Acadeum Consortial Courses

Allegheny College is a member of  the Acadeum CIC Online Course Sharing Consortium, which facilitates course-sharing among like-minded institutions. Acadeum is designed to extend an institution’s curriculum and provide vetted choices for students who are already seeking transfer credit options over the summer.

Consortial courses appear on the home institution’s transcript as though they were institutional courses, may be covered by the home institution’s financial aid, and count towards a student’s full-time status. Departments and programs review and pre-approve courses and students also have the option to request approval for specific classes. BUT, all Acadeum enrollments are subject to the approval of the Allegheny College Registrar.

The primary uses of the consortium are to provide students with greater access to courses when they need:

  • Academic recovery.
  • A prerequisite for an upcoming course.
  • A course that is not offered during the current semester.

Acadeum Courses are transcribed on the student’s Allegheny transcript, and this practice makes it possible for:

  • Allegheny College to apply financial aid to courses;
  • Offer students an opportunity to improve the cumulative GPA by submitting consortial course grade when the course is eligible for course repeat (typically a C-, D, F, or NC);
  • To count the course(s) towards part- or full-time status requirements.

Allegheny College Acadeum Portal Instructions

Via the Allegheny College Acadeum portal, Allegheny students may access a list of pre-approved consortial courses. Students may also search and request approval for courses that are not pre-approved, but approval for these courses is not guaranteed. After clicking the above link students will need to

  1. Sign up for an account using their Allegheny College student email
  2. Verify their Allegheny College student email 
  3. Register for pre-approved courses or search for other courses. (Please note that all registrations are still dependent on Allegheny College approval on a student-by-student basis.)

Courses taken over the summer via Acadeum will be charged the summer course rate. Courses taken during the Fall or Spring semesters will be charged an additional fee equivalent to the summer course rate to cover the cost of the course charged by Acadeum.

Consortial courses may be eligible for financial aid through Allegheny College. Students should consult the Office of Financial Aid if they have questions about their specific circumstances. Students should also review our Consortial Course Policy.

How Does Acadeum Work?

Acadeum transfer courses have been approved by Allegheny College to match our courses. Students must sign up for an account using their Allegheny student email, verify their email, and register for the approved courses.

All courses will transfer a letter-grade back to Allegheny College instead of just the credits, and the courses will count in determining semester financial aid. Transferring a grade back is important if you are trying to improve a GPA, and having the course count in determining financial aid may increase your eligibility for aid.

Course Approval

The Registrar, the Associate Provost, and Department/Program Chairs review and select courses from the consortium to make available to students. In choosing courses, they review course syllabi, faculty credentials, and additional assessment of learning outcomes data.

Student Requests

Students will:

  • Sign up for an Acadeum account using their Allegheny student email, verify their email, and view available courses.
  • Collaborate with their academic advisor to select the appropriate course.
  • Request the course through the Acadeum Platform and provide the rationale for needing the course.

Approving Student Requests

The Allegheny College Registrar will review the student’s course request through the Acadeum platform while taking into consideration eligibility (e.g., must be an Allegheny student, does the student need the course, is the student on a financial hold, student is not suspended/dismissed, has the prerequisite(s) been met, etc.). To help with this process, students should enter in the comments section the reason for taking an Acadeum Course.

Once the Registrar conducts the review, the course request will be approved or denied.  

Communication to Student About Request

After a student submits an Acadeum Course request, the Registrar will send one of two email communications:

  • Denied, which may ask the student to respond with additional information.
  • Approved, which gives the student pertinent information about the course.

Course Billing and Student Payment

The student will pay the additional Allegheny term tuition and fee for the Acadeum course. Billing will follow all Allegheny College pricing, billing, procedures. All costs and bills will be directly from Allegheny College, not the teaching institution. Any questions regarding costs, rates, or billing can be directed to Financial Services, NOT the teaching institution.

Students are responsible for all learning material costs, including textbooks, as determined by the teaching institution.

Refunds

Once a student enrolls in a course offered through the Acadeum Platform the student agrees to pay the course fee. The fee is non-refundable after the first day of class.

Add/Drop Dates

The add and drop dates are set by the teaching institution. Students should review the teaching institution’s academic calendar and syllabus closely for the assigned dates and any required course fees.

Consortial Course Policy

Allegheny College students may take online, consortial courses through our partnership with Acadeum. A consortial course will count as an Allegheny course. While consortial courses are offered by a different college or university, they are deemed as fully equivalent to a specified Allegheny course. As such, the course will appear on the student’s Allegheny transcript as an Allegheny course (though these courses will be designated “Acadeum” in order to indicate that the course was not actually taken at Allegheny), and the grade that a student receives in a consortial course will impact the student’s Allegheny GPA. Please note that all grades for completed consortial courses, including grades of F, will count towards a student’s Allegheny GPA. 

Consortial courses will not count towards the academic residency requirement that a minimum of 64 credits be taken in residence at Allegheny. Consortial courses will require a waiver to be considered part of the last 16 credits presented for graduation, and do need a waiver of the concurrent enrollment policy if the student is registered for Allegheny courses in the same semester as Acadeum courses. Consortial courses may not count towards the requirement that students must complete at least 8 credits towards a minor in academic residence at Allegheny College.

Consortial courses that have a specific Allegheny equivalent (e.g., COMM 120) will count for distribution and other requirements as though they were the Allegheny course. Consortial courses that do not have a specific Allegheny equivalent (e.g., COMM 3CN) may be counted towards major and minor requirements at the discretion of the department or program chair. These courses will not count towards distribution unless approved through the Curriculum Committee exception process. Students should be aware, however, that many Allegheny requirements are specified as needing four credits, so a three-credit consortial course might not fully satisfy a specific requirement.

This policy is under the purview of the Academic Standards Committee. Changes are subject to a vote of the faculty.
This policy is also located in the Academic Bulletin.