Faculty and Staff

Federal regulations require the University to confirm that students are attending class before financial aid will be released to the students. Attendance must be verified for all students regardless of whether or not the student is receiving financial aid. Students will not receive aid for and will be dropped from classes for which attendance is not verified.

If an instructor has marked a student as Did Not Attend and the student is dropped from the roster, do not allow the student to continue in the course until he/she has gone through the proper process to be re-enrolled. If a seat is still available in the course during the drop/add period, the student can simply add your course back to his/her schedule. If the course needs to be added after the drop/add period, the student must contact the Associate Dean of the appropriate college for permission to enroll in the course. If the permission is granted, the Associate Dean will notify the Office of the Registrar to process the registration. The Office of the Registrar representative will add the student back to the course and verify his/her attendance.

Please remember the following points regarding attendance verification:

• IMPORTANT: A student’s financial aid will be impacted if an instructor does not provide accurate and timely Attendance Verification for their course(s).
• A Folio Attendance Quiz is available for most classes offered each term. This 0-credit quiz is auto-loaded into each Folio course site and does not require any additional set up by the instructor. (Please do not adjust the quiz settings, specifically the title and date, as this will break the automation).
• Students may indicate their attendance status through the Attendance Quiz. However, the primary instructor is ultimately responsible for class attendance verification. Updates or corrections are made through the Instructional Resources tile in the MyGeorgiaSouthern portal under Attendance Verification. Students whose attendance has not been verified will appear at the top of the Attendance Verification list.
• Attendance is verified for all courses, including non-lecture types such as directed study, thesis, practicum, internship, and online courses.
• Students verified as Not Attending will be dropped from the course and will not receive financial aid for the course.
• Attendance must also be verified for students who have a Hold Seat status for the student to receive financial aid for the course. If the student does not start attending following the date which the student was expected to return, the student should be marked as Did Not Attend and dropped from the course.

If additional assistance in submitting attendance information is needed, you should contact the Registrar’s Office by emailing regrecords@georgiasouthern.edu.

1. Log into your MyGeorgiaSouthern (MyGS) portal.
2. Go to the Instructional Resources channel and click on Attendance Verification. (Click here for an example).
3. Next, you will see the course(es) that you are teaching. Before your course meets on the first day, one option is to click on Print Roster. This will print out the class roster so that you can take it to class and verify attendance. Other options for gathering attendance verification information may be used, such as an “Attendance Exam” in Folio. For larger class sizes, if needed, you may consult with your department chair for alternate methods of attendance verification. (Click here for an example).
4. After the class is completed, go back to your Attendance Verification, choose the appropriate class, and click on Enter Attendance. On the next screen under Attendance Status, choose the appropriate status (Attended, Did Not Attend, Hold Seat) for each student on your roster. (Click here for an example.)
5. Next, click on Submit Attendance Verification to Registrar. This will then take you to the next screen, which is Attendance Verification Summary. Here you can review the attendance status of your course. After your review, click on Return to Portal, which will take you back to your MyGS portal.
6. Take your printed course roster to each scheduled meeting and verify attendance for any newly registered student. (Repeat steps 4 and 5 above as necessary.)
7. Instructors can verify that their Attendance Verification has recorded properly by asking their Department Administrative Assistant to open Banner and go to the form YFAATTD (Attendance Verification). The Attendance verification that you submit feeds into YFAATTD, and it is from this form that you can ensure that your submission has been properly documented for your course. Additionally, if you have an issue with submitting your Attendance Verification, then the Department Administrative Assistant can assist you by updating YFAATTD with your Attendance Verification data.

Important Note for Instructors with Online Courses:

• Under DOE guidance for online courses, you should only report a student as attending an online course once the student has completed an academically related activity such as an initial assignment or post. Merely logging in and viewing course material does not constitute attendance. You should also check with your Department Chair or Dean’s Office to determine if there is a policy in effect dealing with Attendance Verification for online courses. Please remember that students may have the ability to add the online course (if there are open seats or if there is a waitlist for the course) after you have done your initial attendance verification.
• Students in online courses are required to meet the same standards for Attendance Verification as in face-to-face courses. If the online student does not meet the instructor’s requirement to verify that they are attending the online class, then they must be marked as Did Not Attend. Once drop/add is over, you can print out your final roster for your records if needed.

Please contact the Registrar’s Office by emailing regrecords@georgiasouthern.edu if you have questions concerning Attendance Verification.

University policy requires students to attend the first class meeting of all classes in which they are registered. Instructors are required to ensure first-day attendance is reported for all students registered in their classes. Students who are verified as “Not Attending” a course will be dropped. This policy applies to all courses and includes on-campus, off-campus, distance learning, two-way interactive video, and internet (online) classes. Students recorded as “Not Attending” may not receive financial aid, and their attendance will be officially verified before financial aid will be disbursed.

Students who have demonstrable extenuating circumstances that prohibit them from attending the first day of classes must contact their instructor to avoid being dropped from the course. If the professor approves the absence, a seat will need to be held for the student.

A student whose military obligations require his/her absence from class for more than the first day may seek an exemption from the class attendance policy. The student will need to contact the college associate dean to request an exemption from the class attendance policy. Students must also provide the associate dean(s) with a copy of their military orders. The associate dean(s) will contact the appropriate department chair(s) and course instructor(s) with the exemption request. The course instructor(s) will carefully consider the request and base their decision on the course attendance policies and the student’s ability to address any missed coursework upon the student’s return.

• Log into My.GeorgiaSouthern.edu
• Click on WINGS
• Click on FACULTY SERVICES
• Click on FACULTY AND STAFF CLASS SEARCH

If you are seeking enrollment data, degrees confirmed data, or retention or graduation rates, please refer to the Office of Institutional Research (IR) website-Facts and Figures tab (use https://em.georgiasouthern.edu/ir/). Most historical data are available through IR.

Academic departments or colleges can request a report from the Center for Academic Tech Support by submitting a MyTechHelp Support request by clicking here.

If other current data or information is needed outside of the paths noted above, please submit a request by clicking here.