Important SDV Update and Answers to FAQs!
In an attempt to ensure students have a successful transition to college, NOVA is taking the opportunity to recommit to the practice of requiring students take SDV-100, 101 in their first semester of enrollment. This new policy went into effect August 12, and any new students who enrolled for fall 2024 before that date will be required to take SDV in spring 2025.
Rationale: VCCS Policy 6.4.0.3 states that “all curricular students, except those in Career Studies Certificates, must enroll in SDV-100, 101 …. within the first 15 credit hours of enrollment. This requirement may be waived for students who hold an associate degree or higher from a regionally accredited institution.” NOVA is taking the opportunity to recommit to this practice to comply with established VCCS policy.
Policy Enforcement: Beginning August 12, enrollment in SDV during their first semester will be enforced for new curricular students.
How? When these students go to register for courses, they will not be able to enroll in courses in SIS if SDV is not part of their schedule or has not been successfully completed. SDV is being added as a co-requisite for all courses (except Math and English with support classes) for these students. If students do not have SDV in their schedule or have not already completed it a message will pop up that it needs to be added to their schedule.
FAQs:
What happens if a student later tries to drop SDV from their schedule?
The student will see a message saying, “You cannot drop this class without also dropping its corequisite. Another class (or classes) in your schedule requires concurrent enrollment in this class”
In this case, a student will have several options to enable the class to be dropped:
- Students will be able to sign up for a later section of SDV, allowing them to drop the original section.
- Students can drop the other classes they are registered for and then drop the SDV course.
- Students can visit enrollment services for assistance in dropping the SDV class, if they meet any of the exceptions below.
What about students who enrolled before August 12?
The process will catch these students as needing SDV when they register for spring.
What happens if a student is NVRKed from SDV?
Their other classes will remain. However, the student will be flagged as needing SDV the next time they go to register.
What happens to students who have taken the ABLE exam?
If they earned the minimum score of 38, they have met the requirement and will not be flagged as needing SDV
What about ESL students?
Students who are placed in Levels 2 or 3 will be not be flagged as needing SDV for this semester, as long as they do not sign up for any other classes that require SDV.
Will the college have enough sections of SDV?
The campuses and NOVA Online have added sections and also have “ghosted” some sections to open if needed.
Will an advisor be able to waive SDV for a non-degree student?
Non-degree students are already exempted from the SDV requirement.
Will an advisor be able to waive SDV for a degree-seeking student who wants to use other college coursework/experience to meet the SDV requirement?
There is a student group called SDVX that can be applied to the accounts of students who have a transcript pending that shows SDV at another college. Refer students to advising or enrollment services to have this transcript reviewed. Any College Success course from another college must have a grade of C or higher.
The requirement may be waived for students who hold an Associate Degree or higher from a regionally accredited institution.
A few caveats:
The way the coding is being done, using co-requisites if a student is taking only Math and English classes with support (e.g. MDE-54, EDE-11), the error will not appear. SDV was not added as a corequisite for these courses as they already have co-requisites.
To maximize the self-service opportunities for students to succeed in an SDV class, SDV has been configured to allow students to enroll for a second SDV class in a semester where a previous SDV class is currently being attempted. If a student realizes that they are failing an SDV class after the census date and prior to the withdraw date, they will be able to withdraw from that class and enroll in another class within the same semester without penalty.
If a student does sign up for a second section of SDV within the same semester, they are obligated to pay the full tuition for both courses. Only the later course will slot into the advisement report, and therefore only that later course will be eligible for financial aid. The student should work with a financial aid advisor.
Submitted by:
Dr. Chad Knights, VP of IET and College Computing, CKnights@nvcc.edu