Questions new students often ask
We recommend that you get familiar with resources and ask questions. Check your SC4 email often. Follow your course syllabus. Pay attention to deadlines and work on time management. We also encourage you to use tutoring and other support services if needed.
You will need to maintain satisfactory academic status of 2.0 or higher. Most courses only transfer if the grade earned is ‘C’ or better. A ‘C’ or better is also needed for MTA and some of our transfer degrees. An overall 2.0 GPA is also needed for financial aid and to graduate.
If you would need to be full-time for financial aid, housing, athletics or other reasons, you should be in at least 12 credits, which is usually three or four classes. You can receive financial aid at less than 12 credits, but the amount will be reduced based on the number of credits you are in.
If you would like to earn an associate degree in two years, you may want to aim for 15 credits a semester to get to 60 total credits for graduation.
Starting in Fall 2021, incoming students (other than high school guests or some transfer students) will need to submit SAT or ACT scores or take a placement exam in the SC4 Testing Center to be placed into their first English writing and mathematics class at SC4. Click the button below for details on this process.
If you have questions about English or mathematics placement or course prerequisites, contact an academic advisor.
If you would like to change your program, email your advisor or advising@sc4.edu. You can see what is required for different associate degree programs in Student Planning by clicking on View My Progress and View a New Program.
You usually have until the end of the first week of class to drop with your money back. After that, you will be withdrawing with a grade of W. Be aware of deadlines to drop and withdraw. You can refer to the academic calendar for deadlines.
We recommend talking to your instructor first and learning about help you could receive, including tutoring.
If you receive financial aid, check with them at financialaid@sc4.edu about how withdrawing could impact your aid.
If you want to talk about how dropping may impact your progress, reach out to your advisor.
If you decide to withdraw, you can do so in Student Planning by clicking on Plan and Schedule and bringing up the current semester and clicking drop next to the class.
The college allows three attempts of a class. There is no special process for taking a class a second time. If you desire to take a class for the third time, email the Advising office at advising@sc4.edu from your SC4 student email account; in the Subject line, indicate ‘Seeking third attempt permission’.
In the body of your email to Advising, explain why you need to attempt the class for the third time by answering these two questions:
- What happened during your first two attempts that did not lead to a successful grade?
- Note that failing grades and course withdrawals (E and W grades) are considered attempts.
- What will you do differently in your third attempt to be successful?
A member of the Advising team will review your request and may follow up with you for further clarification. If you are approved for a third attempt, an advisor will email the approval paperwork to you. The paperwork includes a Third Attempt Contract and a registration card. Complete both forms and send them back to the advisor.
The advisor will review your forms for accuracy, then forward them to Enrollment Services for processing. You will receive a confirmation email from enrollment@sc4.edu once you are registered.
If you are utilizing financial aid, contact financialaid@sc4.edu to learn if your funding will cover the repeated course.
To aid in your success, SC4 offers free tutoring. Learn more at sc4.edu/tutoring.
You can start with general education classes but beyond that, you will want to start to narrow in on a major in order to best find classes that will transfer or work toward an SC4 occupational degree.
Visit Career Coach to explore programs and careers. You also can take a career assessment. Advisors are also available to help you explore your options.
You will want to visit the websites of schools you are interested in and review application deadlines, minimum GPA requirements and scholarship information.
We recommend touring schools you are interested in and seeking out information sessions. Many four-year schools will also make appointments with prospective transfer students.
The year before you plan to transfer is a great time to decide when you will apply and start gathering your application materials.
In your Service Center in the Portal, navigate to the icons on the left side and click on Academics. There you will see an option for Unofficial Transcript.
If you need to have an official copy emailed to yourself or sent to a four-year school, you can click on Request a Transcript in that menu or visit sc4.edu/transcript.
If you are planning to earn an associate degree with us, you will want to apply for graduation after you register for classes for your final semester. You can apply in the Service Center in your Portal by clicking on Graduation Overview.
If you have earned MTA but are not planning to graduate with an associate degree, you will need to email the Enrollment Services office at enrollment@sc4.edu at the end of your final semester to request that the MTA stamp be added to your transcript.
