Nondiscrimination

Benedictine College admits students of any race and color, national and ethnic origin, and of either sex to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the College. Benedictine College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in its educational programs, activities, or employment policies as required by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and subsequent amendments (including Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972), federal executive orders and federal regulations. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies:

Dr. Kimberly Shankman, Dean of the College and Title IX Coordinator
1020 North 2nd Street
Atchison, KS 66002
(913) 360-7413

FERPA

Benedictine College complies with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 as amended, which is the federal law that requires colleges and universities to maintain the privacy of students’ educational records. FERPA guarantees students the right of access to educational records, the right to challenge information contained in their records, the right to consent prior to the release of a record to a third party, and the right to be notified of their privacy rights.

The following is considered directory information and may be released for each student: Student name, address (permanent and campus), telephone number, e-mail address, date and place of birth, major and minor field(s) of study, classification, photograph, participation in officially recognized activities and sports as well as weight and height of participants, dates of attendance, degrees sought and/or granted, and awards and honors received. A student may submit a written request for this information to be kept confidential. During the disciplinary process, a student may be required to contact his or her parent(s) and/or legal guardian(s), coaches, and/or professors, depending upon the circumstances and student’s involvement.

In addition to the Office of Academic Records and Registration, confidential student records are kept in the student’s advisor’s office, the Financial Aid office, the Office of Student Health Service, the Counseling Center, and the Career Development Office. Complete FERPA information is available on the Benedictine College website.

Credit Hour Definition

Benedictine College uses the “Carnegie Unit” as a guide when defining a credit hour for undergraduate classes. A semester credit hour represents a minimum of one fifty-minute class period a week for the 15-week semester. Each course is expected to meet the equivalent of two hours outside of class for each hour in class.

Some courses meet for more than fifty minutes per credit hour in class, e.g. laboratories, clinicals, practicums, internships, etc. This time is generally reflected in the online course listing or in the paperwork (as in internships) for the course. This additional time in class counts toward the “2 hours outside of class” expectation.

For the rest of the time needed to meet this requirement, as well as for the other courses, departments are responsible for creating a Credit Hour Compliance document to verify that each of the courses offered by their department meets the required “two hours outside for class for each hour in class.” This document lists the various types of activities and assignments possible in courses offered in their department and the amount of time that it is expected that students would spend doing each type of activity. By examining the outline of assignments on the course syllabus for the semester, one can calculate the estimated amount of time outside of class that a student is expected to spend for the course. Each department’s Credit Hour Compliance document is reviewed by the Curriculum Committee to ensure that the amounts of time seem reasonable with the Dean of the College responsible for final approval and oversight. Department chairs are responsible for verifying that the courses taught in their department each comply with the credit hour guidelines that they have established. The Credit Hour Compliance documents are available on the Benedictine College website.

Due to the varying nature of graduate courses, a range of class time for a one-credit-hour course is 500–800 minutes. For each credit hour, it is expected that the graduate student will spend a minimum of two to four hours in independent preparation/follow-up (e.g. readings, papers, preparing presentations, projects, etc.).