Academic Advising

Students should see a counselor each term to help plan their academic programs and to make sure they are taking the appropriate classes for their educational goals. In planning a program, students should consider (1) the general requirements prescribed by the college; (2) the special requirements in the major field of study; (3) the general requirements of any future college or university the student may expect to attend; and (4) the most desirable electives.

The normal program includes 14 to 16 credits of work per semester. Many students can complete the requirements for graduation in four semesters providing there are only slight variations from the normal program. It is not unusual for students to require five semesters or more to meet the graduation requirements.

Nineteen credits constitute a maximum study program without special approval. Only students with proven scholastic ability should enroll for a maximum program.

Academic Credit

Coursework is measured in terms of semester units. A “unit” equals 18 hours of lecture or 54 hours of lab work per semester in most courses. 

Academic Freedom

The district, the colleges and faculty will adhere to the following in regard to academic freedom:

1. Education in a democracy depends upon earnest and unceasing pursuit of truth and upon free and unrestricted communication of truth.
2. Faculty members shall be free to exercise academic freedom, including freedom of investigation, freedom of discussion in the classroom, freedom to select texts and other instructional materials, freedom of assignment of instructional exercises, and freedom of evaluation of student efforts.
3. Faculty members acknowledge that in the exercise of academic freedom they have a responsibility to be accurate and comprehensive in making reports, to be fair-minded in making interpretations and judgements, to respect the freedoms of other persons, to exclude irrelevant matters from classroom discussions and instructional exercises, and to make appropriate distinctions between statements of fact made as faculty subject matter specialists and opinions made as private citizens.
4. The college recognizes the fundamental right of the faculty member to be free from any censorship or restraint which might interfere with the faculty member’s obligation to pursue truth and maintain his/her intellectual integrity in the performance of his/her teaching functions.

Academic Honesty

The administration, faculty, and staff at Porterville College believe that students are entitled to the finest education that the college can make available to them. At the same time, however, a student’s achievement and proficiency in subject matter must include the realization that there are standards of academic honesty which should prevail in all one’s endeavors.

Accordingly, this realization further requires that each student exert every effort to maintain these standards.

Academic Renewal

A maximum of 20 units of substandard academic grades, (‘D’, ‘F’, ‘NC,’ and ‘NP’) taken at Porterville College may be disregarded in the computation of the grade point average if all of the following conditions exist:

1. At least five years have elapsed since the coursework to be disregarded was recorded.
2. At least 12 units of satisfactory coursework (2.0 GPA or higher) have been completed at Porterville College subsequent to the coursework to be alleviated.
3. The student completes an Academic Renewal request.
4. The student states in the request the specific courses to be considered under the academic renewal policy.

If approved, the substandard work will be disregarded in the computation of the grade point average and an annotation made on the permanent record. The permanent academic record shall remain a true and complete academic history and the coursework disregarded under this policy will remain on the permanent record.