Attendance Requirements
Golden Gate University encourages students to attend and participate in class meetings for their courses. Active participation and engagement with course materials, instructors, and other students enhances the learning experience. The course section’s syllabus will inform students of the implications of failing to attend class meetings and the requirements for attendance that must be met for students to earn passing grades.
Students who do not begin attending in-person class meetings or participating in online courses during the first two weeks of the term, and whose absences are not approved by their instructors, may be administratively dropped from those courses by their instructors. When students are administratively dropped by their instructors, their tuition charges are credited in full, and the courses do not appear on students’ academic transcripts.
The Registrar’s Office will notify students who have been administratively dropped on the following business day. If students believe they were dropped in error, they must contact the Registrar’s Office and their instructors to request to be reinstated. If their instructor determines that an error was made, the Registrar’s Office will immediately reinstate them. If the instructor determines that the drop action was appropriate, the student may request to be reinstated in accordance with the Late Registration Process , which requires approval of both the course instructor and a senior school administrator.
When students stop attending classes after the “Last Day to Drop Course Without Tuition Charge” as published in the Academic Calendar, and do not withdraw from those courses by the “Last Day to Withdraw from Course” as published in the Academic Calendar, their instructors will calculate their last dates of attendance and report them to the Registrar’s Office. See the Last Date of Attendance (LDA) policy for more information.
Federal Student Aid, VA Education Benefits and F-1/J-1 Student Visa Programs all have attendance requirements, the consequences of which are described below:
- Federal Student Aid: If Return of Federal Student Aid calculations are required for students who are deemed to have withdrawn completely from a payment period, their last dates of attendance in courses in which they received “W” and/or “F” grades may be used in those return calculations. See the Return of Federal Student Aid Policy for more information.
- VA Education Benefits: When students receive “F” grades, their last dates of attendance (LDA) for those courses will be reported to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs unless their LDAs are within seven (7) days of the course section end dates. In addition, VA students must physically attend “in-residence” class meetings to be eligible for BAH benefits; attendance only via eLearning or attendance via web conference does not make students eligible for BAH benefits. See Veterans Affairs (VA) Educational Benefits for more information.
- F-1/J-1 Student Visa Programs: F-1/J-1 student immigration status requires students to maintain full time enrollment and to attend and pass all courses in which they are enrolled to Maintain Status. (Note: Since GGU enrolls F-1/J-1 students into graduate programs only, “C-” is the minimum passing grade to maintain status.) Non-attendance without Reduced Course Load authorization is a violation of F-1/J-1 student status and may result in SEVIS record termination.
Attendance Grievance Policy
Golden Gate University subscribes to principles of fairness of academic decisions and record keeping. It is the student’s responsibility to view their attendance records regularly to verify their accuracy and completeness. Attendance records can be viewed through the Self-Service resource found in the myGGU portal.
If the student believes their attendance was recorded in error, or that their last date of attendance (LDA) was recorded in error, the student should contact the course instructor as soon as the error is detected. It is hoped that a satisfactory resolution can be reached through meaningful and respectful dialog between the student and faculty member.
However, if a satisfactory resolution cannot be achieved, a student may file an attendance grievance using the attendance grievance form. Grievance forms must be submitted prior to the end of the term following the term for which the attendance records in question were recorded. Students who fail to begin the resolution process by this deadline forfeit their right to submit attendance grievances.
Attendance grievance forms are forwarded to the appropriate school’s administrator for review. The Office of Academic Affairs will communicate the committee’s decision to the student within 20 working days of receipt. If the school’s administrator determines the student’s attendance was recorded incorrectly, the Registrar’s Office will update the student’s record accordingly.
The school administrator’s decision is final and is not subject to further appeal.
Academic Standing
Students are required to achieve and maintain “good” academic standing as they progress toward completion of their degree or certificate programs. Students are evaluated for academic standing following each 15-week academic period. Students who are not in good academic standing will be placed on academic probation, and may eventually be academically disqualified from the university, under the standards described below.
Undergraduate Students
Good Academic Standing
To maintain “good” academic standing and to be conferred a degree or to be awarded a certificate, undergraduate students are required to achieve a minimum 2.00 (“C” average) cumulative grade-point average (GPA) in all courses taken at Golden Gate University.
Academic Probation
Undergraduate students whose GPAs fall below the minimum GPA requirement stated above will be placed on academic probation. However, students whose GPAs fall below 1.00 in either of their first two terms will be automatically academically disqualified and will not have the option of a probationary period. The probation period will be the lesser of 12 units or the units remaining for completion of their academic programs, during which time students must achieve the minimum required 2.00 cumulative GPA. Students who are on academic probation must consult with their academic advisors and receive approval of their courses prior to registering each academic period. Students will be officially removed from probation status after the completion of the trimester term in which they achieve the minimum required GPA.
Academic Disqualification
Undergraduate students who receive failing (F) grades two times for the same courses that are required for their programs will be automatically disqualified. In addition, students who are on academic probation who fail to meet the Good Academic Standing standards by the end of their probation periods (measured in units) and conditionally admitted students who fail to meet the conditions of their admission within their conditional periods (measured in units) will be academically disqualified. Students may appeal the decision to the dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies. See Academic Disqualification Appeal Process below for more information.
Disqualified students are restricted from enrolling in any courses at Golden Gate University unless their appeals are approved or they are readmitted to the university. To be considered for readmission, disqualified students must apply for admission after a period of time in which significant achievement and/or resolution of difficulties indicate a change in the conditions that contributed to their initial disqualification. One year is the minimum time period usually required for such a change in conditions. Students will be notified at the time of their disqualification of their minimum required waiting periods before they may apply for readmission. Applicants for readmission must satisfy the admission and degree requirements in effect for their programs at the time readmission. See Readmission of Former Students for more information.
Academic Disqualification Appeal Process
Undergraduate students who wish to appeal their disqualification to the dean must submit a Disqualification Appeal form via GGU4YOU, within 45 working days after the end of the specific term resulting in the disqualification. The dean (or appropriate assistant or associate dean) and the program director will review the disqualification appeal and render a decision within 10 working days of receiving the appeal. Students whose disqualification appeals are granted may enroll in courses for the trimester term that begins immediately after the date their appeals are granted. Appeal decisions are final and the student has no further appeal rights.
Graduate Students
Good Academic Standing
To maintain “good” academic standing and to be conferred a degree or to be awarded a certificate, graduate students are required to achieve a minimum 3.00 (“B” average) cumulative grade-point average (GPA) in their academic programs. Students’ program GPAs are calculated using all courses taken at GGU that are applicable to their academic program requirements, including: prerequisite courses, proficiency courses, foundation courses, undergraduate courses taken to satisfy graduate program foundation requirements, required courses, and elective courses. Coursework that is completed at other institutions or at GGU prior to completing an undergraduate degree may be used to satisfy graduate program requirements, but this coursework will not be used in calculating students’ program GPAs, with the exception of designated Pathway Programs coursework, which may be used to satisfy both undergraduate and graduate degree requirements for certain academic programs.
In addition to achieving an overall minimum 3.00 GPA, graduate students must earn a grade of “C-” or better grade for courses to be used to satisfy their program requirements. Students may repeat required courses or repeat/replace elective courses with other elective courses to raise their program GPAs to meet the minimum GPA requirement. However, prior to completion of the repeat or replacement courses, the original course grades will continue to be included in their program GPA calculations. Consequently, students may be placed on academic probation until they raise their program GPAs, as described below. Regardless of whether students repeat courses or replace them with different courses in their program GPA calculations, their original courses and grades will continue to appear on their academic transcripts.
Academic Probation
Graduate students whose GPAs fall below the minimum GPA requirement stated above will be placed on academic probation. However, students whose GPAs fall below 1.00 in either of their first two terms will be automatically academically disqualified and will not have the option of a probationary period. The probation period will be the lesser of nine units, or the units remaining for completion of their academic programs, during which time students must achieve the minimum required GPA. Alternatively, students may create probation plans that reasonably ensure they will achieve the minimum required GPA. Student-created plans must be approved by their program directors and the dean within 30 days of being placed on academic probation. Students who are on academic probation must consult with their academic advisors and receive approval of their courses prior to registering each academic period. Students will be officially removed from probation status after the completion of the trimester term in which they achieve the minimum required GPA.
Academic Disqualification
Graduate students who are on academic probation who fail to meet the Good Academic Standing standards by the end of their probation periods (measured in units) and conditionally admitted students who fail to meet the conditions of their admission within their conditional periods (measured in units) and students who are automatically disqualified without a probation period will be academically disqualified. Students may appeal the decision to the dean of the academic programs from which they were disqualified. See Academic Disqualification Appeal Process below for more information.
Disqualified students are restricted from enrolling in any courses at Golden Gate University unless their appeals are approved or they are readmitted to the university. Disqualified graduate students may not enroll in courses as auditors, certificate-seeking, or as open enrollment status students. Disqualified graduate students may apply for admission to undergraduate programs and, if admitted, enroll in undergraduate-level courses.
To be considered for readmission, disqualified students must apply for admission after a period of time in which significant achievement and/or resolution of difficulties indicate a change in the conditions that contributed to their initial disqualification. One year is the minimum time period usually required for such a change in conditions. Students will be notified at the time of their disqualification of their minimum required waiting periods before they may apply for readmission. Applicants for readmission must satisfy the admission and degree requirements in effect for their programs at the time readmission. See Readmission of Former Students for more information.
Academic Disqualification Appeal Process
Graduate students who wish to appeal their disqualification to the dean must submit a Disqualification Appeal form via GGU4YOU, within 45 working days after the end of the specific term that resulted in their disqualification. The dean (or appropriate assistant or associate dean) and the program director will review the disqualification appeal and render a decision within 10 working days of receiving the appeal. Students whose disqualification appeals are granted may enroll in courses for the trimester term that begins immediately after the date their appeals are granted. Appeal decisions are final and the student has no further appeal rights.
Doctoral Students
Good Academic Standing
To maintain “good” academic standing and to be conferred a degree, doctoral students are required to achieve a minimum 3.00 (“B” average) cumulative grade-point average (GPA) in the doctoral program. Students’ program GPAs are calculated using all courses taken at GGU to fulfill the doctoral degree program requirements, including: doctoral foundation program courses and undergraduate courses taken to satisfy doctoral course prerequisites. Coursework used to fulfill proficiency requirements will not be included in the programmatic GPA unless the student completes the courses after seeking admission to or being admitted to the DBA program.
In addition to achieving an overall minimum 3.00 GPA, doctoral students must earn a grade of “B-” or better grade for courses to be used to satisfy the program’s requirements. Students may repeat courses or complete extra elective courses if needed to raise their program GPAs to meet the minimum GPA requirement.
Academic Probation
Doctoral students whose GPAs fall below the minimum GPA requirement stated above will be placed on academic probation. The probation period will be the lesser of eight units, or the units remaining for degree completion, during which time the student must achieve the minimum required GPA. Students who are on academic probation must consult with the director of the doctoral program and receive approval of their courses prior to registering each academic period. Students will be officially removed from probation status after the trimester term in which they achieve the minimum required GPA.
Academic Disqualification
Doctoral students on academic probation who fail to meet the Good Academic Standing standards by the end of their probation periods (measured in units) and conditionally admitted students who fail to meet the conditions of their admission within their conditional periods (measured in units) will be academically disqualified. Students may appeal the decision to the dean of the doctoral program. See Academic Disqualification Appeal Process below for more information.
Disqualified students are restricted from enrolling in any courses at Golden Gate University unless their appeals are approved or they are readmitted to the university. To be considered for readmission, a disqualified student must apply for admission after a period of time in which significant achievement and/or resolution of difficulties indicate a change in the conditions that contributed to the student’s initial disqualification. One year is the minimum time period usually required for such a change in conditions. Students will be notified at the time of their disqualification of their minimum required waiting period before they may apply for readmission. Applicants for readmission must satisfy the admission and degree requirements in effect for their programs at the time readmission. See Readmission of Former Students for more information.
Academic Disqualification Appeal Process
Doctoral students who wish to appeal their disqualification to the dean must submit a Disqualification Appeal form via GGU4YOU, within 45 working days after the end of the specific term resulting in the disqualification. The dean (or appropriate assistant or associate dean) and the program director review the disqualification appeal and render a decision within 10 working days of receiving the appeal. Students whose disqualification appeals are granted may enroll in courses for the trimester term that begins immediately after the date their appeals are granted. Appeal decisions are final and the student has no further appeal rights.
Open Enrollment Status Students
Open enrollment status students are required to maintain “good” academic standing to register for courses and to remain enrolled. Evidence of good academic standing for an undergraduate student is a minimum 2.00 cumulative grade point average, and for a graduate student is a minimum 3.00 cumulative grade point average. Open enrollment students who do not meet this requirement are not permitted to register and will be dis-enrolled if ineligibility is determined after the term begins. See the Admission policies pertaining to Open Enrollment Status for more information.
Conditionally Admitted Students/Academic Probation Students
Required academic progress for students who were conditionally admitted or who were placed on academic probation includes the achievement of a minimally acceptable grade point average (GPA) and completion of attempted units within their conditional periods (measured in units) or by the end of their probation periods (measured in units). In addition, these students are not permitted to make the Credit/No Credit Grade Election .
Students who are on academic probation may apply for a change of program. If the dean of the school of the requested program approves the change of program, the student must still achieve the minimally acceptable grade point average by the end of the probation period (measured in units). See the Academic Standing standards for the applicable academic level above for more information.
Academic Standing Inquiries
Academic standing inquiries should be directed to your academic advisor. You may also contact the Office of Academic Affairs, Golden Gate University, 536 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-2968; academicaffairs@ggu.edu.
Degree Conferral
When students’ degrees are conferred, their cumulative GPAs and unit calculations are recorded on their transcripts along with the degree information. Students’ cumulative GPA and unit calculations restart from zero if they complete additional coursework after their degrees are conferred. Thus, GGU will reapply courses from previous graduate and undergraduate academic programs toward satisfying the credit and course requirements of additional graduate-level academic programs, if applicable, but this coursework will not be used in calculating students’ program GPAs for subsequent academic programs, except for designated Pathway Programs coursework, which may be used to satisfy both undergraduate and graduate-level degree requirements for certain academic programs.
Disciplinary Suspension or Dismissal
Golden Gate University reserves the right to suspend or dismiss a student for violation of its policies or regulations or for conduct inimical to the best interest of the University or to other students in attendance. See Other Standards and Policies for additional information.
Academic Integrity Policy
Golden Gate University is committed to preparing students to lead and serve and to creating an academic community that values both individual and collaborative efforts that promote learning. The University aims to cultivate a community based on trust, academic integrity and honor. Specifically, Golden Gate University seeks to accomplish the following:
- Ensure that students, faculty, and administrators understand that the responsibility for upholding academic honesty lies with them.
- Prevent any students from gaining an unfair advantage over other students through academic misconduct.
- Ensure that students understand that academic dishonesty is a violation of the trust of the entire academic community.
- Clarify what constitutes academic misconduct among students at Golden Gate University.
The following policy applies to all students taking classes in the Schools of Business, Taxation, Accounting, and Undergraduate Studies regardless of location or course format.
Academic Misconduct
Academic misconduct is the failure to maintain academic integrity. Academic misconduct includes but is not limited to:
1. Plagiarism: In any written work, including but not limited to submitted papers, discussion postings in online work, presentations, and examination answers:
- Copying all or part of another person’s written work without proper citation or attribution.
- Representing specific phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or the specific substance of another person’s work as one’s own without giving appropriate credit.
- Paraphrasing another person’s original ideas, theories, explanations, examples, models, principles, research issues and strategies, cases, conclusions, etc. without proper attribution.
- Representing another person’s computer programs, web content or designs, graphic or artistic works, mathematical or scientific solutions, charts, tables, figures, or illustrations in any medium as one’s own.
2. Fabrication: The falsification of data, information, or citations in any formal academic exercise.
3. Deception: Providing false information to an instructor concerning a formal academic exercise-e.g., giving a false excuse for missing a deadline or falsely claiming to have submitted work.
4. Unauthorized Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI): Unless allowed by the instructor as specified in the course syllabus or in writing, the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools/apps (e.g., ChatGPT, GPT-3, and DALL-E, among others) to produce content or student work products (e.g., answers to quizzes, tests or examinations, discussion board posts, essays, research papers, projects, or any other assignment) is academic misconduct and is expressly prohibited. Grammarly, Quillbot, and other writing software should only be used for basic punctuation and grammatical functions. Any further functions of these tools, including paraphrasing tools, are prohibited.
5. Cheating:
- Copying, in part or in whole, from another student’s work, including exams, tests, quizzes, assignments, projects, online postings, work drafts or other evaluation instruments unless part of a group project in which collaboration is permitted and permission is given by the originator of the work.
- Using or consulting sources, materials, devices, or other assistance not authorized by the instructor during a quiz, test, or examination.
- Obtaining or attempting to obtain, or giving or attempting to give, unauthorized aid of any type on a quiz, test, examination, or assignment.
- Unauthorized collaboration. Students may not combine efforts on any academic work, done inside or outside the classroom unless specifically permitted by the instructor. Although instructors should clearly define the limits of collaboration allowed, the absence of any instructions indicates that collaboration is not permitted. When uncertain, the student should seek clarification from the instructor. In cases of unauthorized collaboration, any student giving aid is as responsible as the recipient, unless the former is unaware that she/he has provided aid. A student who seeks unauthorized aid is responsible for participating in unauthorized collaboration whether the aid was given or received.
- Obtaining or attempting to obtain unauthorized prior knowledge of a quiz, test, or examination.
- Submitting work previously presented in another course or in another section of the same course, unless specifically authorized by the course instructor.
- Doing work for another student or having one’s work done by another person, or representing oneself as another person, or failing to identify oneself in a forthright and honest manner in the context of an academic obligation.
- Altering grades or interfering with grading policies or procedures.
- Submitting or attempting to submit contrived or altered data, quotations or documentation when the intent is to mislead, or deliberately attributing material to a source other than where the student obtained it.
- Any other act committed by a student in the course of academic work that defrauds or misrepresents, including aiding or abetting in any of the actions defined above.
6. Bribery: Offering money or other goods and services in exchange for academic favor.
7. Sabotage: Creating an improper academic disadvantage for another student or an improper academic advantage for oneself. This includes but is not limited to:
- Acting to prevent others from completing their work. This includes cutting pages out of library books or willfully disrupting the experiments of others.
- Removing, defacing, hiding or deliberately withholding library books or other materials, especially those with short-term loan periods or on reserve for courses.
- Theft or damage of intellectual property.
- Sabotaging or stealing another person’s assignments, books, papers, notes, or projects.
- Improperly accessing or interfering with, electronically or via other means, the property of another person or the University.
This list is not exhaustive, and the University reserves the right to determine in a given instance what action constitutes a violation of academic integrity.
Procedures When Academic Misconduct is Alleged
Any student, faculty member, or University employee who observes, discovers or has a good faith belief about the occurrence of academic misconduct must notify the faculty member responsible for the course in which the alleged misconduct occurred, or a dean or other administrator who will in turn notify the responsible faculty member.
When a faculty member responsible for a course has reason to believe that there has been an incident of academic misconduct, the faculty member shall:
- Inform the student in writing of the allegations(s); provide the student with two business days to submit written response.
- If the faculty member believes there is a potential violation after considering the student response, the faculty member is required to submit to their program director and/or their assistant/associate dean an Allegation of Academic Integrity Misconduct form and the academic sanction the faculty member recommends as appropriate as soon as administratively possible.
- The Office of Academic Affairs, in coordination with the assistant/associate dean of the relevant school will inform the student and the faculty member that an Allegation of Academic Integrity Misconduct has been filed, requesting any additional information from both parties. Such additional information must be submitted in writing within 3 business days of the sending of the notification.
- The Office of Academic Affairs, in coordination with the assistant/associate dean of the relevant school will form a committee consisting of at least two faculty members and an assistant or associate dean to review the submitted material and make a determination whether there was misconduct within 10 business days. If it is determined that misconduct occurred, academic and administrative sanctions will be imposed in accordance with Section 3 below.
- The Office of Academic Affairs will notify the student and faculty member of the decision whether misconduct has occurred. If there is a finding of misconduct, the notification will also indicate the resulting academic and administrative sanctions.
A copy of this notification shall be sent to the following:
- Dean of the school in which the course is given
- Dean of the school in which the student is enrolled
- Dean of Students
- Faculty member alleging the academic misconduct
- University registrar
- Director of the program in which the student is enrolled
- The student’s academic advisor
If a student is found responsible for violating the Academic Integrity Policy, a conduct file will be created for the student and will include supporting documentation as well as the final determination. Students found responsible for violating the Academic Integrity Policy could have notations made on their transcript regarding these violations and the sanctions imposed.
Investigations into allegations of academic dishonesty will take place regardless of a student’s status at the University or in a particular class. If found responsible for a violation, academic and administrative sanctions may be imposed even if a student dropped or withdrew from the course or withdrew from the university.
Sanctions
Sanctions are the consequences imposed on the student for acts of academic misconduct. There are two kinds of sanctions: academic sanctions and administrative sanctions. Either one or both types may be imposed for any act of academic misconduct.
1. Academic Sanctions: The faculty member teaching the course in which the academic misconduct occurred has the discretion to impose an academic sanction s/he deems appropriate, including but not limited to:
- Expel the student from the university.
- Require the student to enroll in an academic integrity program at the student’s cost.
- Suspend the student from the course and prohibit the student from retaking it for one academic term or more.
- Suspend the student from enrolling in any course at the university for a period of time.
- Permanently expel the student from the program in which he or she is enrolled and deem the student ineligible for subsequent re-admission to that program.
- In addition to imposing academic sanctions, the University may impose administrative sanctions.
2. Administrative Sanctions:
- Any student found to have violated the Academic Integrity Policy will be placed on academic integrity probation for a period of three trimesters in which the student is enrolled in Golden Gate University coursework. Should a student be found to have violated this policy while on academic integrity probation, the student will be automatically suspended for two trimesters (including the current trimester should the student be found to have violated this policy prior to the end of a term).
- Any student having been found to have violated this policy will forfeit his/her privilege to serve in any student government leadership role. Violation of the policy will also preclude the student from being awarded any honors recognition for which he/she might otherwise qualify such as dean’s list or graduation honors.
- For students who are assigned “F” grades, their “Last Dates of Attendance” will be the date the sanction notification email is sent by Academic Affairs. See Last Date of Attendance for more information. In addition, students will be removed from their online courses in which the violations occurred as of the sanction notification date.
- An additional administrative sanction may be imposed by the committee. For purposes of determining the appropriate administrative sanction, the committee may seek to determine the extent to which there was past academic misconduct. The committee may impose any administrative sanction determined to be appropriate, including but not limited to the following:
- Awarding no credit for the academic exercise for which there was academic misconduct. If the faculty member chooses to award no credit, s/he may choose to allow the student to complete an alternative assignment or examination and average the two grades together. However, the faculty member is under no obligation to do so.
- Assigning a grade of “F” or other reduced grade for the exam or assignment, with no possibility of ameliorating the grade by means of additional work.
- Assigning a grade of “F” or other reduced grade for the course.
- Adding a student back into a course (free of tuition charge) that they dropped prior to the “W” grade required date, to assign a grade of “F”.
- Expelling the student from the university.
Sanction Appeal Process
A student may appeal a finding of misconduct and the academic and administrative sanctions imposed within 5 business days of the sending of the notification. Appeals must be filed in writing submitting the Academic Integrity Sanction Appeal form via GGU4YOU. Academic and Administrative sanction appeals will be evaluated, and a decision will be made within 5 business days of receipt of student appeal.
The dean of the school in which the violation occurred will evaluate all documentation provided to the review committee and determine whether to uphold the finding of misconduct. If the misconduct finding is upheld, the dean of the school in which the violation occurred will determine whether the academic and administrative sanctions are appropriate for the severity of the misconduct. The dean of the school in which the violation occurred will communicate such ruling to the student in writing within 5 business days of receipt of the student’s appeal. The student shall have no further appeal rights.
Protection of Student Privacy
Unless noted otherwise above, all written or spoken communications between the student and the faculty member and the student and University administration will be disclosed only as (1) reasonably necessary to investigate the allegations of academic dishonesty, (2) required to report the allegations of academic dishonesty to the University and student, (3) appropriate in any subsequent disciplinary proceedings or legal actions, (4) reasonably necessary in the ordinary business of advising students and administering courses, and/or (5) required by law or court order.
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