Policies Pertaining to Current Presidential Scholars

The following policies apply to Presidential Scholars currently enrolled in any degree program at SUNY Delhi.

• Duration of Scholarship
• Program Requirements
• Waiver of Honors Course Requirement
• Academic Leaves of Absence
• Personal Leaves of Absence
• Reinstatement of Presidential Scholar Status

Duration of Scholarship

Scholarship funds are guaranteed for two consecutive academic years for Associate degree students and for four consecutive academic years for Bachelors degree students, contingent upon the student's adhering to the program's requirements.  If Presidential scholars adhering to the program's requirements who enter the college in a two-year degree program successfully transfer to a four-year degree program, their funding will be continued for two additional consecutive academic years.

Program Requirements

In order to maintain Presidential Scholar status, a student must:

• Maintain a minimum 3.3 cumulative GPA
• Take one honors course per semester
• File for a TAP grant

• Sign the Scholarship Acceptance Agreement (provided by Enrollment Services)

Waiver of Honor Course Requirement

Presidential Scholars are required to take an honors course each semester as a condition of their scholarship.  On rare occasions, this requirement can present an unreasonable burden.  Presidential Scholars can waive the requirement to take an honors course under the following circumstances:

• The only available honors course conflicts with a course required for the student's major; or
• The student has already taken all honors courses offered in a given semester; or
• The requirement to take an honors course combined with courses required for the student's major will put the student above 18 credit hours in a given semester.

Petition for Substitution as an Alternative to Waivers

                In lieu of a full waiver of Honors course requirements, the Honors Program Advisory Committee (HPAC) requires students who cannot enroll in a regular Honors course or an Honors Independent Study to petition to have one of their required courses satisfy the Honors course requirement for that semester. The course must meet the expectations of an Honors course or have components added to meet those expectations. Waivers to completely remove any Honors requirement for the semester are reserved for rare and extenuating circumstances.

Honors Course Expectations

                To meet the expectations of an Honors course, the alternative course must meet the following requirements (note that the requirement for no pre-requisite knowledge is not included because these courses are ones for which students are prepared to take within their major):

1. Students must be required to apply domain knowledge gained in the course to higher level intellectual processes including analysis, synthesis, integration, evaluation, such as independent problem solving, critique of processes or arguments, teaching of others, etc., and should be exposed to multiple viewpoints on the same topic and required to integrate and compare those viewpoints and formulate their own.
2. Students must be required to utilize a variety of resources available through the campus library and/or other third-party sources and should be required to acquire independent resources and to apply independent judgment as to their authenticity, validity, and appropriateness.
3. Students must be required to engage in self-directed life-long learning activities germane to the topic of the class and should be required to consider the topic's personal and social relevance. 
4. Students must be required to properly communicate in accordance to the standards of the discipline.

Petition Process

                A student who wishes to have a non-Honors course be used to meet the Honors course requirement for a semester must submit a written petition to the chair of HPAC by November 18 for the subsequent spring semester and by April 20 for the subsequent fall semester. The student must work with the course instructor to develop the petition. The petition must include the following:

1. An explanation of why the student cannot take any of the scheduled Honors courses for the semester or an Honors Independent Study.
2. An itemized explanation of how the course meets the expectations of Honors courses as outlined above.
3. A detailed description of components added to the course by the instructor for the student in the Honors Program in order to make the course meet the expectations of Honors courses.
4. Confirmation by signature (either hand-written or electronic) indicating approval of the petition by the student and the course instructor.

Honors Program Advisory Committee Actions

                In response to the filing of a petition, HPAC must do the following:

1. Read, discuss, and vote on the petition within two weeks of receipt of a petition.
2. Inform the student and course instructor of the outcome of the vote as soon as the vote is taken.
3. Record the outcome of the vote in Confluence documenting the course taken to meet the requirements of the Honors Program.
4. Contact the course instructor at the conclusion of the semester to confirm that Honors course expectations were met by the student.
5. After getting confirmation from the course instructor, communicate to the student either successful completion of Honors course requirements or failure to complete Honors course requirements.
6. Work with the Registrar to ensure that all students who complete the requirements of the Honors Program (including those who successfully petition for an alternative, non-Honors course) receive recognition to this effect on their diploma and in their transcript.  

Academic Leaves of Absence

If a Presidential Scholar applies for and receives an Academic Leave of Absence, the student's scholarship will be extended by the number of semesters granted by the Academic Leave, up to a maximum of two semesters.  This extension will be granted only once during a Presidential Scholar's tenure at SUNY Delhi.

Personal Leaves of Absence

If a Presidential Scholar applies for an receives a Personal Leave of Absence, the student's scholarship will be extended by the number of semesters granted by the Personal Leave.  This extension will be granted only once during a Presidential Scholar's tenure at SUNY Delhi.

Reinstatement of Presidential Scholar Status

Presidential Scholars are required to maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.3 or higher.  If a Presidential Scholar earns a GPA of less than 3.3, the scholarship is permanently withdrawn for the following semester(s) until such time as a reinstatement of Presidential Scholar status is obtained.  If the student subsequently raises his or her GPA to 3.3 or above while maintaining full time status, that student may petition to have the scholarship reinstated for subsequent semesters, but will be unable to recover lost scholarship funding for those semesters during which the students fell below the minimum GPA requirement.  The student's petition shall include an explanation of the low GPA as a well as a plan for continued successful progress.  Reinstatement is not automatic.  Considerations for reinstatement can include the feasibility of the student's plan for success in doing honors level work, any extenuating circumstances that contributed to the low GPA, any judicial reports filed in relation to the student, the availability of funds, and any other information the Honors Program Advisory Committee deems relevant.  Petitions must be submitted to the Office of the Provost for review and decision by the Honors Program Advisory Committee by the end of the 10th week of classes, and an interview with at least three representatives of the Honors Program Advisory Committee will be scheduled prior to the end of the semester.  The student will be notified of the final decision within two weeks of the posting of final grades.