19 Course Cancellations

Rationale:  The goal is to best support students as course cancellation decisions are made.

Guiding Principles:

• Coordinated (Instructors, Division Chairs, Registrar’s Office, Deans, Advising, Bookstore, Financial Aid, etc.)
• Student-Centered
• Timely
• Solution-focused
• Honors students’ needs
• Uses nurturing communication

Standard Operating Procedures

• One month prior to start of classes: Assistants to the Deans of Instruction, Transfer and Workforce, populate a Box folder with the Section Availability CROA Report to monitor enrollment in course sections.
  • All low enrolled courses (CTE/Transfer) will be identified in a sperate tab (below 8 for Summer and below 12 for Fall/Spring).
  • Spreadsheet will show: division, section, section title, start date, rationale for low enrolled, approved for cancel, approved for running low, alternative options for students, and course cancellation form received.
  • Deans, Division Chairs, Sr. Admin Assistants, Directors (Advising, Cardinal Central, TRIO, Dual Credit, and Sandpoint Manager), Registrar’s Office, Senior Admin Assistants (Division and Support Services) have access to the Box folder.
  • Prior to each of the course cancellation dates, Registrar’s Office notifies Deans and Division Chairs of low enrolled course sections needed for graduation.
• Chair Review Timeline 
  • • 4 weeks out: Chairs will review courses with 4 students or less and post rationales
    • 3 weeks out: Chairs will review courses with 7 students or less and post rationales
    • 2 Wednesday’s before courses start (for full-length courses): Chairs determine which sections need to run with low enrollment and which to cancel (below 8 for Summer and below 12 for Fall/Spring).
    • Rationales for keeping a course are entered into box for review by the dean.
    • Decision Criteria:
      • No other sections the students could reasonably join
      • Part of a sequence
      • Needed for graduation (as reported by Registrar’s Office) a substitution harms transfer success
      • Cannot be switched to directed study (typically not used if more than 4 students)
      • Offered on a rotating basis (once a year, once every two years)
      • NIC has made a commitment (Outreach Center, Short-term/Late-Start, Evening, etc.)
• Within 24 hours Dean reviews and approves low enrolled sections requests 
  • Deans will color code course sections as decisions are determined
    • Green:  course will run low
    • Red:  approved set to be cancelled
  • Sr. Administrative Assistant removes the faculty from the section and saves out. Then the Sr. Administrative Assistant needs to go back in and change the cap to zero, set the section status to “Hold for Cancellation” and completes the Course Update Form.
    • Form is sent to the Dean for approval with Offices cc’d on the Course Update Form:
    • Cheri Beard, Office of Instruction
    • Sheila Johnson, Bookstore
    • Bob Gibson, IT (only for IVC courses)
    • Kelly Lyons, Registrar’s Office
    • Brenna Dockter, Director of Advising
• Registrar cancels the course and an email and ReGroup text is sent to the students.
  • If there is a large number of cancellations processed in one day, a CROA refresh will be completed.
  • ReGroup Message: Your Spring 2024 schedule has changed, due to a cancellation. Please check your Cardinal mail for more information.

• After official course cancellation, Director of Advising accesses list through CROA report of cancelled student enrollments, Advising Sr. Administrative Assistant distributes rosters to advisors (professional and faculty contracted to advise in the summer) to call. Advisors call each student to help them change up their options. Captures notes in Aviso for each interaction.
  • Advising notifies Sr. Admins if additional assistance is needed in contacting students.