Drop Roster Instructions
Faculty’s role in reporting student attendance is essential for the University to comply with federal regulations tied to Title lV funding and Veterans benefits. Non-compliance risks financial consequences for both the University and students.
Why is this important?
Failing to report non-attendance can:
- Lead to repayment of tuition funds to the federal government.
- Risk future funding for the University.
- Negatively impact students’ financial aid eligibility.
Why Early Engagement Matters
Identifying and reporting students who never attend or participate helps us:
- Support students’ financial well-being by ensuring their financial aid is adjusted accurately.
- Maintain compliance with federal regulations tied to Title IV funding and Veterans benefits.
- Ensure retention data reflects actual student participation.
- Free up seats for other students eager to enroll.
Review this short video on Monitoring Student Participation to provide more details, and here’s a brief overview:
Non-attendance is defined as never having attended. Simply logging into Canvas does not count as attendance. To help determine non-attendance, it is recommended that students have at least one assignment submitted before the deadline, particularly in online asynchronous courses that do not have scheduled class meetings. This could include something as simple as a discussion board post.
What Counts as Attendance
In order to comply with federal Title IV and Veterans Affairs regulations, the University of Michigan-Flint must demonstrate that students receiving federal aid have established eligibility by participating in academically related activities for all enrolled coursework.
Federal definitions come from 34 C.F.R. § 600.2 (“academic engagement”) and 34 C.F.R. § 668.22 (“academically related activity”). Institutions must be able to document student participation through systems such as Canvas, instructor records, email logs, or other official documentation.
What Counts as an Academically Related Activity
A student is considered to have attended or participated in a course if they engage in any institutionally documented academic activity, including but not limited to:
- Physically attending a synchronous class, lecture, recitation, or laboratory session (in person or online) where interaction with the instructor is possible
- Submitting an academic assignment
- Completing an assessment, exam, quiz, interactive tutorial, or computer-assisted instructional activity
- Participating in an assigned study group (assigned or documented by the instructor/institution)
- Contributing to an online discussion related to the academic subject of the course
- Initiating contact with the instructor to ask a question about the academic subject
Important: For online/distance education students, “attendance” refers to academic engagement. Simply logging into the LMS or viewing course materials does not constitute attendance.
Rule of Thumb for Faculty
If the activity produces a timestamp or submission and clearly relates to course content, then it counts as attendance.
Why Accurate Attendance Reporting Matters
Accurate documentation of academic engagement is required for:
- Pell Grant and federal loan eligibility
- Return of Title IV (R2T4) calculations
- Veterans Affairs benefit certification
- Census-date enrollment reporting (affects IPEDS, retention metrics, and funding)
- Institutional compliance with federal regulations
The University is responsible for ensuring that students who receive federal aid have begun participation in their courses, and faculty play a critical role in providing this documentation.
Examples
As far as course attendance or participation, the following tables give some examples:
YES – Counts as Attendance / Academic Participation
The student did something academically related that can be documented:
| Activity | Counts as Attendance? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Submitted an assignment in Canvas | YES | Most common and most reliable documentation. |
| Completed a quiz or exam | YES | Includes auto-graded quizzes and low-stakes syllabus quizzes. |
| Posted in a graded or ungraded discussion | YES | Must be a course-related post. |
| Attended a synchronous class session (in-person or Zoom) | YES | Attendance through sign-in, Zoom logs, or instructor verification. |
| Participated in an interactive activity (preview, practice problem, syllabus acknowledgment) | YES | Must involve student action. |
| Uploaded any file or artifact related to coursework | YES | Includes drafts, partial submissions, etc. |
| Communicated about academic content with the instructor | YES | Email, Canvas message, or office-hour conversation must be about course content. |
| Used online platforms tied to required coursework (e.g., McGraw Hill, Pearson) | YES, if documented | Vendor logs must show academic activity. |
| Viewed instructor feedback AND submitted a response | YES | Reading feedback alone does not count unless action is taken. |
NO – Does Not Count as Attendance
These activities cannot be used to establish attendance under federal regulations:
| Activity | Counts as Attendance? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Logging into Canvas without doing anything | NO | Federal rules explicitly forbid using login activity as proof of attendance. |
| Opening course materials without submitting work | NO | “Passive activity” is not academically related. |
| Submitting non-academic communication (e.g., “I’m having trouble logging in”) | NO | Must relate directly to academic content. |
| Being present on the roster but never engaging | NO | Enrollment does not equal attendance. |
| Attending an orientation not required for the specific course | NO | Must be course-specific. |
| Viewing a lecture video without submitting related work | NO | LMS analytics alone are insufficient. |
| Accessing publisher or external tools without recorded activity | NO | Must show actual engagement with assignments. |
How to drop students for non-attendance
The Faculty Drop Roster function in SIS allows faculty to drop students for non-attendance within a specified period of time for each part of term (typically between the first day and the add deadline).
It provides a roster of students enrolled in your section along with the dates of when that section is open for dropping students who have never attended.
The following steps will help you navigate through the process:
- Login to SIS
- Type your uniqname and LAN Password in spaces provided and click Login.
- Go to the Faculty & Staff menu
- From the Faculty & Staff menu, select Courses
- From Courses, select Faculty Drop Roster
- Select a semester from the drop down menu at the top of the screen (by default, all terms are listed).
- The Status column is where you will see which class rosters are either “Now”, “Expired” or “Future”.
- Expired – it’s passed the deadline, and you can no longer drop students for non attendance from that section
- Now – the class has begun, and you can drop students for non-attendance. The dates within the Available column will indicate the dates in which it’s available to you.
- Future – the section hasn’t begun yet, and you can see in the available column when it will open.
- The Available column indicates the dates during which the roster is available.
- The Status column is where you will see which class rosters are either “Now”, “Expired” or “Future”.
- To drop a student for non-attendance:
- Click anywhere within the blank area of a row in which the status indicates class is open (Now) for dropping. Roster will then open.
- At the top of the Roster is the Course Information
- At the bottom is the list of names of all students registered for that section
- For the student(s) you need to drop for non-attendance, select the checkbox in front of the student’s name, and select the “Faculty Only Non-Attendance” from the dropdown titled “Action” across from the student’s name
- Last Attended Date – Leave blank – no need to enter one since you are only dropping students who never attended.
- Once you are done dropping all the students you need to from the roster, then select Submit.
Students will receive an email notification after you have dropped them from the section.
Once the drop is submitted, it’s processed immediately and can’t be undone using SIS.
If a mistake has occurred, or you are allowing the student back into your class (you feel they can still successfully complete) and it’s prior to the add deadline for that part of term, you may email the Registrar’s Office at Flint.Registrar.Support@umich.edu to request the student be registered back into the class.