ACADEUM POLICY
Catawba College is a member institution with Acadeum (formerly “College Consortium”), which is a technology platform that allows for the sharing of online courses across member institutions. Catawba College serves as a “Home Institution” for our students, and students take courses from a “Teaching Institution”. Both transfer courses and consortial courses are offered through Acadeum. A consortial course is considered equivalent to a Catawba course for the purposes of financial aid, registration, residency, minimum and maximum hours per term, grade replacement, honor code, and GPA. The grade earned is recorded on the Catawba transcript and included in GPA calculations. A transfer course does not have the same characteristics (please see appropriate policies in the Catalog). Acadeum courses are available to students in our Catawba Online and Graduate Programs and they may take Acadeum courses that are approved by the appropriate department during any semester.
1. Students can take Acadeum courses subject to tuition, probation, and maximum credit hour term policies.
2. For all courses offered through Acadeum, the academic department of the prefix approves course equivalency such that every course from every participating school is individually approved. The Chair (or Dean, if applicable) of the department approves the course, and may remove approval as needed.
3. The Associate Dean of Online Learning ensures that Acadeum courses meet appropriate standards and approvals before being available for students.
4. The Associate Dean of Online Learning ensures that the student meets all minimum requirements for participating in Acadeum courses.
5. Traditional students may not take Acadeum courses during the Fall or Spring semesters. Exceptions to this policy must be approved by the Academic Policies and Standards Committee.
6. During the Summer and Winter terms, Traditional students may take Acadeum courses that are approved by the appropriate department and the Associate Dean of Online Learning without seeking ACPOL approval.
7. Traditional students may not take Acadeum courses during the Summer or Winter terms to replace the grade of a course taken at Catawba. Exceptions to this policy must be approved by the Academic Policies and Standards committee BEFORE the student registers for the course. Under no circumstance will a retroactive approval be granted by ACPOL. Students should consult with their advisor, the approved list of Acadeum courses, and the Acadeum website for available courses to include in their petition.
8. Students enrolled in Acadeum courses who plan to graduate will not be eligible for degree conferral if the Acadeum course grade is not recorded by the Teaching Institution prior to the advertised Catawba College deadline. Students in this situation will be moved to the next conferral date.
9. Students should attempt to take courses through other “teaching institutions” where the amount of course credit is equal to the amount of credit for the equivalent Catawba course. However, when this is not possible and,
a. The credit at the teaching institution is higher than Catawba’s credit: The number of credits transcripted will match the credits of the equivalent Catawba course and the same grade will be applied to the Catawba GPA. However, the additional credits will be transferred in as transient/transfer credits (no grade applied to GPA), provided that a grade of “C-“ or better was earned for the transcripted course.
b. The credit at the teaching institution is lower than Catawba’s credit: The number of credits transcripted will be the same number of credits awarded by the teaching institution. If the lower number of hours impacts a departmental graduation requirement for a major, then the department chair will be consulted to determine if the graduation requirement will be met upon completion of course. The lower number of hours may be used toward a general education requirement but cannot solely be used to complete a general education requirement with a higher number of credit hours.