Registration

Advance Registration

Students are strongly encouraged to advance register for classes during the Advance Registration period indicated in the Academic Calendar and Schedule of Classes. Once the semester begins students may make changes to their advance registration schedules with a Change of Schedule Form secured from the Office of the Registrar. This form must have proper signatures and be returned to the Office of the Registrar prior to end of registration period. See Academic Calendar for dates.

Intercollege and Acadeum College Consortium Enrollment

A student enrolled at HSU may also enroll in courses at Abilene Christian University and/or McMurry University or online through our consortium partnership with Acadeum College Consortium. Courses taken through Intercollege and College Consortium enrollment count toward degree requirements, provided approval has been secured in advance from the advisor, the Dean, the Business Office, and the Office of the Registrar. Courses in a major, minor, or teaching field must also be approved by the appropriate department head or dean. Intercollege work at ACU and McMurry are not included in block tution. See section on Tuition and Fees for more information.

The student should work closely with the advisor in selecting Intercollege or Consortium work. Intercollege and Consortium work is regarded as a special transfer category and treated in the same manner as HSU work with respect to the acceptance of credit and the calculation of grade point averages. See also the sections on Residence Work and on Post-Enrollment Transfer Credit in this Catalog.

Schedule Changes

If it becomes necessary to make changes in the course of study after the registration has been completed, the student obtains from the Office of the Registrar a Change of Schedule Form. Necessary approvals must be secured and the form returned to the Office of the Registrar prior to the end of the registration period. (Check Academic Calendar for date.)

A student may drop a course within the first five weeks of a long semester or the first seven class days of a summer session with a “W” as the recorded grade. After this time, a student may officially drop a course for just cause with a recorded grade of “WP” (Withdrew passing) or “WF” (Withdrew failing) according to an estimate of the instructor in the course.
Note: No classes may be dropped after the last date for withdrawal specified in the academic calendar.
Students may not change from credit to audit or non-credit (or visa-versa) after the last date to register.

A fee is charged for any student-initiated drop after registration.

Pass/Fail Grades

Hardin-Simmons University students may take a maximum of six (6) credits on a pass/fail basis. This option allows junior and senior students to explore fields of study outside of their chosen majors and/or minors without the fear of competition with students who have more extensive training in those fields.

If a grade of “C” or better is earned, then the student will receive a “P” (passing grade) which will not affect the grade point average in any manner. A grade earned below a “C” will result in the student receiving an “F”, which will be calculated in the student’s GPA as any other failing grade. Repeating a pass/fail course must be for a grade with that grade being the official grade for the student’s GPA.

Eligibility regulations include:

Students must have completed at least 60 credits with at least a 2.50 GPA;
Pass/fail courses may not be counted for a student’s major, minor, or HSU foundational curriculum;
A maximum of six credits may be taken with the pass/fail option;
Pass/fail registration may not be changed after the sixth class day;
Applies only to regular HSU on-campus courses.

Auditing of Academic Work

An auditor is an observer, not a participant, and is entitled to sit in a face-to-face class and benefit from the instruction, which is offered, but not to participate in online content, laboratory, field work, performances, and similar activities. An auditor is not entitled to have work evaluated by the instructor and receives no credit for enrollment as an auditor. Individuals who wish to participate fully and engage in all instructional activities must register for credit and pay full tuition. Permission to register as an auditor may be granted by the department head for appropriate courses when space is available. Auditors are not entitled to university library privileges or other activities normally funded through student fees and may not audit courses requiring laboratory credit without express consent of the instructor. Form to request to audit a course is in the Registrar’s Office.

Alumni Auditing

HSU Alumni are eligible to audit (tuition free) up to 12 hours of undergraduate work (for those graduating with a Bachelor’s degree since December 1992) or graduate work (for those graduating with a Master’s degree). Any dropped courses after the sixth class day will be counted as part of the 12 hours.

Withdrawal During a Semester

A student who finds it necessary to withdraw from the University before the end of the semester must secure the proper form for withdrawal through the Office of the Registrar. The form requires approval by the Business and Financial Aid Offices. If procedure is not followed, the student is automatically assigned a grade of F in all courses. However, no student may withdraw after the last date for withdrawal specified in the academic calendar.

Military Leave of Absence and Readmission Policy

Hardin-Simmons University recognizes that students who serve in the U.S. armed forces may encounter situations in which military obligations force them to withdraw from a course of study and that this can sometimes happen with little notice. This policy applies to all University schools and programs and is intended to recognize and make appropriate allowances for students who find themselves in such situations. Notice of the student’s military service1 and intention to return to school should be made to the university’s Office of the Registrar.

Student Responsibilities

Notification of Military Service

The student (or an appropriate officer of the armed forces or official of the Department of Defense) must give oral or written notice to the University of the need to leave school for military service as far in advance as is reasonable under the circumstances. This notice does not have to indicate whether the student intends to return to the University. Alternatively, at the time of readmission, the student may submit an attestation of military service that necessitated his or her absence from school. No notice is required if precluded by military necessity, such as service in operations that are classified or would be compromised by such notice.

Notification of Intent to Return to the University

The student must also give oral or written notice of her intent to return to the University within three years after the completion of the period of service. A student who is hospitalized or convalescing due to an illness or injury incurred or aggravated during the performance of service must notify the University within two years after the end of the period needed for recovery from the illness or injury. A student who fails to apply for readmission within these periods does not automatically forfeit eligibility for readmission but is subject to the University’s established leave of absence policy and general practices.
A student who submits an application for readmission to Hardin-Simmons University shall provide documentation2 to establish that the cumulative length of the absence and of all previous absences from Hardin-Simmons by reason of service in the uniformed services, including only the time the student spends actually performing service in the uniformed services, does not exceed five years, and that the student’s eligibility for readmission under this policy has not been terminated by a separation from the Armed Forces with a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge or as the result of a sentence of a general court-martial.

University Procedures

Every effort is made to assist service members in deciding whether to withdraw or pursue Incomplete grades for course work to be completed by a later date. Tuition charges will be refunded in accordance with the University’s refund policies (see Refund Policy and Department of Defense Return of Funds Policy at https://www.hsutx.edu/tuition-aid/business-office/refund-policy/).

Readmission of Service Members

Hardin-Simmons University will promptly readmit3 any student who, because of military service, must be absent from the University for more than 30 consecutive days, or for fewer than 30 days if the absence results in a withdrawal from the University, with the same academic status4 as when last attending the University or accepted for admission. If the student is readmitted to the same program, during the first academic year in which the student returns, the student will be assessed the same tuition and fee charges that the student was or would have been assessed during the academic year in which the student left the University. However, for the first academic year in which the student returns, the University may assess an amount up to the amount of tuition and fee charges that other students in the program are currently assessed for that academic year if the student’s veterans’ education benefits or other service member education benefits will pay the amount in excess of the tuition and fee charges assessed for the academic year in which the student left the University.

If, in the judgment of the University, a student is not academically prepared to resume a course of study in which he or she was previously enrolled, or is unprepared to complete a program, the University will determine whether reasonable means are available to help the student become prepared. The University may deny the student re-enrollment if it determines that reasonable efforts are not available, or that such efforts have failed to prepare the student to resume the course of study or complete the program.

Military Service is defined as “voluntary or involuntary service in the armed forces, including service by a member of the National Guard or Reserve on active duty, active duty for training, or full-time National Guard duty under federal authority, for a period of more than 30 consecutive days under a call or order to active duty of more than 30 consecutive days.”
Acceptable documentation includes, but is not limited to the DD (Department of Defense) 214 Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, a copy of duty orders prepared by the facility where the orders were fulfilled carrying an endorsement indicating completion of the described service, a letter from the commanding officer of a Personnel Support Activity or someone of comparable authority, a certificate of completion from military training school, a discharge certificate showing character of service, a copy of extracts from payroll documents showing periods of service, or a letter from National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) Team Leader or Administrative Officer verifying dates and times of NDMS training or Federal activation.
“Promptly readmit” means that the institution must readmit the student into the next class or classes in the student's program beginning after the student provides notice of his or her intent to reenroll, unless the student requests a later date of readmission or unusual circumstances require the institution to admit the student at a later date.
“With the same academic status” means that the University admits the student to the same program to which he or she was last admitted by the institution or, if that exact program is no longer offered, the program that is most similar to that program, unless the student requests or agrees to admission to a different program; at the same enrollment status that the student last held at the institution, unless the student requests or agrees to admission at a different enrollment status; with the same number of credit hours or clock hours completed previously by the student, unless the student is readmitted to a different program to which the completed credit hours or clock hours are not transferable; and with the same academic standing (e.g., with the same satisfactory academic progress status) the student previously had.