Title IV Federal Student Aid Compliance and Early Intervention
Information for Instructors
Early student engagement is key to success in academics and graduating on time.
To encourage participation and to follow statute and regulations governing Title IV federal student financial aid, instructors are asked to confirm student course participation preferably before the end of the drop/add period of the course.
Course Participation Confirmation is a process by which instructors report to the university that a student is engaged in their course. This is not a subjective judgment on the perceived quality of participation; it is not a grade. It is simply a question of whether students are participating.
Participation can include:
- Joining discussions on Blackboard
- Handing in homework
- Taking a quiz
- Attending class in person
- Participating in a class study group or on a group project
Many instructors offer their students test, quizzes, assignments, and discussion threads in Blackboard. When a student completes at least one of these tasks in Blackboard, the verification of attendance/participation will automatically be updated in Banner. If at least one of these tasks occurs in Blackboard before the end of the drop/add period of the course, the course participation confirmation will be considered complete.
For instructors, who do not offer tests, quizzes, assignments, and discussion threads in Blackboard, they can use a pre-designed Course Participation Confirmation Quiz in Blackboard before the end of the drop/add period of the course.
If Blackboard options are not suitable for a course, attendance can be manually updated by instructors in Banner. Dates will only be shown through the 12% date of the course’s part of term. Grey checkmarks indicate that attendance has already been verified through Blackboard.
If Blackboard options are not suitable for a course, attendance can be manually updated by instructors on a page located in the “Faculty Course Information” box in Self Service Carolina.
Dates will only be shown up to the 12% mark of the course’s part of term. Grey checkmarks indicate that attendance has already been verified through Blackboard.
Instructions
- To confirm a student, locate the student in the list and click on a box in the appropriate “Dates” row.
- Select “Hide Confirmed Students” if you wish to see only those students who have not yet been verified.
- Click on “Select All” to mark all students for a date. Click “Select All” again to deselect all students.
- Finally select, “Save Changes” to complete the process.
The “Verification” tab provides a detailed summary of how and when students were verified.
Many instructors offer their students test, quizzes, assignments, and discussion threads in Blackboard. When a student completes at least one of these tasks in Blackboard, the verification of attendance/participation will automatically be updated in Banner.
For instructors, who do not offer test, quizzes, assignments, and discussion threads in Blackboard, they can rely on a pre-designed Course Participation Confirmation Quiz in Blackboard. We encourage instructors to ask students to complete this quiz.
For more information about Attendance Verification in Blackboard visit this Knowledge Base Article. Note: Please do not remove the Course Participation Confirmation Quiz from your course in Blackboard unless you are using an alternate means of verifying attendance.
Other Frequently Asked Questions
Participation is engagement in an academically related activity which may include:
- Joining discussions on Blackboard
- Handing in homework
- Taking a quiz
- Attending class in person
- Participating in a class study group or on a group project
Participation does NOT include:
- Living in institutional housing;
- Using a meal plan or swiping an ID card;
- Logging into an online class without further participation; or
- Participating in academic advising or counseling.
Participation confirmation is required for all courses including on-campus classes, asynchronous online classes, study abroad, co-ops, internships, independent study, research hours or any course without a standard meeting time.
If a course does not meet prior to the deadline to submit participation confirmation, it is the responsibility of the instructor to provide an academically related activity for students to demonstrate participation prior to the applicable deadline.
If your instructor does not confirm your participation, Financial Aid might adjust your aid based on the number of credit hours confirmed, meaning your aid package could be reduced. If you have already received a refund based on the credits for an unconfirmed course, you may end up with an account balance that must be repaid.
If the student has withdrawn from the University, no further action is required.
If the withdrawal from the course is backdated before the participation confirmation freeze date, the student could lose partial aid eligibility.