UPM #20 – Nontraditional Admissions and Readmissions

Effective Date: January 28, 2005

PURPOSE

This memorandum outlines the policy and procedures to be followed when evaluating an applicant for admission or readmission in a nontraditional context.

General Provisions

Traditional undergraduate admissions policy requires applicants with college credit earned after high school graduation to present at least a 2.0 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale and be eligible to return to any institution of higher learning previously attended.

This policy prevents students with less than an overall C average (or the equivalent) from enrolling as degree candidates at the University, regardless of when the poor academic performances were registered.

Although the traditional policy for admission and readmission will continue to be the norm, the University recognized that individuals can gain personal and intellectual maturity over a period of several years. In such cases, the University may choose to evaluate applicants for admission or readmission on the basis of their current academic promise rather than earlier academic performance.

Limitations

Under this policy, the University will review applicants who have not been enrolled full time in a formal educational program for at least five years and who by their special life experiences might be considered nontraditional applicants.

Admission or readmission to the General College or the College of Arts and Sciences under this policy requires the approval of the Advisory Committee on Undergraduate Admissions or the Office of Undergraduate Admission, as set forth in other sections of this document. Admission or readmission to a professional school under this policy requires the approval of the professional school to which the student is seeking admission or readmission.

Advising and degree-granting bodies within the University will monitor the performances of all individuals admitted under this policy, in order to provide up-to-date academic advising and counseling, and to ensure that each person admitted or readmitted fulfills the requirements for continued enrollment as specified in the letter of acceptance or letter of readmission issued by the Admissions Office.

Students who fail to meet these requirements will not be permitted to continue their enrollment at the University and may not re-apply for nontraditional readmission to the University.

Freshman Admissions (those with no prior college experience)

The University may admit applicants whose most recent academic work was completed five or more years prior to the date of prospective enrollment at the University without regard to grade point average when, in the judgment of the Advisory Committee on Undergraduate Admissions, these applicants warrant such special consideration.

Inter-University Transfer Admissions

The University may consider for admission applicants who never attended The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill but have attended one or more institutions (of higher education) five or more years prior to prospective enrollment at the University and who are otherwise not competitive for admission based on grades earned at the other institutions.

Transfer credit for courses taken at the other institutions previously attended will be awarded according to transfer credit policies applicable to all students. Approval of the Undergraduate admissions Committee is required before admission can be granted.

Intra-University Transfer Admissions

The Undergraduate Admissions Office may consider for admission intra-University Continuing Studies transfers whose last full time enrollment at an institution of higher learning occurred five or more years prior to the date of prospective enrollment at the University.

These applicants must meet the hours passed and grade point average requirements for intra-University transfer:

• • at least 12 semester hours completed in Continuing Studies with a cumulative 2.0 grade point average
  • 52 total transferable semester hours

or

• • 24 semester hours in the Continuing Studies over at least three semesters of enrollment with at least a cumulative 2.0 grade point average.

In making nontraditional admissions decisions, the Advisory Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and the Office of Undergraduate Admissions will take into consideration academic work completed by students at the University in Summer Sessions, Continuing Studies, and Independent Study.

Readmitted Students

The university may readmit academically ineligible students whose last enrollment at the University was five or more years prior to prospective enrollment.

The associate dean or the appeals committee of the College or School to which the student is applying for readmission will determine the student’s readmission status and conditions that must be met for continued enrollment.

If readmission is granted, the student’s cumulative grade point average and total academic hours passed based on previous enrollments at the University may be disregarded in future grade point average computations for purposes of determining continued academic eligibility and fulfillment of graduation requirements.

In such cases, credit toward fulfillment of the student’s graduation requirements may be granted for semester hours of academic work passed with grades of C or higher during previous enrollments at the University; semester hours of academic work passed with less than a grade of C during previous enrollments may be counted for the fulfilling of a course requirement or for academic eligibility purposes, if applicable. All courses and grades, however, will remain on the student’s academic record.

The dean’s office of the college or school to which the student is seeking readmission will determine the student’s compliance with standards for continued academic eligibility and satisfactory progress established as a part of the readmission decision.

Procedures

The Undergraduate Admissions Office will make decisions on nontraditional intra-university transfer applications submitted by Continuing Studies students.

The Advisory Committee on Undergraduate Admissions will make decisions on all nontraditional inter-university transfer applications. The undergraduate Admissions Office will pre-screen all new student applicants but will not pre-screen readmission applicants before forwarding nontraditional readmission applications to the appropriate dean for final decision.

The Undergraduate Admissions Office will advise the Office of the University Registrar to enter one of the following remarks on each decision involving a Nontraditional Admission/Readmission:

1. 1. Nontraditional Admission: (Term-Year) NORMAL ELIGIBILITY RULES DO NOT APPLY.
   2. Nontraditional Readmission: (Term-Year) NORMAL ELIGIBILITY RULES DO NOT APPLY. PREV CUM GPA _____, PREV ACAD HRS C OR BETTER ______.
   3. Nontraditional Readmission: (Term-Year) ELIGIBILITY BASED ON POST (Term-Year) COURSE WORK. PREV CUM GPA _____, PREV ACAD HRS C OR BETTER ______.

The Office of the University Registrar will:

1. 1. Enter the appropriate remarks on the student record.
   2. Enter on the student record the current cumulative grade point average and the total academic hours passed without inclusion of any course work taken prior to the semester of Nontraditional Admission/Readmission.
   3. Code the student transcript in a manner that will prevent the computer from performing normal and scheduled academic eligibility determinations that are inappropriate based on the conditions of the nontraditional Admission/Readmission.
   4. Provide the appropriate academic dean’s office with a grade report (or transcript) for all Nontraditional Admission/Readmission students enrolled at the end of each regular semester and at other times as requested.

The academic dean’s office will review the academic records of Nontraditional Admission/Readmission students at the end of each semester and will inform the University Registrar’s Office of any changes in academic eligibility status. The academic dean’s office will also inform the University Registrar’s Office about any remarks that should be removed or added to the student’s academic transcript.

Official Starting Date

Readmission applicants may be admitted under this policy starting with the 1986 Fall Semester. New students may be admitted under this policy starting with the 1987 Spring Semester.