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Student Handbook - Attendance Policy

DeVry uses an Automated Attendance system to record student attendance. Attendance is recorded for several reasons. First, it's a government regulation. Title IV funding requires that DeVry verify attendance of all students receiving financial aid. Secondly, taking attendance helps us to identify students who are at risk academically due to non-attendance and to help them resolve the problems they are experiencing. Thirdly, taking attendance helps us to track trends in attendance patterns and perhaps resolve larger issues.

All registered students receive I.D. cards that are used to record attendance. In each classroom, there is a card reader. Students must swipe their I.D. card through the card reader at the beginning of a class hour in order to record their attendance. The Automated Attendance System is set up to allow for the swiping of cards from ten minutes before the hour until twelve minutes after the hour. In longer classes, instructors may swipe cards during a consecutive hour in order to record attendance, but only one swipe is necessary for a longer time block.

Lost or defective cards can be replaced in Student Services. Defective cards will be replaced for free; lost cards will be replaced at a cost of $10.00. All photos are on file, so replacements can be provided in a few minutes. Evening students who are on campus when the Student Services office is closed can report the loss of their card to the Evening Department and leave a check if necessary. The Evening Department will have the replacement available the following day. An Attendance revision Form may be used to register attendance until the card is replaced.

The following are tips to ensure that your attendance is correctly recorded:

The card reader should display the time and ask for a student I.D. card swipe. If the reader is not working, inform your instructor at once.
Use a steady, even swipe. After a successful swipe, the reader will display your number for a second and you will hear a beep.
If your card did not swipe successfully, you will not hear a beep. Try once more. If unsuccessful, your card may be damaged. See Student Services for a replacement.
For class sessions that span multiple hours, attendance will be available at the start of the first hour.

Freshman Attendance Policy:

Students who attend classes regularly have been consistently shown to perform better than students who do not. The truth of that statement may be obvious, but students do not always adhere to it. To help freshmen students establish the habit of regular attendance, DeVry monitors all first-year students according to the following policy:

· Students who accumulate absences equal to seven percent (7%) of the total meetings for a lecture class (or the equivalent of one week's worth of class meetings) will be sent a warning.
· Students who accumulate absences equal to fourteen percent (14%) of total course meetings (or the equivalent of two weeks' worth of class meetings) may be withdrawn from that course.
· Withdrawals after the 11th week will result in a grade of F for the course withdrawn from.

The following table summarizes this policy:

Times class meets per week	Absences needed to receive warning	Absences needed to be withdrawn
2	2	4
3	3	6
4	4	8
6	5	10

Students receiving a warning letter should see the Program Coordinator of their academic program to discuss the situation. Students who are withdrawn from class may appeal in writing to the Dean of their academic program within three (3) business days.

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