Best Practices for All Students

CIIS, like all universities, must rely on its students to know its policies and deadlines. CIIS’ policies will not be identical to other colleges you’ve attended.  Ignorance of policies (i.e., “No one told me.”) are not grounds for an exception to them. Check the Catalog when it’s newly published each year, as policies change. Reminders are sent about deadlines, but do not depend on these.

CIIS issues all students an e-mail account and expects them to check it, to not share passwords, and to send correspondence from it. This ensure that you, and only you, are receiving the e-mails we send and that e-mails we receive are coming from you.

Policy Highlights

• The registration deadlines apply to all courses, even shorter ones that start mid-semester.
• Students may not sit in on courses for which they’re not registered. The only exception is during the first week of the semester, and only if they have the instructor’s consent.
• Students who miss more than 20% of a course – including excused or unexcused absences – fail it. Three instances of being tardy are equivalent to one absence.
• Students wanting a grade of Incomplete need to submit an Incomplete Grade Request Form to the instructor. A verbal or e-mail conversation with the instructor in which permission is granted is insufficient. The Registrar’s Office must receive this form from the instructor by the grade submission deadline.

Students are expected to complete their registration activity by the registration deadlines, which are found in the academic calendar. Adding courses afterward requires a hard copy registration and a written appeal, approved by the instructor and the program chair. Withdrawing from a course requires a hard copy registration form with the instructor’s signature. The date of a transaction is the date the Registrar’s Office receives it. Obtain all signatures on forms before submitting them, as the Registrar’s Office does not hold forms in a pending status. Students who rely on others – faculty members, program coordinators, other students, etc. – to submit their forms usually have problems.

The unofficial transcript can be viewed anytime at no charge. Check to confirm your registration transactions are correct and your grades appear. The Registrar’s Office reaches out to instructors with missing grades and, after the submission deadline, students should do the same. A missing grade will prevent the degree from being conferred, even if the course isn’t a required one, and may also have future financial aid eligibility consequences.

Students are held to the degree requirements in their Catalog of the year of their admission (or re-admission). Consult this before registering. Any course that does not fulfill a requirement does not contribute to the half-time enrollments status minimum that qualifies a student for financial aid. To request an exception to the requirements, submit the Program Modification form, signed by your program chair, to the Registrar’s Office.

If you put yourself on a waitlist, check your CIIS student email account regularly. Should a seat become availalbe, the Registrar’s Office emails the student, inviting them to register for it within three days. If they do not register, they're dropped from the waitlist. They may add themselves back to the waitlsit but will be put at the bottom.

Students have until the last day of the following semester to dispute their records, after which, the record is locked.