Undergraduate General Curriculum Requirements & Academic Policies

Every degree or certificate at Northern is structured to provide a certain minimum spread of knowledge and competency for our graduates. In general, if you receive a diploma in a certificate program from Northern, you will have been provided all the job skills and the minimal level of competency in English and mathematics that will be required to obtain entry-level employment in the field. If you earn a degree, your background will be much broader, with exposure to several different types of academic disciplines.

1. Certificate requirements (minimum): Program course requirements
2. Degree requirements: The following General Education spread are minimum requirements throughout all Associate of Applied Science (AAS) and Associate of Engineering (AEng) degree majors shown in this catalog. The standards for Associates of Art or Science are much more detailed.

Students will choose 12 credits from four different areas of the following six content areas. plus three (3) elective credits from Areas I-VI.

Area I. Communication;
Area II. Mathematics;
Area III. Science;
Area IV. Social and Behavioral science;
Area V. Humanities; and
Area VI. Fine arts.

These are the general guidelines, but each AAS degree may have specific requirements within general education as well as additional requirements. The approved courses for Areas I-IV. are listed on the following page.

In order to facilitate your choice of appropriate courses to fulfill these General Education requirements for the applied science degrees, we have defined certain course disciplines from which courses may be chosen to satisfy general education requirements.

Northern’s General Education Common Core Offerings

For purposes of selecting appropriate courses to meet Northern’s Associate of Arts and/or Associate of Science and Northern’s baccalaureate degree requirements for the General Education Common Core, you will select courses from each area shown.

Northern New Mexico College’s general education requirements reflect the values of the college and its faculty. The purpose of these courses is to help you achieve a foundation of knowledge that broadens and enriches your abilities to communicate, to think critically, to problem solve, and to broaden your world view regarding global awareness, human values, and social consciousness.

These selections call for you to develop written and oral communication skills, problem solving skills, scientific, historical, cultural, and ethical thinking. Northern has added courses to the state-wide transfer common core which present you with a greater choice of electives. If you will be transferring these courses to another college/university, you may be required to verify acceptance of such courses at the transferring institutions.

“Flexible Nine” Courses

In special circumstances, students may petition to substitute a General Education Flexible Nine course with another approved General Education course. These requests are for situations where it is difficult to take the approved Flexible Nine course and where the substitution will make it possible for the student to graduate without an additional semester of course work.

For Purposes of Meeting Graduation Requirement

Courses that appear on Northern’s General Education Common Core list and that also appear as part of your program/major core will be used to satisfy only major core requirements. For example, if your major requires PSYC 1110, you may not count this course to also satisfy General Education Common Core requirements.

Programs and their courses listed in this catalog are subject to change through normal academic channels. New courses and changes in existing course work are initiated by the responsible department, approved by the faculty curriculum committee and by the Faculty Senate.

If you have any questions concerning the Application of the General Education Common Core, please check with your academic advisor to avoid signing up for what might be an inappropriate course.

Grading System

Following are the allowable grades and associated grade points:

Letter grades are issued by instructors to indicate the quality of work done; instructors are not required to issue +/- grades.

*Grades of D+ and below do not count toward graduation and do not meet the criteria for satisfying prerequisites.

From Fall 2008 through Fall 2009 remedial MATH 100N and 102N used letter grades with a suffix of “N.” These grades, such as a BN or a CN were not used in computing a GPA. As of Spring Semester 2010, these grades are no longer used.

NF—Not Passing/No Show Failure:Faculty will award the grade of “NF” to any student who has not officially withdrawn but has stopped participating by the 60 percent point in the semester or part of term. The “NF” grade is equivalent to an “F.” A last date of attendance (LDA) is required when entering an “NF” grade.

WF—Not Passing/Withdrawal After the Withdrawal Deadline: A grade of “W” is automatically assigned for a withdrawal within the withdrawal period during a 16-week term or the withdrawal period for a part of term. A grade of “WF” is given for withdrawal after the official deadline to withdraw has passed, as noted in the academic calendar, and it is documented that the student has ceased to attend the class. A “WF” is factored into the GPA as zero points. This grading type would be applied by the Registrar during final grading for students that attempt to withdraw after the withdrawal period has ended.

The following grade entries are not options which you may choose at the time of registration. They are attached to the course in which you enroll:

CR—Credit: a passing grade which gives credit for the course but is not used in computing your grade point average. Unless you indicate otherwise at the time you register for a course, we assume that a course is desired for “credit.”

NC—No Credit: a failing grade, but one which is not used in computing your grade point average. A grade of NC does not meet the requirements for meeting prerequisites.

TR: a grade used to show that credit has been accepted in transfer for a course taken at other than Northern or is the entry posted in cases of successfully passing a locally-developed exam.

The following grade entries have no effect on your cumulative grade point average nor do they count towards credits earned:

AU—Audit: : a grading option which you may choose for any course in which you enroll, but you must indicate this at the time of enrollment or make a change from credit to audit or audit to credit, either by the end of the second week of a regular semester or by the end of the first week of a summer session.

W—Withdrawal: records the fact that you officially withdrew from a specific course at some time after the period established for getting a refund (usually the end of the third week of a regular semester). “Officially” describes a process in which you withdraw online (within given deadlines). Failure to “officially” withdraw from a course results in an automatic failing grade of “F” being assigned to the course. You may not attempt to withdraw from a course if a final examination has already been given for the course. Check each semester’s Schedule of Classes for a detailed breakdown on withdrawal deadlines for those courses which run for less than 16 weeks. Refer any questions to the Registrar.

In certain circumstances, instructors can exercise the right to withdraw students from their courses for failure to attend/having stopped attending. However, it is the student’s responsibility to withdraw from a course to avoid receiving a failing grade.

I—Incomplete: records a course for which, because of serious reasons beyond your control (e.g., you had an automobile accident on the way to the final exam, or you were hospitalized in the last couple of weeks of the term), you were not able to complete that last small portion of the course requirements. By mutual, signed agreement between you and the instructor, and subsequently accepted by the Registrar, you will have up to one year to complete that small portion of the course still lacking. The deadline for completion will usually be one to three months rather than a full twelve months. These deadlines are carefully monitored and, if the grade of “I” has not been promptly removed, the Registrar administratively changes the grade to a failing grade (“F”). Such an administratively-assigned grade cannot later be changed by the original instructor of the course.

The instructor of the course must submit a request to give an “I” grade at the time the instructor turns in the final grade sheet for the course. When the instructor converts the “I” into a regular grade, your transcript will reflect the grade, its grade points, and an adjusted cumulative grade point average.

NR—Not Recorded: used to designate that course for which the instructor failed to turn in the grade on a timely basis. Grades must be run as soon as possible after the deadline for submission, and an “NR” is used to clear those courses for which no grades have been received. This is the only way to get grades entered without undue delay, although it does not often happen that the “NR” is used. “NR” grade entries not changed within 30 days are administratively changed to failing grades. 

Grade Changes

A change in grade or a correction of an improperly reported grade may normally be made only by the originating instructor who must complete the proper form (which includes submitting justification for the change), obtaining the required signatures of approval, and delivering the completed form to the Registrar.

If you wish, as a student, to challenge a grade, refer to the section of this catalog below dealing with appeals of grades. If the grade you question has been issued by an instructor who is no longer employed by Northern, you should contact the chairperson responsible for that department.

No requests for a grade change or correction will be accepted after one year from the initial assignation (“Issuance of Grades”), you are responsible for accessing your records online to determine any discrepancy. If anything seems to be incorrect about the grade, it is your responsibility to promptly alert the Office of the Registrar. 

Grade Appeals

Only you, the affected student, may challenge or appeal a final course grade (henceforth “grade”) which you feel is improper or incorrect. The Grade Appeal Form is available on the Registrar’s page at www.nnmc.edu:

STEP 1) The student must read and understand the policy, and compose and attach a letter or memo stating the exact nature of the appeal and the reason(s) for the appeal.

The student must initiate the appeal with the instructor no later:

• Fifteen (15) college business days of the Spring semester following a grade awarded in the previous Fall semester; or
• Fifteen (15) college business days of the Fall semester following a grade awarded in the previous Spring semester; or
• Fifteen (15) college business days of the Fall semester following a grade awarded in the previous Summer term.

The chair/director (dean if chair/director is not available) shall become the instructor for purposes of the grade appeal if the instructor is not available or unreachable in which case Step 3 is omitted.

The instructor must initial and date this form at the time of receipt from the student.

STEP 2) Upon receipt of this completed form:

• The instructor shall record the decision on this form, and sign and date; and
• The instructor shall inform (email, letter, in-person) the student of his/her decision within ten (10) college business days; and
• The instructor shall return this form to the student and attach a memo or letter describing the basis for the decision and supporting the decision with documentation (e.g. homework, exam scores). If the student is communicating via email, the form can be returned to the student by email after the form is scanned.

STEP 3) If the appeal is denied at Step 2:

• If the appeal is denied at Step 2, the student may continue the appeal with the department chair/d eal is resolved, the instructor shall submit a Change of Grade form to the Office of the Registrar within ten (10) college business days.

STEP 4) If the appeal is denied at Step 3:

• If the appeal is denied at Step 3 by the department chair/director (or Dean if there is no chair/director), the student may continue the appeal to the Academic Standards Committee via e-mail: academic-sc@nnmc.edu within ten (10) college business days. The department chair/director (or Dean if there is no chair/director) shall inform the chairperson of the Academic Standards Committee of the denial. The Academic Standards Committee shall review the appeal (based on information from both the student and the instructor) and hold a hearing if indicated within twenty (20) college business days. The Academic Standards Committee may not convene over the summer for a hearing due to limited availability of faculty. Then the committee shall submit a recommendation to the Office of the Provost within five (5) college business days. The Office of the Provost for Student Affairs shall communicate the final decision on the appeal to the Assistant Provost for Student Affairs, who will inform the student within five (5) college business days.
• If the appeal is granted, the department chair/director (or Dean if there is no chair/director) shall submit a Change of Grade form to the Office of the Registrar within five (5) college business days.

Retroactive Withdrawal

The Retroactive Withdrawal policy is designed to allow for the change of failing grades to grades of “W” (withdraw) when a serious and unforeseen circumstance occurs which makes it impossible for the student to complete the official withdrawal process prior to the withdrawal deadline set in the academic calendar.

A student may petition for Retroactive Withdrawal from a course(s) or from all courses taken during a prior semester if circumstances of a serious and compelling nature prevented the completion of course work and extenuating circumstances prevented submission of a regular withdrawal petition by the deadline. In filing a petition for Retroactive Withdrawal, withdrawal from all courses taken during the term is normally expected since ‘extenuating circumstances’ are not course-specific. When a retroactive withdrawal is approved, failing grades for the semester will be changed to a “W”. Students who gain a retroactive withdrawal are not candidates for the remission of tuition and fees.

The time limit for filing a petition for a retroactive withdrawal is one year from the last day of the semester for which the retroactive withdrawal is sought. Petitions require approval from either the Dean or Chairperson of the College that the student is declared under.

Students may be candidates for retroactive withdrawal when: The extenuating circumstances that contributed to the inability to withdraw by the deadline were: 1) beyond their control 2) unforeseeable 3) severe 4) verifiable.

For more information, please contact the Registrar at 505.747.2110.

Grade Point Average (GPA)

You may calculate your GPA by dividing the number of grade points earned by the total number of credit hours generating those points, excluding any course for which a grade of W, NC, CR, AU, or I have been recorded and any course which was accepted by Northern in transfer. Your GPA is based only on courses taken at Northern, not on course grades transferred to Northern from another college or university.

Issuance of Grades

All grades are available online. Northern does not mail mid-term or final grade reports.

Academic Forgiveness

Northern recognizes that sometimes students are not academically prepared to start college, or are perhaps not emotionally or socially prepared, and sometimes receive failing grades or have to withdraw in their first term(s). The results may follow them throughout their academic careers and even affect them to the point that they drop out of college or are denied financial aid. Northern has, therefore, adopted a policy which allows those who fall into this category to request that such grades be deleted from their academic transcript. Students who meet all of the criteria listed below may submit a Request for Academic Forgiveness form to the Office of the Registrar, who is responsible for administering this policy.

The criteria for exercising Academic Forgiveness:

1. The term(s) for which you seek forgiveness must have happened at least three years prior to your formal request for forgiveness, and your semester GPA at that time for each term involved must have been below 2.00; and
2. The terms involved are limited to your first, or first two, terms at Northern; and
3. Since returning to Northern, you must have completed at least 12 credit hours (spread over one or more terms) and must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.00 over those courses (completed after the period for which forgiveness is sought) before applying for forgiveness; and
4. You must not yet have graduated from Northern.

The result of achieving Academic Forgiveness will be that the term(s) and all associated courses in that term(s) will no longer appear on your transcript, although a notation will appear on the transcript to the effect that “Academic Forgiveness was granted for (whichever term was appropriate).” A separate paper trail will be maintained to track the action taken.

Repeating Courses

You may re-enroll, without special permission, for any course which you have taken at Northern. Each course enrollment and its grade will appear on your transcript, but only the last grade earned will be used to calculate your cumulative GPA and only the last grade earned will be counted toward graduation.

Some courses, however, are already designed to permit a certain number of repeats (i.e., a PHED course, an ARTS-studio course, etc.) without affecting your cumulative GPA. For such repeatable courses, each enrollment and its grade will be counted, not just the last.

If, because of curricular changes that take place, the repeat of a course has a different credit hour value, the value of the repeat course (the latest) will be used to calculate your cumulative GPA and to satisfy graduation requirements.

If you do not pass a course which is a prerequisite to enrolling in another, higher level course, you must repeat the prerequisite course before enrolling at the higher level. An example of this would be completing ENGL 109N with a grade of CR before being able to enroll in ENGL 1110.

Please note: certain forms of financial aid will not provide assistance for repeats of courses which have previously been successfully completed. Compliance with such regulations is your responsibility if you receive such assistance.

Scholastic Standing

Scholastic standing will be determined at the close of each semester and an appropriate entry posted to your transcript. In the absence of any other notation, you may assume that you are in Good Standing.

Your end-of-term standing (Good Standing, Dean’s List, Probation, or Suspension) is based on the total number of semester hours attempted and the GPA achieved for those credit hours and is permanently recorded on your transcript.

Regulations governing academic probation and suspension are based on the 2.00 minimum cumulative GPA which is required to graduate from any certificate or degree program offered by Northern. A semester of course work with less than a 2.00 GPA results in a deficiency which must be removed in succeeding semesters if you are to graduate or successfully transfer to another college or university.

Good Standing

You are considered to be in Good (academic) Standing if your cumulative GPA is at or above the 2.00 level.

The Dean’s List

At the end of each fall and spring semesters, the Dean’s List is published as the official recognition of outstanding academic accomplishments. Only full-time students who are pursuing a declared major and who have earned a semester GPA of at least 3.50 over a minimum of 12 credit hours (excluding any courses labeled as remedial), and completed each course with a grade of C or better, are eligible for this honor. The entry will be posted to your transcript, and you will receive a letter of congratulations from the College Provost.

Note: The following policies regarding probation and suspension relate to academic probation and suspension, not financial aid probation and suspension. For financial aid policies, see Tuition & Fees.

Academic Probation

If, at the end of any term, your cumulative GPA, based on at least 16 credit hours of course work attempted at Northern, fails to equal at least a 2.00, you will be placed on Academic Probation.

Probation is not a penalty, but an emphatic warning that the quality of your work must improve if you are to attain the GPA necessary to graduate from Northern. You may not appeal probation.

If you are notified that you are on Probation, you may continue to enroll, but you must maintain a semester GPA of 2.00 or higher, and you will not be permitted to enroll in more than 12 credit hours of course work during a regular semester or more than 6 credit hours during a summer session without special permission from the Provost or Dean of Services. As you continue to raise your GPA, your status will be recorded as Continued Academic Probation until you have achieved a cumulative GPA of 2.00 or higher and achieve Good Standing.

Academic Suspension

If, at the end of any term, your cumulative GPA, based on at least 36 credit hours of course work attempted at Northern, fails to equal at least a 2.0, you will be placed on Academic Suspension, which may or may not have been preceded by a period of Academic Probation or Continued Academic Probation.

The duration of an initial suspension is one semester; for subsequent, repeat suspensions, one full year. If you have registered early for a succeeding term and then are put on suspension, the Advisement Office will delete your enrollment for the following term(s) enrolled. Under these conditions, you will have no guarantee of enrollment in the course which will have been dropped.

At Northern, Suspension is not viewed as a penalty for failure, but rather as an opportunity to deal with the pressures of life and school (which may have contributed to the low grades that brought on a period of Suspension) prior to re-applying for admission and a chance to continue your education.

SUSPENSION APPEAL

If you have been placed on Academic Suspension, you may appeal such status by:

1. Providing the Dean of Student Services with a letter of appeal, stating what caused the low grades which resulted in suspension and what you plan to do to correct the situation. If the Dean of Student Services accepts the appeal, you will be re-admitted to the College on Academic Probation and may be restricted in terms of the number of hours for which you may enroll and/or in terms of specific courses which you must take or may not take.
2. If the Dean of Student Services denies your appeal, you may appeal to the Faculty’s Academic Standards Committee, providing that Committee with a written summary of the situation and a detailed, specific statement of what you want. If the Committee recommendation is in your favor, it will send its recommendation through the Faculty Senate to the Provost for approval and forwarding to the Dean of Student Services for action. 

Graduation

General Requirements

In order to be eligible to receive a degree or certificate from Northern, you are responsible for meeting the following requirements as well as meeting specific admission and course requirements listed under the major you have chosen to pursue.

1. An overall cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher and completion of all required coursework with no grade below a “C” if the course was completed before Fall 2018 or with no grade below a “C-” if the course was completed during or after Fall 2018. Certain programs with professional accreditation may require special or additional standards for graduation.
2. You may not count toward degree requirements any course considered to be remedial in nature (i.e., usually bearing a suffix of “N,” such as MATH 100N). Certain certificate programs, however, may allow you to count a limited amount of remedial work against graduation requirements in the area of General Education.
3. You may not count a course more than once for any requirements for a certificate, degree, major. This includes courses required for a major that might also be on the list for General Education courses. One exception is that General Education as well as core courses in a degree program may count toward a double major, as long as you have taken all of the other distinct courses in the second major. In addition, if you are pursuing a second degree, you may use the same General Education and required major core courses for both degrees as long as you take an additional 15 new hours for Associate degrees and 30 new hours for Bachelor degrees approved by the Department Chair.
4. Residency for Graduation: for a certificate or associate degree program, you must have earned at Northern at least the last 15 credit hours; for a baccalaureate degree, the minimum is the last 30 credit hours. Any exception to this must be cleared by the Registrar before your last term at Northern starts. Failure to comply may be grounds for denying acceptance of your courses in transfer, thus delaying graduation.
5. Upper Division Coursework Requirement: Students must complete 40 credit hours of upper division coursework for a Baccalaureate degree. Of the 40 credit hours, 20 credit hours are to be in the major. An exception to the 40 credit hours of upper division exist for the RN to BSN bachelor program (please check the section of the program description)
6. You must complete an online Graduation Application as well as a Graduation Application form. This includes payment of the required graduation fee, (currently $100.00); completing and obtaining signatures from your academic advisor and department chair; your academic department will submit the form to the Office of the Registrar once it is completed. The graduation fee of $100.00 covers all degrees earned over the course of five years. 
   
   Applications are due by the by the first Friday of the month prior to the semester you intend to graduate. Check the Academic Calendar for the exact deadline. The Registrar will conduct a further review of your records and, if the Registrar identifies concerns with credit hours or requirements your Academic Chair will be notified that your graduation may be in jeopardy. You will begin to receive information from the Office of the Registrar about the Commencement program around the middle of the April.
7. If you start a program and continue uninterrupted, you are entitled to graduate under the terms of the degree plan in the catalog in effect at the time of your initial written declaration of the major, or under any later issued catalog, whichever is more beneficial to you.
   
   If, however, you interrupt your attendance by more than one (1) academic year of non-attendance you will be bound by the terms of the catalog in effect at the time of your latest re-admission to the College.
8. You cannot receive your diploma or official transcripts if you owe a debt or have an administrative hold of any kind to the College or if your undergraduate admission status is incomplete.
9. Your diploma(s) will reflect the legal name under which you have been admitted to Northern. If you wish any other name to appear, you will have to document a legal change of name (as described in the section titled “Change of Name”) prior to graduation.
10. Replacement diplomas will be provided for a fee of $7.50 each and must complete a duplicate request form located at the Registrar Office.
11. Graduation completion takes place at the end of the semester in which all program and financial requirements have been met, even though there may not be a formal graduation ceremony scheduled for that semester.

Graduation with Honors

You will meet the requirements for graduating with honors if you have completed at least 50 percent of your program requirements here at Northern. Your transcripts and diploma will reflect that honor within the following guidelines:

Graduation with Mention of Honor Society Membership

If you are a member in good standing in Northern’s Alpha Lota Sigma chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for two-year colleges, you will be entitled to wear the Society’s honor regalia at graduation. See the chapter advisor for information on membership and honor regalia.

Alumni Status

Once you have graduated from a program, you become a Northern Alumni. This is an important role: satisfied graduates make the best recruiters for any college. You satisfy this role by mentioning where you received your degree and recommending Northern to family, friends, and co-workers as well as by becoming active in the Northern Alumni Association. As an alum, it is important that you stay in touch with Northern and keep your information current for our records.