Registration

Students admitted to the College formally register for classes using the student information system and in consultation with his/her academic advisor. Prior to registration, students must ensure their accounts are up to date with Student Financial Services. The procedure is as follows:

  1. Registration materials, including the schedule of classes, will be made available to current students in March (for fall term), October (for spring term) and January (for summer term).
  2. Students will discuss recommended course selections for the upcoming registration with their academic advisor. The student and advisor should keep a copy or record of the courses approved for registration.
  3. Subsequent to the advising meeting, the advisor releases the advisor hold on registration via Self-Service and the student registers for courses at the appropriate time.

Uniformity of procedure is required to handle the large volume of students and ensure fairness to all students. Advisor’s approval helps students identify courses appropriate for his/her program, interests, and abilities. Proof of payment is required to ensure students do not build large balances which they are unable to pay.

Maximum Credits per Semester. Graduate students are permitted to schedule up to 18 credits per semester (fall, spring, summer). Any student who wishes to take more than 18 credits per semester must first obtain approval from his/her academic advisor, the director of their program and the registrar’s office.

Drop/Add/Withdraw (Change in Registration)

Students can add or drop courses in their schedule using the student information system (Self-Service) following the dates published on the registrar’s office website. Once a part-of-term begins, registration in a course may be permitted in mitigating circumstances with permission of the instructor, advisor and registrar’s office. Requests must be emailed to the registrar’s office at gradregistrar@messiah.edu.

A drop occurs prior to the beginning of the part-of-term in which a course is offered.

A withdrawal occurs once a part-of-term begins, and requests to withdraw must be emailed to the registrar’s office. The date of the email determines the withdrawal date and corresponding refund amount. A student’s notification to an instructor to drop or withdraw from a course does not constitute an official request or transaction. Students may withdraw from a class through completion of two-thirds of the part-of-term. After two-thirds of the part-of-term, students are not permitted to withdraw from a course except in cases documented by his/her physician or employer. Courses withdrawn on or after the first day of class and through the completion of two-thirds of the part-of-term will be indicated with a W (withdraw) on the student’s transcript and is not calculated in the grade point average.

Approval to add or withdraw from a course once a part-of-term begins results in assessment of a standard processing fee. Any approved exception for a late withdrawal may result in an additional processing fee.

Drop/add/withdraw procedures emphasize the importance of student responsibility in registration and the advisor/advisee relationship while providing flexibility and convenience to the process.

Class Attendance

Messiah College expects all students to attend scheduled classes regularly in order to maximize opportunities to profit from a professor’s expertise and from interchange with their peers, as well as to contribute to the quality of intellectual interchange in the classroom, whether traditional or virtual.

Regular attendance is expected throughout the duration of the course. For online courses, a student’s presence is evidenced by active and meaningful participation in virtual chats, discussion board assignments, synchronous and asynchronous class meetings, and any other threaded discussions/assignments required by the professor. Lack of participation may result in a student being marked absent for a class session, or failure in the course if he/she does not properly withdraw. Having a substitute participate in the registered student’s place is a violation of the College’s academic integrity policy.

Punctual and regular attendance at classes is expected except when a student is prevented from doing so by illness, death in the family, or a similar emergency. Individual course regulations about class attendance are left to the discretion of the instructor. Attendance regulations should be conveyed to students at the beginning of the semester and must be delineated in the syllabus.