Best Practices for All Students
The Registrar’s Office is responsible for maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the student record and
the equitable upholding of academic policies. We’re happy to supply any information, guidance, and
support toward a seamless academic experience. We find that the students who follow the practices
below have the smoothest progress to graduation.
All Students Are Expected To:
1. Read Polices, Deadlines, and E-mails
CIIS, like all universities, must rely on its students to know the policies in the Catalog and the
deadlines in the academic calendar. Both the Catalog and the calendar are found under the
Academics tab of MyCIIS. Ignorance of them (i.e., “No one told me.”) will not be accepted as
grounds for an exception to them. Students should not assume CIIS’ policies are identical to
other colleges they attended. Policies change every year, so it’s important to read every new
Catalog.
CIIS issues all students an e-mail account and, starting in Spring 2016, will send official
communications to it. It will be assumed that students are checking it. Note that the Registrar’s
Office sends deadline reminders by e-mail, but students should not rely on those to be aware of
the deadlines – check the calendar.
Policy Highlights
 The registration deadlines apply to all courses, even shorter ones that start midsemester.

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.
2. Conduct Their Own Transactions
Registering and dropping courses before the add/drop deadline can be done online, except for
some courses, such as independent studies and practicum, which must be done by paper forms.
All students are expected to complete their registration activity by the add/drop deadline. A
hard copy registration and a written appeal, approved by the instructor and the program chair,
is required to add a course after add/drop; and a registration form with the instructor’s
signature is required to withdraw from a course.
The date of a transaction is the date the Registrar’s Office receives it. Obtain all signatures on
forms before submitting them, as forms without signatures are invalid, and 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.
Dropping off a form to an instructor in the mail is only half the job. Did the instructor get it? Did
they submit it to the Registrar’s Office?
3. Check Their Record Regularly
The unofficial transcript is found under the Registrar tab and can be viewed anytime at no
charge. Are the expected courses appearing? Are the units and grade options right? Is the
correct advisor listed? Are the transfer credits posted?
Students should not assume a grade has been submitted, but should check the transcript. The
Registrar’s Office reaches out to instructors with missing grades and, after the grade 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). These requirements are reflected in the advising worksheet, available under the
Registrar tab of MyCIIS. The worksheet tells students which of their courses they’ve taken and
still need to take. Students should consult their worksheet before and after registering, to
confirm that the courses are fulfilling requirements. Any courses that aren’t will not contribute
to the half-time enrollments status minimum that qualifies a student for financial aid.
Submission of the Program Modification form is the procedure for requesting an exception to
the degree requirements.
Students who put themselves on a waitlist must check their registration record regularly. The
Registrar’s Office sends notifications to students moved into courses, but students should not
depend on these. Students added to a course become responsible for its tuition and academic
requirements.
Students have until the last day of the following semester to dispute their records. After that,
the record is locked. This is why checking the advising worksheet and the unofficial transcript
are so important to do regularly. Because a university’s staff, faculty, policies, and technologies
are a moving river, the more time that passes after an issue occurs (e.g., missing grade,
unfinished transaction, unprocessed policy exception) the more difficult it can be to find and
resolve.
The Registrar’s Office’s goal is to prevent issues and promptly attend to any that do arise. We ask
students to be our partners in this by developing the three habits above.