Academic Policies

Academic Advising

All graduate students are assigned an academic advisor who will assist in course scheduling. Although the advisor will assist, the student is personally responsible for meeting all degree requirements for graduation.

Registration

Students register for courses during the registration period before the beginning of each semester or term. Registration may be completed in person, by mail, by fax, or online. Registration should be completed 15 days prior to the first class meeting.

The Saint Leo University Master of Arts in Creative Writing Program follows a cohort model of student matriculation. Students are automatically registered in their semester courses by enrollment staff in consultation with the program director.

The Saint Leo University Master of Social Work Program (MSW) is based on a cohort model of student matriculation. The program follows a planned course sequence. The course schedule is predetermined to assist students in building increasing levels of proficiency. Students entering the program are expected to follow the specific course sequence laid out by the faculty. Student petitions to be exempt from the required sequence are considered on a case-by-case basis. No exemptions are made in the Master of Social Work Program.

Saint Leo University reserves the right to cancel the registration of any student who fails to conform to the rules and regulations prescribed in the University catalog or other relevant University documents.

The University also reserves the right to cancel a course for which there are insufficient enrollments. Students will be notified via e-mail or telephone, and any tuition and fees paid for a course that has been canceled will be refunded if the student does not register in a replacement course.

Pre-assignments

Most graduate courses have a pre-assignment that must be completed before the first class session.

Graduate Orientation

Those students enrolled in the Master of Arts in Theology and Master of Social Work degree programs are required to satisfactorily complete a mandatory student orientation program. The required, not-for-credit course must be completed by the end of the first term. Tuition fees will not be assessed. The orientation course information will be provided by Graduate Admissions upon acceptance into the program.

Class Attendance

An educational program centered upon classroom instruction is predicated on the concept of regular class attendance. In support of this concept, the following principles and procedures are practiced:

1. Except for reasonable cause, students are expected to be present at all regularly scheduled class meetings.
2. Students whose attendance becomes unsatisfactory to the extent of adversely affecting their course performance are informed by their instructor and may be dropped from the course.
3. Minor children of a faculty member or student are not permitted in the classroom during regularly scheduled class meetings.

Final Examinations

Weekend Programs

Final examinations are scheduled during the last class period of the semester. Students are not permitted to take final examinations before that time.

Grading

Grading

Course grades are assigned based on the degree to which the student fulfilled the objectives of the course and are evaluated as follows:

Unless approved by the appropriate College Dean, incomplete work (I) is counted as a failure (F) if the work is not completed by the end of the following term. An incomplete grade (I), once completed, will reflect the same term date the course was originally taken; however, a degree conferral date will be determined by the actual date the incomplete work was completed.

The grade of C is marginally acceptable for graduate work. Students may earn a C in only two courses during their graduate career at Saint Leo University. Any additional graduate course in which a student earns a grade of C or lower must be retaken, and a grade higher than a C must be earned before the end of the program. It is the student's responsibility to have a minimum GPA of 3.0 at the time of graduation and to ensure that no more than two classes are passed with only a grade of C. Students who do not meet these requirements will not be eligible for graduation.

A student who receives a grade of F in a class for any reason and wishes to continue in the program must retake that course in the next term in which the student is enrolled and the course is available, unless otherwise approved by the director of that particular program. The course should be the only class in which the student is enrolled. Transferring credit into Saint Leo University from another school to replace the F grade is not permitted. An additional F grade for any reason shall result in the student being suspended from the respective program due to academic deficiencies.

Students in the Master of Social Work program must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 each semester to remain in the program, will be terminated if three grades of C are earned during the program, and will be terminated for any grade of F earned during the program.

Students in the Master of Science in Psychology program must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.25 with no more than one grade of a C in required coursework.

Students in the Master of Science in Human Services Administration program, will be terminated from the program if three F grades are earned during the program.

Students in the Master of Science in Criminal Justice program, will be terminated from the program if three F grades are earned during the program. 

Doctoral students may earn a C grade in only one course during their doctorate career at Saint Leo University. Any additional doctorate course in which a student earns a grade of C or lower must be retaken, and a grade higher than a C must be earned before the end of the program. It is the student's responsibility to achieve the minimum program GPA at the time of graduation and to ensure that they have no more than one grade of C. The minimum program GPA for the Doctor of Business Administration, Doctor of Criminal Justice, and Doctor of Education, and Doctoral of Theology is 3.25. Students who do not meet these requirements will not be eligible for graduation.

Any doctoral student who receives a grade of F in a class and wishes to continue in the program, must sit out for one term. The failed course must be repeated in the next term the student is enrolled and the course is available, unless otherwise approved by the program director. The course should be the only class the student is enrolled for that term.

Receiving a second F grade for any reason shall result in the student being suspended from the respective program for one year due to academic deficiencies.  

If a student is terminated or suspended from a degree program and wishes to apply to a different degree program, it will be the decision of the graduate director of the new degree program whether he or she can be conditionally admitted into the program and what the conditional requirements would be.   Re-admission applications would be handled on a case-by-case basis.  Options for the student may include repeating the course/s prior to starting the new program as a non-degree seeking student, or, if the course/s is not available for the student to repeat, the student may be provisionally admitted into the new program and given a certain number of terms to raise the GPA to the minimum 3.0. 

Students who wish to request an incomplete (I) grade in any graduate course must do so in writing. The written request must be sent to the course instructor before the end of the term. If the instructor believes that the request is justified, the written request shall be forwarded with the instructor's approval to the appropriate graduate program director. This documentation will be kept in the student's permanent record. It is recommended that the student keep a hard copy of the request and the instructor's agreement.

*The FA grade is issued to students who did not complete the course, did not officially withdraw, and failed to participate in the course activities through the end of the enrollment period. The FA grade earns no credit and counts in the same manner as a F in tabulating the student's grade point average.

Reinstatement

Suspended graduate-level students may apply for reinstatement after one year. The petition for reinstatement must be submitted to the director of the relevant graduate program at least one month before the intended date of reentry to the University. The petition must include a written statement from the student identifying the factors that led to the suspension and the actions that have been or will be taken to improve future academic performance. In addition to this statement, with the exception of the Master of Science in Criminal Justice, the student must obtain a written recommendation from at least one faculty member teaching in the graduate program. The MSW program requires readmission application at least one semester before the intended return date to accommodate internships.

The director of the graduate program will approve or disapprove the petition for reinstatement and will determine the conditions of reinstatement. Such conditions may include remedial courses at the undergraduate level and/or enrollment in only one graduate course per term.

Students suspended from a doctorate program may petition the program director for reinstatement. The petition should include a written statement identifying the factors that led to the suspension and the actions that have been or will be taken to improve future academic performance along with a letter of support from at least one doctorate faculty member. The program director will review the reinstatement petition to render a determination. If the reinstatement petition is approved, the 7-year completion timeline would not be extended. Refer to the Readmission policy for further information. 

Academic Dismissal

Graduate students whose academic standing is so poor that, in the judgment of the Vice President of Academic Affairs, improvement is unlikely, will be academically dismissed. Dismissal is permanent termination of student status from Saint Leo University. Students who have been dismissed may not be readmitted to the institution under any circumstances.

Receiving a third F grade for any reason in a doctorate program will result in academic dismissal.

Transferring credit into Saint Leo University from another school to replace the F grade is not permitted.  

Library
 

Extensive information resources are available in the Daniel A. Cannon Memorial Library. Call 352/588-8258 for library hours, or visit the library website at www.saintleo.edu/library. The Hugh Culverhouse Computer Instruction Center has three large, state-of-the-art microcomputer classrooms for use by graduate students. They are located on the lower level of the library, as is also a Video Teleconferencing Classroom. For University Campus and online graduate students, the library is designed to aid academic research through remote access at www.saintleo.edu/library.

Computer Specifications

Saint Leo University highly recommends that all students have the following minimum configuration for personal laptops:

Hardware Requirements

• Dual Core or higher processor
• 8 GB of RAM or higher
• 256 GB of hard drive disc space or higher
• WiFi Enabled
• Ethernet network port

Software Requirements

• Windows 10 or higher or Mac OSX version 10.8.5 Mountain Lion
• Office 365 (students are eligible to have a free Office 365 Account) this includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive with 1TB of cloud storage and Access*. 
  *Access is only available to be installed on Window based computers.
• Adobe PDF 9.0
• Alternate web browser in addition to Internet Explorer, such as Firefox

Please note that there may be software components accompanying textbook materials that are not MAC compatible. Students may experience problems using these tools as a result. Saint Leo University cannot be held responsible for students experiencing difficulty with software components that are not MAC compatible.

Students must use only Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Excel for submitting their papers, projects, etc. All other types of programs are not permitted unless otherwise specified and approved by the professor.

Research Reference Requirements

Those students enrolled in the Doctor of Business Administration, Master of Business Administration, the One Year and International Experiential MBA; the Doctor of Criminal Justice, the Master of Science in Criminal Justice, the Master of Science in Cybersecurity, the Master of Accounting, the Master of Education, Instructional Design, Education Specialist, and Master of Social Work programs are permitted to use only the American Psychological Association (APA) format for referencing material. All other formats—e.g., Chicago or MLA—will not be permitted unless specified by the professor.

Transfer Credit

Saint Leo University recognizes credit only from regionally accredited institutions. Up to six credit hours of graduate, post-graduate, or doctoral coursework completed at other institutions may be accepted toward the graduate, post-graduate or doctoral degree requirements if such coursework is determined to be content equivalent to one or two of the required courses in the curriculum.  Only graduate work in which the student earned a grade of B or higher will be transferred to fulfill degree requirements. No quality points are awarded for transfer credit. Credit that was earned five or more years ago will be considered on a course-by-course, case-by-case basis at the time the transfer evaluation is prepared. The student must make a written request for the evaluation of transfer credits and must provide official transcripts and other supporting information requested. Evaluation of transfer credits will be made only after the student has applied for admission and paid the application fee.

The EDD / EDS program will accept up to nine credit hours of course work for students who have completed the NISL program.

The MSW Program will accept up to nine credit hours of foundation social work courses from a CSWE-accredited MSW program as transfer credit for the two- or three-year programs.

No transfer credits from another institution will be accepted once the student has been accepted unless approved in writing by the director of the relevant program.

Independent and Directed Study

No independent study coursework will be accepted for transfer credit. However, students are strongly encouraged to conduct and publish scholarly work while enrolled in the program. Students may request a faculty member to serve as their research mentor.