Academic Regulations

 

   Add/Drop Procedures

Whenever a student adds or drops a course or withdraws from school, the student must give notice a such schedule change on a form available in the Registrar's Office. A $40 fee will be charged for each course dropped or added unless a student withdraws from school and drops all courses at one time. A student adding or registering after classes begin will be counted absent for classes missed prior to entering the course. These absences will be included in computing eligibility to take the final examination and to receive credit for the course.

Students are allowed a period of seven weeks from the first day of classes in the fall and spring semesters, and a proportionate period in the summer session, during which to drop a course without prejudice. Courses dropped within the first week of classes will not be reflected on the student's transcript unless all courses are dropped. Courses that are otherwise timely dropped through the Registrar's Office will be dropped without prejudice and so indicated by a "W" on the student's record. If a student either drops voluntarily after the allowed drop period or is dropped administratively at any time for excessive absences, a failing grade of "WF" will be entered on the student's record and counted in computing the student's scholastic average. Similarly, a student who withdraws from, or leaves the college at any time without following the required procedures, will receive a "WF" in every course.

The college will not be responsible for discrepancies in the record of a student who fails to follow the prescribed procedure for adding or dropping courses or otherwise changing his or her registration.

Auditing Courses
 
Students regularly enrolled in the college will not be permitted to audit courses. Permission will be given to graduates of approved law schools and licenses attorneys to audit a course, depending on space availability. Such permission conveys only the privilege of hearing and observing but not taking part in class discussions or examinations. Auditors pay the regular tuition and fees, except that graduates of South Texas will not be assessed the Registration/General Services Fee. Auditors will not receive credit for any course(s) taken; however, their attendance will be reflected on the official transcript of the college.
Class Ranks

Until the student's final semester/session, class ranks are based on semester hours completed (1L: 0-30 semester hours; 2L: 31-60 semester hours; 3L: 61+ semester hours). All ranks are by percentages only.

The Registrar's Office publishes the percentages of each grouping for the semester/session in the following categories: Upper 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 331/3 %, and upper 50%. This information is distributed via student mailboxes, on the Student Intranet Home Page and available in the Registrar's Office.

Upon receipt of the Doctor of Jurisprudence degree, individual class ranks are determined within the group constituting the graduating class. There is a form available in the registrar's Office whereby a graduate can request his or her final, individual, graduating class rank.

Academic Deficiency Policy

 First Semester Rule. Any student with a cumulative GPA below 2.000 after his/her first semester of study will be automatically dismissed for academic deficiency. After the student's dismissal for at least the next long semester following the effective date of dismissal, he/she may give written notice to re-enter as a beginning student to any long semester beginning within two years of the effective date of dismissal. Such students must give written notice to the Assistant Dean and Registrar on or before March 15 for the fall semester and October 15 for the spring semester.

Re-entering students will receive no grades or credit for previous work, although such previous work will remain on the student's permanent records. Attendance in the Langdell Scholar Program is mandatory for the first semester after returning. Non-attendance in the Program will result in immediate dismissal for failure to comply with all conditions of re-entry.

Reentering students under this rule must attain and maintain a 2.000 cumulative GPA for each enrollment period until graduation. If the 2.000 is not maintained, the student will immediately and finally dismissed for academic deficiency without any probationary period. The First Semester Rule will be applied only once to any individual.

Probationary Rule. Any student who has not been dismissed and allowed to reenter pursuant to the First Semester Rule above, but whose cumulative GPA falls below 2.000, will not be immediately dismissed but will be given , pursuant to mandatory academic counseling, either the remainder of his/her current enrollment period or one succeeding probationary enrollment period to attain a cumulative GPA of 2.000. Failure to attain a cumulative GPA of 2.000 by the end of such probationary enrollment period will result in immediate and final dismissal for academic deficiency.

Final Dismissal Rule.  Any student who successfully raises his/her cumulative GPA after application of the Probationary Rule, but who thereafter fails a second time to maintain a 2.000 cumulative GPA, will be immediately and finally dismissed for academic deficiency.

NOTE: In applying the above rules, the cumulative GPA for purposes of the academic attrition rules will be calculated as stated in the "Method for Computing Averages" of the Academic Regulation.

A student who is dismissed for academic deficiency is dropped administratively from all classes and is excluded from further attendance. Individual professors have no authority or discretion to permit further attendance by such students. A dismissed student is not eligible to continue employment with the college either as a work/study or otherwise.  

Full-Time/Part-Time Classification
 
A full-time student is any student devoting substantially full time to the study of law, enrolled for 12 hours or more during any semester (or equivalent in any summer session), and if employed, working no more than 20 hours per week.

Full-time students should be aware that the full-time study of law is an arduous task demanding substantially all of the student's working hours. Employment, especially for the first-year students, is discouraged unless absolutely  necessary. Additionally, South Texas College of Law strictly adheres to the interpretations of the American Bar Association Standards for Approval of Law Schools which provides that a student may not work in excess of 20 hours per week while attending school on a full-time basis.

A part-time student is any student enrolled for fewer than 12 hours during any semester (or summer equivalent thereof).
Students enroll initially as either full-time or part-time students and are required to remain in that status for the academic year. A student experiencing and extraordinary change in circumstances must obtain approval from the Assistant Dean and Registrar to change enrollment status from part-time to full-time or from full-time to part-time using a form (MOTION FOR EXCEPTION TO ACADEMIC REGULATIONS) available in the Registrar's Office or downloaded from this site here.

At each registration, every student is required to report the amount of outside employment as a basis for determining the amount of course work permitted to be taken each semester. Any changes in employment status after registration must immediately be reported using a form (NOTIFICATION OF CHANGE IN EMPLOYMENT STATUS) available in the Registrar's Office or downloaded from this site here.

Grading System
 
The college uses the alphabetical system of grading for all courses although some subjects, such as Appellate Advocacy, Corporate Counsel Review, Currents: International Trade Law Journal, Law Review, Advanced Civil Litigation and Moot Court Competition are graded honors pass, pass or fail and are not used in computing the cumulative grade point average. The off-site clinics are graded on both the alphabetical and pass/fail systems. The correlation of numerical and letter grades to ability and accomplishment, or lack thereof, is as follows:
 
A+
 4.333
A
 4.000
A-
 3.667
B+
 3.333
B
 3.000
B-
 2.667
C+
 2.333
C
 2.000
C-
 1.667
D+
 1.333
D
 1.000
F
 0.000
HP
 Exceptional Performance
P
 Good or Average Performance
F
 Poor Performance
W
 Course dropped without prejudice
I
 Incomplete
WF
 Course dropped administratively or after drop date or non-timely removal of  Incomplete
Withdrawal Without Academic Prejudice
 
An approved Withdrawal without academic prejudice must be obtained in advance of the leave from the Assistant Dean and Registrar. Requests for such a leave must be submitted in writing with justification for the request. In no event will a withdrawal without academic prejudice be granted for a period in excess of two calendar years. Students who absent themselves from their law studies for a period in excess of two years will be required to reapply for admission as beginning students with no credit granted for their prior law school study.


Method of Computing Averages
 
The grade in each course will be weighted in proportion to the semester hours credit assigned to the course. The cumulative grade average is obtained by adding the weighted numerical scores of all final grades and dividing that sum by the total of semester hours for courses in which a final grade has been received.  A student may not repeat a course unless he/she has received a final grade of "F" or "WF". A student who receives a failing grade in any course may (must, if a required course) retake such course; upon receipt of a passing grade therein, such failing and passing grades will be included on the student's permanent record but shall be averaged, with said average used in determining the student's cumulative grade point average, as if the course had been taken only once, i.e., all grades received, including failures, will be used in computing the student's cumulative weighted average.

A grade of honors pass, pass or fail will be given in some subjects, such as Appellate Advocacy, Corporate Counsel Review, Law Review, Currents: International Trade Law Journal, Advanced Civil Litigation and Moot Court Competition. The semester hours and grades in these pass/fail courses will not be used in computing averages; however, the semester hours will count toward graduation unless an "F" is received. The off-site clinics are graded on both the alphabetical and pass/fail systems. The on-site clinics are graded on the alphabetical system.

Each student's average will be computed for all purposes, including academic probation and dismissal, after all final grades are posted each semester or session. If a student receives a grade of "Incomplete" for any credit hours attempted during a semester or session (and the student does not receive a final grade for those hours before all other final grades have been posted for that semester or session), the student's average will be computed by the method described above based on all credit hours for which the student has received a final grade. The existence of an "Incomplete" will not delay academic dismissal or probation. Credit hours for which a student receives a grade of "Incomplete" will not be considered in computing the student's average for the semester or session during which the hours were attempted, but shall be included in computing the student's average commencing with the semester or session in which the "Incomplete" grade is removed and a final grade rendered for those hours.
 

Official Student Records

Confidentiality of Official Student Records
 
All official student information records maintained by the academic and administrative offices of South Texas College of Law are considered confidential, and only such information as is necessary to the normal operations of the college is maintained in official student information records.

Types of Official Student Records

The academic and administrative offices of the college maintain the following types of academic and nonacademic student information records.

A.  Academic Records
 
       1. Permanent record of academic achievement (transcript), including supporting
           documents;
       2. Academic advisor and dean's files; and
       3. Admission files.

B. Non-academic Records

       1. Loan and scholarship files;
       2. Student conduct and activity files;
       3. Career Services office files;
       4. Alumni/alumnae files;
       5. Student account files; and
       6. Library files.

All official student information records are maintained by college staff members in the course of performing their normally assigned duties, and only those administrative, faculty and academic staff personnel, college security officers, and law firms representing the college who require access to student information records in the course of their normal duties, shall have right of access.

 

Updated June 30, 2004 - Please send comments or suggestions about the Registrar's web pages to: bmims@stcl.edu