audit (uAchieve)
The degree audit, uAchieve, is the degree audit reporting system utilized at WSU. Students can log into uAchieve through WINGS Express. The degree audit provides students with a report of their progress toward completion of the requirements for a specific program, including:
- Minimum number of hours required
- Multicultural and Writing Intensive requirements (applies undergraduate students only)
- Upper-Level Hour requirements (applies undergraduate students only)
- Residency requirements
- Core (general education) requirements (applies undergraduate students only)
- Major requirements
- Minor requirements (applies undergraduate students only)
- Certificate requirements
- Microcredential requirements
The degree audit will note if a requirement has or has not been fulfilled. This is a useful tool to track academic progress and plan for future terms. Students should run a copy of their degree audit prior to enrollment in future semesters and again after enrollment to ensure the scheduled classes fulfill academic requirements as expected.
Step-by-step instructions on how to run a degree audit and other useful tools can be found on the Career and Academic Advising page.
In addition to using the degree audit, students are encouraged to regularly meet with their academic and faculty advisors. The degree audit is not a substitute for advising.
Degree Revocation Policy
Nonacademic sanctions may be imposed by the Academic Integrity Hearing Panel (AIHP) in addition to the academic sanction that was issued by the faculty member. The AIHP may issue any sanction set forth in the Code of Student Conduct. Nonacademic sanctions are automatically considered by the panel for repeat offenses or if the student fails to initially meet with the professor to discuss the allegations.
Revocation of Degree: This sanction may be imposed by the AIHP when a student has been found responsible of a serious violation of the Academic Integrity Policy. Plagiarism of a graduate thesis or dissertation discovered after a student has graduated may result in the revocation of the student’s degree.
For additional information on Academic Integrity Standards and Process for Misconduct, please refer to Wright State policy 3710.
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