registration – Course Catalog

Independent Study

An Independent Study is available to students who are at junior or senior level standing with a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 or above. The student may receive approval to work in an area or on a project that is not otherwise offered or addressed in the curriculum. Students may receive credit toward graduation for no more than 6 credit hours of independent study.

The student, working with the supervising faculty, must complete an Independent Study form for consideration by the Department Chair and Academic Affairs. The student may register for the course upon approval from all signatories.

The student must submit a minimum 150-word Independent Study Proposal, along with the Independent Study Approval Form, to the Chair of the department in which they wish to study stating the reason for the independent study and their plan for study, including topics to be covered and goals.

Once the Department Chair approves of the Independent Study, the instructor appointed to oversee the Independent Study must write an Independent Study syllabus with a detailed course description, learning outcomes, assignments, meeting dates (minimum of four), due dates, and grading criteria. The Independent Study Approval Form, with faculty and Chair signatures, must be submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs for final approval by the appropriate Dean.

The final approved form will be sent by Academic Affairs to the Academic Advising and Registration Office for registration of the Independent Study. Independent Study forms must be turned in no later than the final day to add a class of the semester in which the Independent Study is to be taken.

AICAD Exchange

CCS students benefit from the cooperative programs and built-in access to leading art schools that are members of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD). By sharing resources and facilities, AICAD colleges offer educational opportunities that, taken together, are without parallel in professional arts education. Through the AICAD Exchange Program, qualified students at one AICAD school can spend a semester at another participating AICAD school without additional cost or loss of credit. In addition to the 42 full member schools in the US & Canada within the network, AICAD has three long-standing International Affiliate schools in Japan, Ireland and Israel. Through the International Affiliate program, AICAD has broadened its membership and enhanced the dialogue at the Executive level, which in turn brings greater global opportunity to the students of all AICAD schools.

Application deadlines are March 15 for the fall semester and October 1 for the winter semester.

Students should contact Tom Turoczi in the Academic Advising and Registration Office at 313.664.7832 for more information on these programs.

Adding/Dropping Classes

Courses for which a student is enrolled at the conclusion of the Add/Drop period will be used to determine attempted courses for the Course Completion Rate. Therefore, if it is necessary to adjust one’s class schedule, it is best to do so during the Add/Drop period of the semester. Courses that are dropped after conclusion of the Add/Drop period will show a recorded grade of W, WN, or WF. This will be counted as an unsuccessfully completed course, thus lowering the student’s completion rate.

Students may use Self-Service to add or drop classes up until the last day to add a class in accordance with the academic calendar. After the last day to add a course, if a student wishes to drop a course, students must complete the online drop form that is available on the AARO Campus Office page.

Students who drop classes during the first seven business days of classes (see Academic Calendar for specific dates) are not charged for the drop. After the seventh day, dropped classes are charged on a sliding scale and those courses will receive a grade of “W”, “WN”, or “WF”.

The academic calendar offers specific tuition reimbursement information. The last day to withdraw from a course is on the Friday of the thirteenth week of classes. No exceptions to this deadline will be made.

The College reserves the right to cancel or change classes, instructors, and schedules; to revise tuition and fee structure; and to amend College policies for the efficient operation of the College. Students are notified by the Academic Advising and Registration Office of any course changes.

Grade Changes

Any grade dispute must be addressed with the instructor that issued the grade. Should the instructor agree to change the grade, he or she must complete a Grade Change Form. If the dispute is not resolved, the student may initiate the Grade Appeal Process.

Grade changes must occur within 60 days of the last day of the semester in which the student was enrolled in the course. The Office of Academic Affairs must approve all grade changes beyond a 60-day period.

Students who have a grade change or incomplete grade changed after Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) has already been processed for any semester must notify Academic Advising and Registration of the change. At that time SAP will be recalculated to determine if the SAP status needs to be modified and the Office of Academic Advising and Registration will notify the Office of Financial Aid.

Class Audit

Students, graduates and visitors may audit a class on a space-available basis. No academic credit is awarded for audited courses. Those wishing to audit a course may register by adhering to the policy and following the procedures and guidelines listed below:

Matriculating (B.F.A.) and nonmatriculating (e.g., visitors, CCS graduates) students who wish to audit a class must elect to do so at the time of registration by submitting a completed Audit Registration form, available in the Academic Advising and Registration Office.
Students electing to audit a class may not register for that class until the first week of class for the semester. Students may not register for a class after the first week of any semester.
Once the election has been made to audit a class, the student may not change the registration to receive credit for the class.
Audited courses carry no credit and do not satisfy degree requirements. Upon completion of the course, the audit grade of X will appear on the student’s transcript. (The grade of X is not used in the calculation of cumulative grade point average or course completion rate.)
Regular tuition rates are charged for audited courses. The refund policy for audited and credit courses is the same and is outlined in the Course Schedule.
Matriculating (B.F.A.) students are permitted to audit one course each semester during their B.F.A. tenure at CCS, with a staff advisor’s approval.
Nonmatriculating students (visitors, CCS graduates) are limited to three classes per semester.

Incomplete Grades

This policy details the criteria and process for an “I” or Incomplete grade.

An incomplete or grade of “I” may be given to a student when a minimal number of course assignments have not been completed due to unavoidable and legitimate circumstances (i.e., injury, hospitalization, jury duty, death of a family member, or other reasons beyond a student’s control).Completion of at least 75% of course work at passing levels is recommended before an “I” grade is assigned.

Unless otherwise indicated, students have one semester to finish any work necessary to complete the course (i.e. Incompletes assigned for the fall semester must be completed by the winter semester; Incompletes assigned for the winter/summer semester must be completed by the fall semester). If work is not completed within this timeframe the Incomplete Grade will default to the grade earned. Any student receiving an “I” grade in their anticipated semester of graduation, will graduate in a later semester after all unsatisfied credits are confirmed.

Important: Faculty may exercise the grade change form for situations where the incomplete grade is not warranted, but late assignments have been approved (see Grade Change policy).

Incomplete Grade Verification

The Instructor should submit the current “grade earned” (A-F) for their student during final grading submissions for their course, in the grading module.

For students approved to receive an “I” grade: the instructor must submit a completed Incomplete Grade Verification Form to the Academic Advising & Registration Office (AARO).
The reason for the incomplete grade and outstanding assignments must be identified on the form and agreed upon by the student.
The instructor, student and department chairperson must sign the form.
All forms must be received by the final grading deadline of the current semester for “I” grade processing. Incomplete grade submissions will be entered/updated by AARO staff.
Forms not received by the deadline will maintain records displaying the “grade earned”.

Updating an Assigned “I” Grade

Once the required coursework is completed by the student, the instructor must submit a Grade Change Form with all required signatures, to the AARO, by the “I” Grade Expire Date (or by the final grade due date for the subsequent semester).
Assigned “I” grades that do not have grade change submissions , will revert back to the student’s original “grade earned”.
The Office of Academic Affairs must approve all standard grade changes beyond a 60-day period and any grade changes for Incompletes.
The final assigned grade is calculated into the student’s cumulative GPA and SAP (see Satisfactory Academic Progress for Undergraduate Students and Satisfactory Academic progress for Graduate Students).

Resolving “I” Grades if the faculty is no longer teaching at CCS:
Incomplete Grades assigned by a former faculty member will be handled by the Department Chair of the course; who will review the required assignments and submissions to determine a final grade. The required grade change form must be completed and submitted by the Department Chair to the AARO.

Campus and Facility Access

Students working on Incomplete Grades are not granted automatic access to CCS facilities (studios, labs or classrooms). Departments are not obligated to ensure access to CCS facilities if a student is not registered and/or if a registered student has day/time conflicts during hours of facility open access.

If access to a CCS facility is required (or desired) to complete coursework for an incomplete grade, it is the student’s responsibility to:

communicate with the Instructor to understand expectations for completing the coursework;
and to confirm If open access to facilities are available through the affiliated department, before agreeing to the incomplete grade.

If campus facilities are approved for use, each department can determine arrangements for reasonable access, which should be verified in advance with appropriate campus offices as required (i.e. registration, security, etc); and included on the Incomplete Grading Form.