Attendance

Reporting Last Known Date of Attendance

Kettering University Online does not require graduate faculty to take attendance. However, the U.S. Department of Education requires the Financial Aid Office to differentiate students who fail a class because they quit attending from those who fail a class based on merit. Due to the fact that a student could be a financial aid applicant at any point during the academic year, we must collect this information for all students, so that financial aid eligibility can be accurately determined.

The "Last Known Date of Attendance" Reporting Policy is necessary to appropriately assess the financial liability for students, ensure good stewardship of financial aid funds, and limit the financial liability for the university and academic consequences for the student. The amount of Title IV funds earned by a student is based on the amount of time spent in attendance by the student for that term. In addition, this is often useful in arbitrating cases when students believe they completed the process to drop or withdraw from a course.

After the drop/add period each term, a ‘last date of attendance’ notification, or ‘never attended’ notification by a faculty member will result in the automatic assignment of either a WN (withdrawal for non-attendance) grade or an FN (failure for non-attendance) grade by the Registrar’s Office. This will initiate re-evaluation of a student’s financial aid and Federal Title IV aid will be adjusted for those classes.

Student Responsibility

Students are expected to regularly attend classes in which they are enrolled. Students who decide to stop attending courses should immediately withdraw from those course(s) prior to the course withdrawal deadline specified on the academic calendar. Students who do not officially withdraw from a course (or courses) they are not attending may be reported by their instructor as having a last date of attendance. When this happens, the student will remain responsible for any financial liability.

University Responsibility

After the drop/add period each term, a last date of attendance reporting by a faculty member will result in the automatic assignment of either a grade of WN (withdrawal for non-attendance) or FN (failure for non-attendance) by the Registrar’s Office as follows:

A grade of WN (withdrawal for non-attendance) will be issued if the last known date of attendance is within the course withdrawal period specified on the academic calendar. A WN grade is treated the same as a W (withdrawal) grade in that it will not affect a student’s term or overall GPA.
A grade of FN (failure for non-attendance) will be issued if the last known date of attendance is after the course withdrawal period specified on the academic calendar. An FN grade is treated the same as a failing grade in that it will be included in a student's term and overall GPA.
Once a faculty member has reported a last date of attendance, the student will no longer be able to attend or participate in the class.

Last Date of Attendance

The last date of attendance for KUO is the last date a graded assignment was submitted Online. Email to professors and other students will not count as notice of the last date of attendance. Only the date a graded assignment was submitted counts as the official last date of attendance for all purposes.

With the "Last Known Date of Attendance Reporting Policy", the assumption is that students who receive an F in a class have received that grade based on merit, and not because they stopped attending.

Questions: Contact the Kettering Global Offices at 1-800-955-4464 ext. 9575.