October 2009, Vol. 33, No. 10
Editor: Ingrid Nuttall, ingridn@umn.edu
Datebook: fall 2009
October
Monday, October 26
—Last day of first 7-week session
Tuesday, October 27
—First day of second 7-week session
November
Monday, November 2
—Last day:
- for Graduate School students to apply for November graduation
- to cancel fall semester classes without college scholastic committee approval
Tuesday, November 3
—Last day for students enrolled in the second 7-week session:
- to add classes without instructor approval
- receive 100% refund on canceled classes
Wednesday, November 4
—Second fall bill payment due (50% of tuition and fees)
Monday, November 9
—Last day for students enrolled in the second 7-week fall session to:
- add classes without college scholastic approval
- change grade base
- cancel classes without receiving a 'W'
- receive 50% refund on canceled classes
Tuesday, November 10
—First day of spring 2010 registration for students admitted to a degree or certificate program
Monday, November 23
—Last day to cancel second 7-week session classes without college scholastic approval
Thursday, November 26
—University closed for Thanksgiving holiday
Friday, November 27
—University closed for holiday
IT outage on Saturday, October 24
Beginning at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 24, 2009, all University of Minnesota IT systems and applications will be unavailable for use. All applications supported by the Office of Information Technology (OIT) are expected to be restored to service at noon on Sunday, October 25, when the normal maintenance window has closed.
OIT acknowledges that this is a very difficult time, and recognizes the importance of the University’s core systems. Please help by sharing this information with your students, staff, faculty, and customers who will need to adjust their schedules to accommodate this critical work.
OIT has created a Web site that will be continuously updated as they plan for and execute this outage: https://systemstatus.umn.edu/view/Main/OutageInfo.
OIT has been planning for this outage and communicating regularly with collegiate IT directors. It is absolutely necessary that this work be performed as it will decrease the risk of an unplanned outage to the University’s IT applications during a critical time, such as student registration or final exams. This outage is being scheduled so that OIT can increase the amount of utility and emergency power to its primary data center, which is located in the West Bank Office Building (WBOB). This will allow OIT to increase the reliability, availability, and capacity of this data center.
Visit https://systemstatus.umn.edu/view/Main/OutageInfo during the outage for up-to-date information about the progress of the construction and system restart activities. In addition, the System Status page will be updated throughout the weekend to reflect the status of individual applications.
Scheduling University 2009
The Office of Classroom Management’s scheduling unit will be hosting Scheduling University (Scheduling "U") 2009 on Monday, October 26 through Friday, November 13 for approximately one hour each day.
Scheduling “U” will be held in both Minneapolis and St. Paul, covering topics such as:
- Scheduling 101
- Using the Webviewer
- Using Reports
- How to Get the Room You Need
- Electronic Course Scheduling FAQs
- Fall 2010 Scheduling Update
- Classroom Support
- Classrooms of the Future
Scheduling "U" is open to any University staff member. For more information, please visit the new Scheduling "U" Web page or e-mail classrm@umn.edu.
"Using UM Reports" workshop
The Student Records Help workshop topic for October is “Using UM Reports.”
UM Reports was developed by the University of Minnesota as a reporting tool of PeopleSoft data. This workshop will focus on the functionality of UM Reports, such as how to set up the home page and bookmarks, sort and filter data, export to Excel or a .CSV file, e-mail students, and using the links to other reports. Specific reports will not be discussed; this workshop will serve as a ‘launching point’ for your own exploration of what UM Reports offers, or to inform you of options of which you may not have been aware.
The workshop is scheduled to run from 11:00 a.m.-12 noon on Tuesday, October 20, in B20 Fraser Hall. No prior registration is needed for these workshops.
Please note: B20 Fraser is not a handicap accessible room.
If staff from Crookston, Duluth, Morris or Rochester would like to attend via ITV, please e-mail the Student Records Training Team.
Questions should be directed to the Student Records Training Team via e-mail or the Student Records Helpline (612-625-2803).
Mid-term grade alert enhancement
On Sunday, September 27, a code change went into the mid-term grade alerts system to allow instructors to indicate by section if they either have no mid-term alerts to send, or will be notifying their students using an alternative method.
If an instructor selects one of these options for a section, he or she will be unable to send alerts for that section until the flag indicating "no alerts need to be sent" is removed, or the flag indicating "an alternative method is being used" is removed (which can be done at any time). If one or more alerts are sent for a section, the new check box options are removed and the text "alerts sent" is displayed next to the section.
This enhancement was implemented in response to feedback from faculty indicating they would like to have these options available.
If you have questions about these changes or mid-term alerts please contact Tina Falkner.
Address verification is up and running
The University implemented new software that will make the U's existing directory of home, mailing, and billing addresses compliant with United States and Canadian postal standards. This new software will run periodically throughout the year to look for new addresses and check that existing addresses conform to postal standards. Those addresses that do not conform will be corrected by the software.
How does this affect you? Students, staff, and faculty may notice that the University's record of their address is slightly different than the way it was originally entered it into the self service application. For example, in a street address, "S" will appear as "South."
Bringing addresses into compliance will reduce departmental costs as less staff time will be spent handling undeliverable mail. Also, a piece of mail with a non-compliant address incurs a higher postage rate. Checking and correcting addresses will reduce the cost of postage for these pieces.
Questions about this project should be directed to Carolee Cohen.
Talking with students about aid: tips for advisers
Advisers have valuable opportunities to help students make the right financial aid moves early in a semester. Your student contact during these beginning weeks is important for helping One Stop Student Services address several common issues.
Registration
Late registration can result in a loss of Pell Grant and Minnesota State Grant eligibility. The deadline for Pell is the census date, which occurs two weeks into the term. To receive a Minnesota State Grant the student must be registered within 30 days of the start of the term. Students are urged to register for classes as early as possible to protect their enrollment status and financial aid eligibility, and to avoid late fees.
FAFSA
Most dependent students need parental assistance to pay for school. Parents of dependent students completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) are required to provide information about their family and finances. Even if a parent refuses to cooperate with the student's application, the student should still file a FAFSA. One Stop Student Services will work to document the student's financial situation so that aid eligibility can be determined.
Borrow or work?
Students struggling between whether to work or take out loans to finance their education should consider:
How much are they making?
Is the net gain enough to justify the costs of commuting?
How much support for education does the employer provide?
What is the long-term earning potential of their new degree?
Student loans can be a wise investment. If a student can borrow a minimum amount and graduate within four years, they can significantly increase their earning potential and keep debt balances manageable. In this case, student loans are "good debt" because they provide real gains with low risk.
Federal, state or private loans?
Federal and state loan programs provide much better terms than private loans from commercial lenders. Students should use up all their availability for federal and state loans before they consider taking out private loans. All students who want to borrow should complete the FAFSA first to determine their aid eligibility.
How much debt is too much?
The amount of loans a student can wisely borrow will depend on their expected starting salary and the total living expenses they will have after school. Students are encouraged to plan ahead by estimating their post graduation income and limiting their debt balances. And remember, debt planning resources are available online.
Transfer credit reports available for new students
New students can now review their transfer credit report (or TRAC) online to see how their transfer credits meet UMTC liberal education and writing intensive requirements. The TRAC shows how courses are evaluated at the time of admission for transfer to the University. This change allows new transfer students to view their transfer credit information two to three days earlier than was previously possible.
Students will receive an e-mail directing them to review their TRAC on the One Stop Web site. A sample TRAC is also available to help students decipher the report.
Remember, if you are talking to advisees and find that courses are missing from their APAS reports, try running a TRAC to see if some of the missing courses have restrictions on their transfer status.
PLEASE NOTE:
If the UM Course is in this format: -1NOTR1HISTAPPR- this means that the course must be reviewed by the history department to determine if the course should transfer to the UMTC.
If the UM Course is in this format: -1NOTR1COLLAPPRV- this means that the course must be reviewed by the student’s college of enrollment because the Office of Admissions does not have enough information to make a transfer decision.
Questions about liberal education and writing intensive requirements for transfer courses, study abroad courses, and coordinate campus courses should be referred to Margaret Gardner. Questions about liberal education requirements for UMTC courses and liberal education credit waivers should be referred to Laurel Carroll. Writing intensive petitions for UMTC courses should be referred to Leslie Zenk.
If you determine that your college no longer needs to receive the paper copies of the TRAC that we have been sending to you, or if have questions about the electronic transfer credit report, please contact Carol Cline-Hedblom.
Fall 2010 liberal education requirements posted on One Stop
As of October 6, The new liberal education requirements and the evolving course lists are posted on One Stop.
Please keep in mind:
1. We have put the current requirements in an easier-to-read format.
The current requirements listed on this page have not changed; they just look a bit different.
2. Course lists are not final.
The Council on Liberal Education is reviewing a large number of courses every two weeks this fall. The online lists will be updated on an ongoing basis. That said, if you are concerned that particular courses will not be re-certified, please contact Laurel Carroll so that she can be aware of any potential issues.
3. We would like to hear feedback and questions.
This change will truly affect continuing students when they get ready to register for fall 2010. Please tell us about your questions or points of confusion in the meanwhile, so that we can make the Web content better.
4. You may need to update your links.
If you link to the LE requirements on your site, be sure that you are linking to this page: <http://onestop.umn.edu/degree_planning/lib_eds/index.html>
Please contact Laurel Carroll and Kasi Williamson with questions, concerns, or ideas.
New FERPA regulations
Several amendments to regulations in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) took effect on January 8, 2009.
Some key points:
- The University of Minnesota is in compliance with FERPA. For the most part, the new regulations simply clarifying existing law. The University was already correctly interpreting FERPA in its practices.
- Health & safety emergency. The regulations relax the standard for disclosing private student data to appropriate persons when there is a health or safety emergency, in light of concerns following the Virginia Tech tragedy. The University may release private student data to appropriate persons (including parents) when there is an articulable and significant threat to health or safety. If there is a rational basis for the determination, the Department of Education will not substitute its judgment for that of the educational agency or institution in deciding to release the information. Before invoking this exception, please contact the General Counsel’s Office.
- Outsourcing. Educational institutions may share student information with third parties doing work on behalf of the institution (e.g., outside contractors, volunteers). However, the regulations require that the institutions identify these third parties as “school officials” in their FERPA notices to students. The University has amended its FERPA notice accordingly.
- Sharing information with a former student’s new school. The regulations already permitted the University to share private student information, without student consent, with a school in which the student seeks to enroll. The amendments clarify that this permission to share information continues even after the student enrolls at the new school, as long as the information relates to admission or enrollment. Therefore, disciplinary information about a former student can be shared with the student’s new school, even without the student’s consent.
- Providing student information to the source of the student information. The regulations clarify that schools may provide student information back to the source that ostensibly provided it, even without the student’s consent. This means if the student (or applicant) submits a transcript from another institution that looks suspicious, the University can send that transcript to the other institution for verification without student consent.
The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) is releasing a revised FERPA guide to reflect the final FERPA regulations. Tina Falkner from ASR was involved in this revision.
If you have any questions about FERPA, please contact Tina Falkner or Dan Delaney.
Financial literacy: support the "Live like a student" campaign
ASR's mission to increase financial literacy on campus needs your help! Spread the message of why it's good to "live like a student now so you don't have to later." Visit ASR's Web site and request campaign posters for your office and department. You can also download digital sign images that share tips for living on a student budget.
ASR will also be sending a series of weekly e-mail tips to students who opt in to receive them. If you're interested in joining this listserv, e-mail Live Like a Student.
Academic Support Resources| Ferpa Tutorial | ©2009 University of Minnesota
The Record is published monthly for colleges and departments at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, by the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. Back issues are on the Web in PDF format at http://onestop.umn.edu/onestop/Services/News_Events_and_Activities/Record.html
Ingrid Nuttall, editor Academic Support Resources 160 Williamson Hall 231 Pillsbury Drive S.E. Minneapolis, MN 55455
The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. This publication is available in alternative formats upon request.
