Academic Catalog 2025-2026

Academic Catalog 2025 - 2026

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY Academic integrity is the responsibility of all Beacon College faculty and students. All students are expected to do their own work and to uphold a high standard of academic ethics. Definitions: Plagiarism is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary of English Language as the use and passing off of ideas or writings of another as one’s own. Examples of student plagiarism include submitting a paper, or parts of a paper, not written by the student, quoting or paraphrasing text without citing the original source, creating false references in a bibliography or proposing an idea as “original” when another source proposed it first. Cheating is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary of English Language as taking an examination or test or completing an assignment in a dishonest way, as by improper access to questions or answers. Fabrication is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary of English Language as deliberately using untruthful statements or data in one’s work. Students are responsible for the authorship of all their work. Plagiarism, cheating, and fabrication are NOT acceptable and students whose work shows evidence of academic dishonesty will be subject to the following sanctions. Sanctions 1. First offense – Warning and revision of work. The student will also be required to complete the on-line plagiarism module accessed in the Writing Center and pass the unit assessment with a score of 80% or higher. 2. Second offense – Zero for work. 3. Third offense – Student is referred to a hearing before the Academic Committee for a decision. Response to Academic Integrity Violations 1. Written report of incident to instructor if discovered by someone other than instructor 2. Instructor reviews allegations 3. Proceeds to Department Chair to review allegations 4. If student appeals the allegation, the case goes to the Vice President of Academic Affairs for final determination . CREDIT HOURS DEFINED Beacon College awards semester credit hours on the basis of the Florida Administrative Code, 6A-10.033. College credit is the type of credit assigned to courses or course equivalent learning that is part of an organized and specified program leading to a baccalaureate or associate degree. One (1) college credit is based on the learning expected from the equivalent of fifteen (15) fifty-minute periods of classroom instruction: with credits for such thing as laboratory instruction and internships determined by the College based on the proportion of direct instruction of the laboratory exercise and internship hours. COURSE LOAD The standard academic course load per semester for full-time students is 12 to 15 credit hours with a maximum of 15 credit hours or five (5) courses. Written approval from the Academic Advisor is required to register for a course load that exceeds 15 credit hours. However, approval is not required if the 16 th credit is a Lab or COE 3606 or COE 4606. Only students with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.3 (B+) are eligible.

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