Midwives College of Utah

A student is allowed two (2), one semester "time out" periods during their program. Students may stop taking courses and making payments during the duration of the time out. The student must still pay the Annual Student Fee and any unpaid balance accrued before the time-out.

Courses currently enrolled in must be completed within the one year deadline or the student may choose to withdraw from courses. If the student chooses to withdraw they must re-enroll. Any new curriculum changes will apply.

Conference Refund Policy

If a student, because of extenuating circumstances, needs to cancel conference attendance and notifies MCU before the registration deadline, 100% of the conference will be refunded. If a student notifies MCU after the conference registration, 25% of the conference fee will be refunded.

If there are less than five people registered for a class, MCU has the right to cancel the class. Students will be notified twelve days before the program if a class is going to be cancelled. Fees for that particular class will be refunded to students.

Tuition Increase

The tuition for all NEW students who enroll for May 2009 semester will be $210 per credit. Until the publication of the next edition of the MCU catalog, this policy addendum will serve as the official notice of the tuition increase.

Library Loan Policy

Books borrowed from the Midwives College of Utah must be returned within one month from the date of loan. The student can extend the library loan by calling or emailing the MCU office. If the book is not reserved by another student, the loan can be extended by two weeks. If the student plans to extend, it is advisable to coordinate this at least ten days before the due date.

Fees associated with library loans are as follows:

Shipping: Cost of shipping to and from your area plus insurance

Overdue fines: $1.00 for every day late up to and including the cost of a replacement book.

Fees will be debited from the student’s account and must be paid before other books can be loaned to the student or before graduation, whichever comes first.

MCU Honor Policy

Students enrolled in MCU must maintain high personal and professional standards. In the event a student exhibits behavior unbecoming to a midwife, MCU will conference with the student and develop an appropriate plan of action.

An incident of unfavorable behavior is reported to Academic Dean, President, Distance Director or Clinical Dean.
A meeting is held with student and Academic Dean, Registrar and instructor involved. The situation is discussed, and consequences are put in place. A log of the incident is placed in the student’s file. The Registrar will follow up with the student to insure the student had followed through with consequences. If student has not followed the action plan created during the first meeting, the student will be placed on academic probation for a time period appropriate to offense.
If there is another offense while the student is on academic probation, the student will be expelled from MCU.

Academic Excellence Policy

Students enrolled in MCU must maintain high academic standards. In the event that their GPA falls below 2.5, MCU will conference with the student, develop a plan of action appropriate for the individual student and their specific situation.

If a student’s grade point average has fallen below 2.5, the registrar will contact the student and the student’s preceptor(s) and make them aware of the situation and a plan of action will be put into place. A log is kept in the student file.
If a student’s grade point average stays below 2.5 for two semesters in a row, the Registrar will contact the student and arrange a meeting with the Academic Dean, student and Registrar to re-evaluate the plan made in the previous semester. The student will be put on academic probation.
If a student’s grade point average stays below 2.5 for three semesters in a row, the Registrar and Academic Dean will meet with the student and determine if the student is an appropriate midwife candidate.

Academic Probation Policy

Student midwives enrolled in MCU must maintain high academic, personal and professional standards. In the event that their GPA falls below 2.5 steps will be taken to help the student improve GPA.

If a student’s grade point average has fallen below 2.5, the Distance Director will contact the student and make him/her aware of the situation. Together, the Distance Director and the student will develop a semester plan to improve the GPA. The plan may include coaching conversations, study groups, student mentors, and teacher support of the student’s unique learning style. A log will be kept of student’s progress.
If the student has shown improvement during the semester, the Distance Director will make note and the student will work towards maintaining and continued improvement of the GPA.
If the student’s GPA does not improve the Distance Director and the student will devise a second semester plan to improve the GPA. A log will be kept of student’s progress
If a student’s GPA falls below 2.0, she/he will be placed on Academic Probation. The student, faculty and deans will be notified.
Students on academic probation for one term who do not meet the 2.0 cumulative GPA requirement in the successive term of enrollment will be placed on Academic Suspension for at least one term. To reenroll, a student must meet with the President, Academic Dean and Distance Director. Students who have been suspended are denied all privileges as an MCU student.

Honor Policy- Preceptor Notification

Student midwives enrolled in the Clinical Program must maintain high academic, personal and professional standards. In the event that their GPA falls below 2.5 or a student exhibits behavior unbecoming to a midwife, MCU will notify their preceptor(s).

If a student’s grade point average has fallen below 2.5, the Clinical Dean will contact the student and the student’s preceptor(s) and make them aware of the situation and a plan of action will be put into place. A log is kept in the student file.
An instructor reports that a student enrolled in the clinical program behaves in a manner unbecoming a midwife. The instructor contacts the Academic Dean. A conference is held with all involved parties and consequences are determined as appropriate with the misbehavior, or as outlined in applicable policy. The Clinical Dean contacts the preceptor(s), as appropriate and makes them aware of the situation. A log of the incident will be kept in the students file.

Academic Integrity

The expectation of the Midwives College of Utah is that all work turned in by a student is the product of her own endeavors. Violations, which include but are not limited to, cheating, providing misleading or false information to staff or instructors and plagiarism, are cause for disciplinary action, including failure of assignment, conferences with MCU President and/or Academic Dean or expulsion from Midwives College of Utah.

Failing to give credit where credit is due is known as plagiarism. Copying, distributing, modifying or displaying a copyrighted work is known as copyright infringement.

Students are required to use APA format to cite all specific sources both in-text and in a reference list.
Avoid writing papers that "cut and paste" beyond what is appropriate. Generally speaking, no more than 20% of your paper should be direct quotes. Your instructor is looking for papers with your thoughts and ideas as well as supporting references.
If you paraphrase another person's written or spoken words, you are also plagiarizing. "You are guilty of the academic offense known as plagiarism if you half-copy the author's sentences - either by mixing the author's phrases with your own without using quotation marks or by plugging in your synonyms into the author's sentence structure." (Writer's Reference, Diana Hacker, 5th edition). This is not to say that you cannot use another person's ideas or words and put them into your own words. Just remember that when you do so, you acknowledge the source of information using the APA format.
MCU does not tolerate the submission of a paper that is written by another person or is "ghostwritten".
If you own a copyrighted audio or video recording, you must have permission from the copyright holder to copy, distribute, modify, display or perform their work. If you do not have this permission, you are infringing upon the copyright and could be subject to legal prosecution by the owner of the copyright.

First offense: Instructor will conference with the student and student will redo the assignment.
Second offense: Automatic failure on the assignment and mandatory conference with MCU President and/or Academic Dean.
Third offense: Failure of the course and possible expulsion from Midwives College of Utah.

Complaint and Grievance Policy

The purpose of the Grievance Policy is to provide a vehicle in which a complaint may be brought forward; a fair and complete investigation undertaken; and appropriate action taken. This is a mechanism through which students, faculty, preceptors or staff of the Midwives College of Utah may be educated and protected if there is misconduct on the part of a student, faculty, preceptor or staff of MCU.

Grievances may be classified as follows:
A Complaint is a negative occurrence arising in any interaction between student, faculty, preceptor and/or administration. It may be reported by the injured party or another concerned party.

The purpose of a Complaint Review is to discover the facts and to provide support, advice, and correction as appropriate.

A Complaint is differentiated from a Grievance by the fact that it has been reviewed by one or more Grievance Committee members who have determined that the action requires more than support, education and advice.

The first step in resolution for any concern or complaint should be a conversation between the individuals directly involved. If this doesn’t bring satisfactory resolution, a formal grievance may be filed.

The process for doing so is as follows:

Person(s) filing a grievance will submit the grievance in writing to the MCU Grievance Committee.
A Grievance Committee of three will be appointed by the President according to the grievance and the appropriate area of jurisdiction. One of the three members shall be a neutral party not associated with MCU.
The Grievance Committee will review written documentation and determine the need for further investigation. This may be carried out through further questioning of the injured party and the other person(s) directly involved.
All Grievance Committee communication must be documented in writing and dated. The Grievance Committee will operate under complete confidentiality with no discrimination or harassment of any involved parties.
The Grievance Committee will make a recommendation for resolution in writing with follow-up from the appropriately designated person(s).

How does one make a complaint about a MEAC accredited school?

Collections Policy

Student payments are due as individually outlined on the Financial Agreement or as amended with the Financial Manager.

If a student’s payment is not received or has been declined, the following policy will take affect:
1. Missed Payment #1 (15 days late) a. Collections Department sends student an Email notice which guides the student to check her/his online statement and outlines the complete collections policy.
(1) An additional financial agreement is made to pay off the over-due balance. The additional financial agreement may not extend past the maximum time parameters of the program.
(2) The regular monthly payment is still due as scheduled unless the student is on or decides to enter into timeout status.
b. A student will be unable to attend a student conference if she/he has a negative balance in her/his account:

2. Missed Payment #2 and/or Missed Catch-up Payment (45 days from 1st missed payment)
a. Student is placed on Inactive Status. Student cannot access coursework, turn in assignments or receive grades. Email is sent notifying student of placement on inactive status. Notice outlines inactive policy.
b. Student remains in collections for a period of 75 days from 1st missed payment. If a student misses a catch-up payment or the regular monthly payment at anytime during this period, the collection process continues from date of the original 1st missed payment.
c. A student will be unable to attend a student conference if she/he has a negative balance in her/his account:

3. Missed Payment #3 and/or Missed Catch-up Payment (75 days from 1st missed payment)
a. If a student’s financial account is not resolved within the 75 day collections period, a notice is sent to the student alerting her/him that she/he will be withdrawn in 30 days.
b. If the student has not resolved her/his account within the 30 day period an official withdrawal letter is sent by USPS mail.
c. To return to midwifery studies at MCU, the student must follow the Reactivation Process as outlined in the student catalog.
d. A student will be unable to attend a student conference, if she/he has a negative balance in her/his account.

Clinical Work Subission Policy

December 21st 2009

Clinical Paperwork Submission Policies

SIGN AND DATE where indicated on the signature verification pages in your skills guide. Failure to do so will require a total rescan/resubmit of your work.
If your syllabus says to send in the Skills Pages, then send in the skills pages. I know not every class requires this, but some labs do and until MCU decides to make a modification in this area, you will not receive a grade until these pages are submitted.
make sure you send in all pages required in a lab if you are seeking a grade. One student sent me two scans of the same page and was missing two pages. PLEASE LOOK AT WHAT YOU ARE SENDING IN. Another student sent me a class syllabus and asked me to grade it.
Please do not send in lab pages you are seeking a grade for if you are missing signatures on skills unless you have confirmed that these are not required by NARM (for a list of exempt skills, you can contact me or the office). You are responsible for obtaining all required skills prior to completing a lab. I cannot issue any grade or do anything with work that is not completely signed off. You will be asked to resubmit the entire thing.
Please reference what course or lab you are referring to when you send me work or email inquiries. Some courses have duplicate work (i.e. Well Woman and Prenatal Care). If I am unclear about what you are sending me, your submission will move to the bottom of my priority list until I have time to go through your individual major map or class list and try to figure out what you are asking of me.

office@midwifery.edu

Policy Announcements

Revised Time-Out Policy