Your enrollment in a correspondence course begins the day the Office of Correspondence Studies processes your payment. You should then purchase the course materials, including the course study guide. Note: If you are enrolled in an online course, you need not purchase a study guide; all course information is found on the course Web site. The study guide contains all the instructions and lessons needed to complete your course. Whether print-based or online, each course contains a set number of lessons. You begin your course by reading the “Important Information” section in the beginning of the study guide. Then, carefully read the “Introduction,” making note of all course objectives. Once you are familiar with what is expected of you in the course, it is time to begin Lesson One. After completing this lesson, you may then follow the procedures listed in the “Important Information” section of your study guide for submitting the assignment to the Office of Correspondence Studies. You may submit assignments by mail for almost all courses. When submitting an assignment by mail, be sure to attach an Assignment Cover Sheet.

Assignments and exams are mailed to instructors daily. Keep in mind, however, that faculty teach correspondence courses in addition to their regular teaching load. They are given up to two weeks to return graded assignments and exams to our office. On average, it takes four weeks from the time you place assignments in the mail or your non-Texas State proctor places exams in the mail for items to be graded and returned to you. Assignments that are submitted via e-mail are usually returned in a shorter amount of time because of the delivery method; instructors are still allowed the two-week grading period. Turnaround time is usually longer around Christmas, spring break, and semester breaks, when faculty members take time off. Take this circumstance into account when devising your correspondence study schedule.

 

Students may drop off assignments at the Office of Correspondence Studies during regular business hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. In addition, you may use one of these drop boxes:

The Office of Correspondence Studies
The drop box is located on the first floor outside the entrance of the Academic Services Building North. This box is checked Monday through Friday.

J.C. Kellam Building
A campus mail drop box is located on the first floor of the J.C. Kellam Building in the campus post office. Make sure that all assignments are sealed in an envelope and addressed to the Office of Correspondence Studies. No postage is necessary for items sent through campus mail.

 

Every assignment and exam grade report will be returned to you with an accompanying grade and the instructor’s comments. If you leave a segment of the assignment unfinished or misunderstand the directions, the instructor may give you a failing grade on the assignment or return the assignment ungraded and ask that you resubmit the assignment with the appropriate changes.

 

Most Texas State correspondence courses require a student to take one or two exams. Because exams are the primary indicator of your mastery of a correspondence course, all exams must be taken in an approved, supervised location. If your course has a cumulative final exam, you must score 60 percent or higher on that exam to pass the course. For courses in which the final exam is not cumulative, the average grade on all exams must be at least 60 percent for you to pass the course. For an explanation of a specific course’s grading criteria, refer to the "Introduction" of the course study guide. Exams will not be mailed or administered in our office until we have received all assignments due before the exam and have received any previously completed exams administered at testing sites other than Texas State.

You are responsible for arranging the time and location of your exam(s). Each study guide contains exam request forms and instructions for enlisting a proctor and scheduling an exam. Students who live in or near San Marcos may take exams at the Office of Correspondence Studies. You may sign up for an exam in person or by phone. A minimum of 24 hours notice is required to set up an exam in our office. Exams are given Monday-Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Because of time constraints, no student may begin an exam after 2:30 p.m. Students may use other testing sites; however, the Office of Correspondence Studies must approve sites in advance. If you reside in Texas, consult Testing Sites in Texas for a partial list.

Proctors may be located in other correspondence or independent study offices and in university or private testing centers. Librarians and military educational service officers may also act as exam proctors. You are responsible for paying any proctor fees required at the location you choose. Out-of-country students may contact the closest U.S. school or embassy. If you need assistance locating an acceptable site, you may contact the Office of Correspondence Studies for help in locating one. The Office of Correspondence Studies reserves the right to reject any exam proctor.

Any student taking an exam at a location other than the Office of Correspondence Studies should allow three additional weeks to meet any deadline. The Office of Correspondence Studies will send an exam to another location only after receiving a completed exam request form, verifying the proctor and testing site, receiving all assignments (and receiving grades from the instructor if specifically required for the course), and returning previously completed exams to the student. If the chosen exam site charges a fee for administering the test, it is your responsibility to pay the fee. Regardless of location, you must present a valid photo ID before you will be allowed to take an exam.

 

Course grades are issued on an official Texas State transcript. Transcripts are available from the Registrar’s Office, 111 J.C. Kellam Building, and may be requested in person, by mail, or by fax at 512.245.2367. The cost for all transcripts for correspondence study students is $5 per transcript, payable by check, cash, or credit card. No official transcript can be sent if there is any financial obligation to Texas State. For more information, refer to the Registrar's Office Web site.

 

As stated in the Texas State Student Handbook, “Learning and teaching take place best in an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and openness. All members of the academic community are responsible for supporting freedom and openness through rigorous personal standards of honesty and fairness. Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty undermine the very purpose of the university and diminish the value of an education. Students who have committed academic dishonesty, which includes cheating on an examination or other academic work to be submitted, plagiarism, collusion, or abuse of resource materials, are subject to disciplinary action.

Academic work means the preparation of an essay, thesis, report, problem, assignments, or other projects, which are to be submitted for purposes of grade determination.

Cheating means

• copying from another student’s test paper, laboratory report, other report or computer files, data listing, and/or programs;
• using materials during a test unauthorized by the person giving the test;
• collaborating, without authorization, with another person during an examination or in preparing academic work;
• knowingly, and without authorization, using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting, soliciting, copying, or possessing, in whole or part, the content of an unadministered test;
• substituting for another student—or permitting another person to substitute for oneself in taking an exam or preparing academic work; and
• bribing another person to obtain an unadministered test or information about an unadministered test.

Plagiarism means the appropriation of another’s work and the unacknowledged incorporation of that work in one’s own written work offered for credit.

Collusion means the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing written work offered for credit.

Abuse of resource materials means the mutilation, destruction, concealment, theft, or alteration of materials provided to assist students in the mastery of course materials."