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Academic Policies

Students are required to read the syllabus for the course to better understand the faculty member’s policies regarding such matters as attendance, absences, grading, and examinations. Students are held accountable for this information.

Class Attendance

Class Attendance – Jury Duty

The College supports jury service as an important civic duty and community responsibility. The students who will need to miss class in order to fulfill their jury service obligation must promptly notify faculty/instructors and other appropriate College personnel in writing if selected to serve as a juror. Students will be granted excused absences for jury duty with supporting documentation from the Clerk of the Court. Faculty/instructors will provide opportunities for students to complete any required makeup work. Students are responsible for all material covered during their approved absence. The approval shall detail a reasonable period for the student to complete missed work and assignments.

Pursuant to Fla Stat. 40.013 (11),  a full-time student between 18 and 21 years of age may notify the court of conflicts or undue hardship and request an excuse from service. The individual student must decide whether jury service will present an undue hardship and then take affirmative action to request to be excused from service and may need to provide a written explanation to the court.

Students may request a withdrawal or transfer to another course section if their absence is significant, for example, exceeds six hours of class instruction or discuss alternative methods of making up missed lessons or time with their instructor.

For noncredit CCP programs, the College must ensure that students complete the required clock hours of instruction for the specific program. It is important for students enrolled in CCP programs to contact their Program Instructor to learn about the policy for class absence.

 

 

Academic Dishonesty

Palm Beach State College considers Academic Dishonesty, as defined in the Student Code of Conduct in this Handbook, to be a serious issue. The College and its Faculty understand that students may not fully understand what academic dishonesty means. The following is provided to clarify what constitutes academic dishonesty and the consequences that will result.

Students accused of Academic Dishonesty for the first time are bound by the syllabus policy of the course in which the infraction occurred. Furthermore, the faculty will report the infraction in the Maxient database, where it will be flagged should the student commit a subsequent infraction. Should a student feel that they have been wrongly accused they can appeal the result to the Academic Hearing Committee by emailing the Associate Dean responsible for the course and request to be heard by the committee.

Any student who is found to have engaged in a repeated act of Academic Dishonesty even if in a different course or term, or an act of Academic Dishonesty that involves other students, will be considered a violation of the Student Code of Conduct. The student will be referred to the Dean of Student Services or designee for review. This may result in consequences ranging from disciplinary probation to dismissal from the college.

WARNING: STUDENTS MAY NOT WITHDRAW FROM A CLASS TO AVOID A FAILING GRADE RECEIVED AS A RESULT OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY OR ANY SUBSTANTIATED ACCUSATION OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY.

Academic dishonesty including, but is not limited to, unauthorized use of aids, cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, or facilitating academic dishonesty in the classroom or other college environments, as defined below:

Plagiarism

  • Taking the words or specific substance of another and either copying or paraphrasing the work without giving credit to the source.
  • Submitting a term paper, examination or other work written by someone else.
  • Submitting the same paper, slightly altered paper, other work, or examination, for more than one course, whether in the same term or another term. This is self-plagiarism.
  • Failure to give credit in a footnote for ideas, statements of facts or conclusions derived by another.
  • Failure to use quotation marks when quoting directly from another person, whether it is a paragraph, a sentence or even a part thereof.
  • Similar and extended paraphrasing of another.

For more information to help you understand and recognize plagiarism, please refer to the Library Guide.

Plagiarism-Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Programs

Artificial intelligence programs (AI) such as ChatGPT can search the internet and craft papers that resemble the work of human researchers. AI has many legitimate uses in business, government, and other aspects of society.

A primary mission of Palm Beach State College is to advance human intelligence, so presenting work completed by AI rather than by the student's own efforts is counterproductive and deceptive. Palm Beach State College has state-of-the-art software to detect the use of AI writing. The use of AI directly violates Palm Beach State College's standards for plagiarism, specifically "Submitting a term paper, examination, or other work written by someone else." Students submitting work completed by AI, in whole or in part, without proper citations and explicit instructor permission, are guilty of academic dishonesty and subject to the process and penalties described in the Student Handbook under Academic Policies.

Cheating

Using unauthorized notes, study aids, or information from another student or student’s paper on an in-class examination; altering a graded work after it has been returned, then submitting the work for regrading; and allowing another person to do one’s work and to submit the work under one’s own name or otherwise not following the rules or instruction to gain an advantage.

Fabrication

Presenting data in a piece of work not gathered in accordance with guidelines defining the appropriate methods for collecting or generating data and failing to include a substantially accurate account of the method by which the data were generated or collected.

Aiding and Abetting Dishonesty

Providing material or information to another person with knowledge that these materials or information will be used improperly pursuant to Florida Statutes 877.17 (1).

Final Course Grade

Standards of Academic Progress

Non-Degree Status

Fourth Attempt Override Appeal Procedure

100 Percent Payment of the Full Cost of Instruction

Appeal of the 100 Percent Payment of Full Cost of Instruction: Students who fail or withdraw from a course two times due to extenuating circumstances and wish to reenroll in the course may appeal the 100 percent payment rule to the campus registrar. Appeals must include copies of supporting documentation. In student's Workday portal, type "create request" in the Workday global search bar, then click "create request". Then type "Appeal 3rd Attempt", then select the "Waiver - Appeal of 3rd Attempt Full Cost of Instruction Tuition" form and fill it out. The campus registrar shall determine the validity of the circumstances of the appeal and grant an exception only once for each class, if merited. All appeals will be considered on an individual basis. Extenuating circumstances are those determined by the College to be exceptional and beyond the control of the student, which may include, but are not limited to:

  • Serious illness
  • Documented medical condition preventing completion
  • Death of an immediate family member (father, mother, sister, brother)
  • Involuntary call to active military duty
  • Documented learning disability
  • English as a second language background
  • Documented change in conditions of employment and/or
  • Other emergency circumstances or extraordinary situations (such as national disasters).

Also, students may appeal the increase in fees based on financial hardship. The criteria for determining financial hardship shall include, but not be limited to, qualifications for federal need-based financial aid. All appeals are considered on an individual basis.

Late Add Requests

Late Withdrawal Requests

All requests for a withdrawal (1) after the end of the withdrawal deadline or (2) after the completion of the academic period should be submitted to the campus registrar by completing a Late Withdrawal Request form. In student's Workday portal, type "create request" in the Workday global search bar, then click "create request". Then type "late withdrawal", then select the "Request for Refund or Late Withdrawal" form and fill it out.

The request must be accompanied by appropriate documentation of the condition on which the request is based. Requests for late withdrawals within the current academic period, and up to the anniversary date of your request, are adjudicated by the campus registrar. Students will be notified by college email of the decision, and decisions will be based on the documentation provided. All other requests are adjudicated by the College-Wide Appeals Committee.

Students who are granted a withdrawal through this process shall receive a “W” in their classes and shall not be eligible for a refund of fees unless a College error or responsibility is involved. Please note that requests will not be granted or appealable beyond one calendar year from the academic period in question.

Required Documentation: Supporting documentation must accompany late withdrawal requests. The following documentation is required:

  • Medical: a letter from your physician or health care agency, on company letterhead, specifically indicating an illness of such severity or duration that prevents you from continuing in your course(s). The letter must include dates of the illness and treatment.

  • Employment: a letter from your employer, on company letterhead, indicating that your employer changed your work schedule and that this change prevents you from completing the term. The letter must include old and new work hours and the effective date.

  • Death of Immediate Family Member: documentation of the death and your relationship to the deceased. Immediate family members are limited to spouse, child, parent, and sibling.

  • College Change or Error:  a letter from the appropriate college official documenting the situation in which the college was in error or initiated an action that caused you to have to withdraw.

  • Military Service: Documented involuntary call to active military duty. Documentation may be provided after current Military assignment has ended.