Credits, Course Substitutions, Prerequisites, Overload

Award of Credit

• Credits and grade points shall be awarded only for those University courses for which a student is properly registered.
• Credits, not grade points, for approved courses taken by a Norwich student at other accredited institutions may be transferred, subject to the residence requirement and provided grades earned are C or higher.
• Federal regulation defines a credit hour as an amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that is an institutional established equivalence that reasonably approximates
  1. Not less than – one hour of classroom, or direct faculty instruction, and a minimum of two hours of out of class student work each week, for approximately fifteen weeks for one semester, or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time; or
  2. At least an equivalent amount of work as required in paragraph (1) above for other academic activities as established by the institution including laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours.

Credits for Graduation

• Graduation requirements are measured in courses and credits. Courses and credits re­quired for graduation are specified within each Major or Minor Curriculum Map.
• A student will receive the equivalent of one three-credit course to fulfill published credit or course requirements as a free elective in a Major or Minor when three one-credit courses in the same discipline are combined. A student is limited to one such course. One-credit ROTC courses and courses numbered below 100 may not be used.
• See the Graduation Requirements policy for further graduation requirements.
   

Requests for Course Equivalency or Exemption

1. To waive a prerequisite course requirement students must present the adviser's affirma­tive recommendation to the course’s department chair for approval. The basis for such a waiver will be the student’s demonstrated knowledge in the area concerned.
2. To waive a degree course requirement on the basis of an exemption, examination, or other documented extra institutional learning; a student must present the affirmative recommendations of major and course department chairs and academic adviser on a Degree Program Waiver /Substitutions form . The credits for the waived course must be replaced by free electives.
3. To obtain credits and grade points for a course on the basis of an equivalency examination, a student must present the affirmative recom­mendations of the major and course department chair and the academic adviser on the form. Second semester seniors are not eligible for an equivalency examination unless an Academic Peti­tion is approved not later than one week after mid-semester grades are due. The repeat grade policy does not apply to credits earned by way of an equivalency examination.
4. Course equivalency by examination is treated as transfer credit and is subject to the limits described below.c.  If the examination is for credits and grade points, a grade will be as­signed and appropriate grade points awarded, unless the Pass/Fail option is selected prior to the administering of the examination

• Examinations for course equivalency, or exemption given at Norwich University, will be given only if a nationally validated examination covering the same subject matter is not available. Examinations for EN 101 and EN 102 are an exception and may be administered at the beginning of the fall and spring semesters to newly admitted students.
• Before administering an exemption or an equivalency examination, Department Chairs/Directors should determine whether the student wishes to waive the course require­ment, or wishes to obtain credits and grade points for the course. 
  • An examination for waiver should be designed to test the student’s general knowledge and competency in the tested area.
  • An examination for credits and grade points should be typical of a final examination that covers the entire course con­tent. Where appropriate, term papers, projects, etc. may also be required.
  • An exemption, or equivalency examination, for laboratory courses may require demonstrated laboratory proficiency.
• An extra tuition charge may be assessed by the Bursar’s office for examinations.
• Credits, not grade points, are to be awarded when evidence that the minimum required grade has been achieved on a nationally validated examination, such as, Advanced Placement, CLEP, International Baccalaureate examinations.

Prerequisites

Students shall not register for a course having prerequisites without having successfully com­pleted those prerequisites, or be allowed to remain scheduled for the successive course if the prerequisite course was not completed successfully. Prerequisites are identified in Course Descriptions.

Co-requisites

Students shall not register for courses having co-requisites without registering for the co-req­uisite course. Students must drop, or withdraw, from all co-requisite courses simultaneously.  Co-requisites are identified in Course Descriptions.

Conflicts

Students shall not schedule courses which require conflicting hours of attendance unless the responsibility for resolution of the conflict is accepted in writing on the course registration form by all of the faculty members and College Deans.

Extra Credit Charges (Course Load & Overload)

Extra credit charges will be applied at the part-time rate for credits over 19, except as specified differently in the Major curriculum. This excludes ROTC courses, LD 101 and MU 260.

• MU 200 Applied Music is subject to the extra credit charge.
• Students should be familiar with published Fees & Financial Policy as published on the Bursar's website.
• There will be no charge for extra courses if they are dropped before the Add/Drop deadline.
   

Students no longer are limited to a certain number of credits per term (unless they are are on academic probation or not fully admitted).