CONSORTIUM OVERVIEW

The Consortium exists to assist undergraduate, full-time, degree-seeking students in the Charlotte region to proceed toward graduation without interruption in their degree progression because of limited course availability on their home campuses.

The Greater Charlotte Consortium (the “Consortium, GCC“) is created and maintained by the participating institutions to expand the course options available to undergraduate degree-seeking students who are enrolled at the participating institutions.

GUIDELINES


ELIGIBILITY:
  1. Be currently enrolled in either Fall or Spring semesters as a full-time undergraduate in Good Academic Standing in a degree-seeking program at one of the member institutions. A student may not enroll in courses offered in summer sessions.
  2. Maintain full time enrollment status (in addition to the Consortium courses) at the Home institution to take advantage of the fee waiver at the Host institution.
  3. Have no financial holds on the student account at the Host or Home institution (could be prior student).
  4. Have no current disciplinary actions at the Home or Host Institution.
  5. Complete any supplemental documents required by the Host institution, i.e. UNC Charlotte requires criminal questionnaire and/or a cleared Criminal Background Check, which, if required, is paid for by the student.
  6. Complete the Consortium Registration Form and submit it to the Home Institution’s Office of the Registrar. This form also serves as the GCC Admission application. All information should be completed.
REGISTRATION:
  1. Course selection is limited to courses NOT offered at the Home Institution. It is up to the home institution to determine whether a student may register at the host institution for a course that is not offered for a given semester at the home institution. A student may not enroll at the Graduate level. Internships, independent studies, study abroad coursework, directed readings, and continuing education courses are excluded from GCC registration. Only courses that can be posted for academic credit on the Home institution’s transcript (at the minimum for elective credit) are approved for GCC registration.
  2. The Registrar or appointed official will grant or deny permission for the student to register in the course(s) based on the above criteria. The number of courses is limited to two for any given term since the student is also maintaining FT enrollment at their Home institution. Student must adhere to Home institution’s policy on overload permissions and any exception is up to the Home institution.
  3. Space Available Basis: Students on their Home campus will not be displaced by a GCC student nor will instructors be asked to overload in order to accommodate a GCC student. GCC student’s registration forms are held until a date specified by the Host Institution.
  4. Registration and Fees: Tuition will be waived. Related additional fees (music, art supplies, etc.) are the responsibility of the student. Host institutions are responsible for the fee-waiver process at their institutions.
  5. The Host Institution will send a roster of all students enrolled (after drop/add ends) to the Home Institution to verify full time enrollment. If students have not maintained FT enrollment at the Home institution (not including the consortium class), those names will be sent to the Host Institution to drop the students. Breaking FT enrollment negates the fee waiver.  Home institution will check at the end of the semester to verify FT status.  If the student did not maintain FT status, Home institution could deny further participation in the GCC.
POLICIES AND REGULATIONS:
  1. GCC students must adhere to the Academic Calendar that is in place at the Host Institution. When students drop or withdraw, the Home Institution should be notified. Host institution should also monitor students registering themselves in courses not approved on the form. Both Home and Host institutions will maintain academic records on all courses, credits and grades earned by all GCC students.
  2. Access to Facilities: a GCC student will have access to all facilities required for the course(s) for which registration is approved and enrollment is processed.
  3. Jurisdiction: A GCC student shall be governed by the calendars, appropriate rules, regulations, academic policies and student’s code of conduct, grading and disciplinary policies of the Host institution while in attendance there. Should a question of jurisdiction arise in connection with this policy, it will be answered by the responsible officers of the Host and Home institution. Any required parking is the responsibility of the student.
GRADES:
  1. The Host Institution will send official transcripts of the students enrolled in the GCC to the Home Institutions at the conclusion of the semester. Financial Holds will be checked and could prevent this. Credit will be applied as transfer credit and will not be calculated in the student’s GPA.
  2. A student must take courses for regular grades (A, B, C, etc.). The student may not elect special grade type options such as pass/no credit, or audit for courses through GCC registration unless course is solely graded in this manner.
REPORTING:
  1. GCC institutions may be expected or asked to provide information to the GCC Governance Committee annually on the number of students who participated in both the Host and the Home exchange program.
  2. Specific cohort codes should be applied to the student record to identify populations per semester or per academic year.

PROCESS

Executive Overview

Proposition: The goal of the Greater Charlotte Consortium (GCC) is to allow full time students to take courses not available at their ‘Home’ institution at another GCC member institution, the ‘Host’ institution. To facilitate this process the Office of the Registrar proposes this simplified method.

The Process
  1. Students wishing to take a course at another participating GCC institution would go to the Registrar’s office at their Home institution. The Home Registrar would confirm that the student is eligible to participate in the program by evaluating enrollment and applicable fees and complete the student application and any supplemental documents required by the Host institution.
  2. The Home Registrar would then contact the Host institution via email or fax and provide the student’s registration application and any required supplemental documents required by the Host institution. No further checking of qualifications by the Host institution is necessary.
  3. The Host institution will register the student for the approved courses prior to the first day of classes and then place a hold on the student’s registration. Any changes to the registration must come from the Home Registrar. The hold would be removed after the add/drop period so the student will be able to withdraw if so desired.
  4. At the end of the Home institution’s Add/Drop period, the Home institution would pursue one of two courses of action:
    1. Confirm that the student still qualifies.
      1. Do nothing.
    2. Confirm that the student no longer qualifies.
      1. Contact the Host institution to drop the student’s registration.
    3. At the end of the term, the Host institution shall send the Home Registrar all transcripts for active visiting students.
Justification

This process greatly simplifies the entire process and is a vast improvement over previous consortium processes. There is an inherent element of trust that must exist among members of the GCC. This trust is the basis for accepting a student’s enrollment at the request of the Home Registrar.

As registrar staff we recognize this is a departure from how students normally register for courses; however, GCC students are an exception to the rule. Much of the challenge in registering visiting students has to do with the attempt to have visiting students follow the same procedures as regular students.

Download a PDF of the Greater Charlotte Consortium handbook here.

**handbook updated as of 3/4/2020**