Student Handbook

Common MTC Terminology

Advising

The process of discussing academic program requirements with a professional advisor, faculty advisor, or the dean/director of your chosen major. Advising includes creating an academic plan, registering for courses, discussing academic challenges, and more.

Add/Drop

The process of adding and/or dropping a course from your class schedule. Most classes can be dropped up to ten (10) calendar weekdays before the term ends and most adds may be done through the fifth day of the term (refer to the college calendar for exact dates for each term). Students need to obtain forms from the Office of Student Records and follow the proper procedures in order to add or drop a class or withdraw from the college. In addition, students who are on financial aid should contact the Financial Aid Office to determine how dropping a class may affect their aid.

Admission

Admission refers to the process of applying to attend Marion Technical College. MTC has an open-door policy. If you are a high school graduate or have successfully completed a GED, you are eligible for admission to the college. Application requirements vary with certain limited enrollment programs. Refer to the catalog or online for additional details.

Articulation

A process where college level competencies are taught within specially designated high school courses, usually College Tech Prep. The students earn related college course credit without having to pay tuition or buy textbooks. The college credit is held in escrow for when the student enrolls at the college. Student must submit an articulation form from their high school to claim the credit.

Canvas

A course and learning management system that is accessed through the Internet and used by faculty and students for learning on a course-by-course basis.

College Tech Prep

An opportunity for high school students to start their career preparation while still in high school. Students enter a College Tech Prep career program usually at their high school in the 11th grade, continue through the 12th grade, and then on into college. High school College Tech

Prep students can earn up to 15 hours college credit and a $1,200 scholarship at MTC, giving them a serious jump-start on their college program.

College Credit Plus (CCP)

Current high school students who are also enrolled in college courses. Students should contact their high school counselor and MTC advisor before making any changes to their schedule or withdrawing from classes

Continuing Student

A student who is currently attending or has attended in one of the previous two terms.

Co-requisite

A course that must be taken concurrently/in the same semester as another course. Co- requisites are typically support courses for college-level writing and math courses.

Course Number

Numbers and letters assigned to a course within a specific program of study (e.g., the course Computer Basics is OIS1200; OIS indicates Office Information Systems and 1200 is the course number).

Course Section

Each MTC course is assigned a course section number.

Section numbers 01 - 19 indicate day classes (approx. 8AM to 4 PM) offered at the MTC's Marion Campus location; section numbers 20 - 29 indicate night classes (approx. 4 PM to 10 PM) offered at the Marion Campus.

Section numbers in the 50s indicate courses which are offered entirely online and carry the classification ONLINE. Other courses with web-based content are denoted as BLENDED (roughly half online, half traditional classroom delivery) or WEB COMPONENT (only a portion of course delivered online or augmented with web applications).

Section numbers that begin with letters are special sections and enrollment is limited, such as courses at the Marion Division of the Whirlpool Corporation, Vaughn Industries, and area high schools (CCP). For example, W2S1 is a Whirlpool section, and NU70 is a CCP class offered at North Union High School.

Some sections are offered as a “flex course” in an 8 week session within the full semester. These sections are designated as 1S (first 8 weeks) or 2S (second 8 weeks). For example, 1S01 would be an 8-week, daytime course offered during the first half of the semester.

Credit Hour

A unit of time awarded for course work. Credit hours are used in computing grade point average, the status of a student as full time or part time, and for fulfillment of graduation requirements. It also denotes the actual time spent in class or online. Generally, 1 credit is equal to one hour of class time, but some courses may vary (such as labs).

Credit hours also give indication to how much time should be spent out of class doing homework, reading, studying for exams, etc. For reach credit hour in class, students should expect to spend 2-3 hours out of class preparing; for a 3-credit class, that equates to an additional 6-9 hours per week.

Early College Credit Options

MTC offers several options for high school students to obtain college credit including dual credit earned through the College Credit Plus program, AP credit, and College Tech Prep articulated credit. Contact the Office of Admission for details.

Elective

A course that can be chosen by the student to complete a specified number of credit hours required in an area of study. The course must be acceptable for a degree or diploma program. Advisors can suggest electives for a particular program.

Full-Time Status

Any student enrolled in at least 12 credit hours per term.

Half-Time Status

Any student enrolled in 6 to 11 credit hours.

Lab Fees

Lab fees are assessed to cover a portion of the direct costs associated with specific MTC courses, including costs of consumable materials, instructional software and media, and lab support personnel.

Part-Time Status

Any student enrolled in less than six (6) credit hours.

Pass/Fail Option

Certain courses are offered on a pass/fail basis in which the final grade is an “S” or “U.” A “Satisfactory” (S) or “Unsatisfactory” (U) will not be computed in the GPA. (See Page 18-19 for details).

Prerequisite

A course that must be taken and successfully completed with a grade of “C” or better before a higher-level course is taken (e.g., Financial Accounting ACC1400 is a prerequisite for, Intermediate Accounting ACC2210).

Returning Student

A student who is returning to MTC after an absence of 12 consecutive months or one year.

Syllabus

A course outline distributed by instructors listing topics to be covered during the term. Also included will be important dates, objectives of the course, and other important information regarding course content.

Transcript

The official academic record of a student on file in the MTC Office of Student Records (OSR). Each student’s transcript lists courses attempted, grades received, and the cumulative GPA (refer to the catalog for further information on the confidentiality of transcript records or contact the OSR). To obtain your MTC transcript, contact the OSR or visit our website.

Tuition

Tuition is defined as the charge for instruction and is comprised of both direct and indirect instructional costs such as instructional personnel expenses, program/course development, student services, plant operation and maintenance, etc.