Guideline Highlights

• Sessions Explained

• First Week Affirmations

• Last Week Evaluations

• Summer 2013 Dates

The federal government has instituted financial aid guidelines that impact almost every school and program in America. These guidelines impact all Western Seminary students, not simply those who receive financial aid.

Sessions Replace Start Dates

As you have undoubtably heard, distance education courses must now be scheduled within the regular semester dates. To provide optimal flexibility, however, the online campus will now offer three sessions each semester. As illustrated below, Session “A” will be 16 weeks in length. Sessions “B” and “C” will each be 8 weeks in length and will be offered sequentially. Students who miss the semester start date, or those who have enrolled in either Session “A” or Session “B” and who have made satisfactory academic progress, may enroll for Session “C”... effectively providing either a late registration or an early semester option depending on your perspective.

Classroom Attendance - IMPORTANT!

1. If you are registered for either Summer 2013 Session “A” or Session “B”, your online learning center (http://www.westernseminary.edu/olc) will open no later than April 29th at 12:01 A.M. Within the first week of your session you must upload your course affirmation file to register your attendance within that week. This is our way of “taking attendance” in the course; failure to submit the affirmation file within that first week may result in your being dropped from the course.

2. You must also “attend class” during the last week of your session. Even if you finish your other course assignments earlier in the session, you still must complete and return your course evaluation in your last week. At the beginning of that week, you will receive a link by email to the evaluation page. Completing and submitting the online form during your last week will constitute a record of your attendance.

Summer 2013 Session Dates*

Note: Affirmation files or course evaluations received by 8:00 a.m. on the Monday following the end of your course start week or end week will be counted as having been received within the required one-week time window.