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CIC Online Courses

Luther College has partnered with the Acadeum organization to provide access to online courses offered by college institutions belonging to the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC). The arrangement allows Luther students to register for online courses offered by CIC members that are pre-approved to satisfy certain Luther all-college and program requirements. Additionally, students may search CIC course offerings for courses that may be approved to satisfy Luther requirements without submitting a transfer course approval form. Please carefully read the following information to determine if you may be eligible to participate in the arrangement and learn more details of the process.

CIC Course Eligibility

A student must be pre-approved by Luther College for CIC course registration through Acadeum. Without pre-approval, requests for CIC course registration received by the Luther College Registrar's office will be automatically denied. Eligible students for pre-approval are

  • Students who have an approved accommodation from Disability Services to take online courses due to a COVID-19 related disability supported by documentation from a medical healthcare provider. Please contact the Luther Center for Academic Enrichment ([email protected]) to begin the approval process.
  • International students who are unable to physically return to campus due to travel or VISA restrictions. Please contact Jon Lund ([email protected]) in the Center for Global Learning to begin the approval process for these reasons. (Please note: the Academic Dean will ultimately decide on International Student approval for CIC course eligibility.)

The Registrar's office will be notified by the appropriate office when student receives approval for registering for CIC online courses. The Registrar's office will provide additional information and the link to the Acadeum-Luther portal where the student can search and register for CIC online courses.

CIC Course Transfer Policies

The transfer policies pertaining to CIC courses are similar to the general transfer policies. Advantages of using the Acadeum platform include selecting from a list of pre-approved courses for transfer with the knowledge of how each course will fulfill Luther graduation requirements. Additionally, the transfer process happens without the need of a transcript from the teaching institution.

  • Only courses from regionally accredited institutions will be considered for transfer.
  • If a course is to be used to satisfy a specific graduation requirement (other than PE skills), it must have a value of at least 3 semester hours.
  • If such a course has a Luther equivalency, it will automatically fulfill the all-college requirements fulfilled by the Luther course. For example if CIC course xxx-131 is equivalent to the Luther course yyy-130, and the Luther course fulfills the human expression requirement (HE), the CIC course will do so.
  • If such a course equates to an x39 course, it may satisfy an all-college or a major program requirement. The determination whether the CIC course fulfills an all-college requirement is made by the Registrar’s Office. The program director, in consultation with their program faculty, determines if such a course will fulfill a requirement for the major program. Confirmation of such should be sought by the student before enrolling in the course to avoid completing the course only to learn that it will not fulfill an intended requirement.
  • Online courses will not be awarded Natural World Lab general education credit.
  • Courses repeated at another institution cannot be accepted for transfer credit when credit has already been earned (grade of D- or above) at Luther College.
  • Only courses with an earned grade of C- or above will transfer to Luther College. Transfer credits and grade points are not included in the computation of the grade point average at Luther College. The equivalent listed is the course number which will appear on your Luther transcript.
  • Courses from community colleges will only transfer at the 100-200 level.
  • The semester credit hours carried by any CIC course will count towards the minimum of 128 semester credit hours for Luther graduation.
  • The semester credit hours carried by any CIC course will NOT count towards the minimum of 64 Luther credit hours required for graduation.

CIC Course Selection

A Student can identify a CIC course by logging into the Acadeum Student Portal and

  • select a course from a pre-approved list, or
  • if a desired course is not found on the pre-approved list,
    • The student can submit a course search request to Acadeum using the Acadeum Student Portal's search form to find a CIC candidate course offering that may suit their needs.
    • The student will receive an email from Acadeum with links to CIC candidate courses that may fulfill the student's need.
    • The student must forward this email the Registrar’s Office ([email protected]) with the CIC candidate course information when one or more courses have been found. Prior to forwarding the email, the student must clearly identify what requirements (all-college of program) each candidate course is intended to fulfill.
    • Approval of a candidate course will be determined by the Registrar's Office (in the case of all-college requirements) or the appropriate academic department if the course is intended to fulfill a program requirement.
    • The approval or denial of the candidate course will be reported to the student by email.
    • The student should wait for this response before attempting to register for the CIC candidate course.

CIC Course Registration

  • The student requests their Luther academic advisor email the Registrar's Office ([email protected]) their approval for specific CIC course registration.
  • The student requests registration for all CIC courses (pre-approved or approved on request) through the Acadeum Student Portal.
  • Acadeum notifies the Luther Registrar's Office that the student has requested registration for a CIC course.
  • The Registrar's Office will either approve or deny the request for registration.
  • Acadeum notifies the student of the Registrar's Office decision by email.
  • If the request is denied by the Registrar's Office, an explanation is provided in the email.
  • If approved by the Registrar's Office, the request for registration is automatically sent to the teaching institution.
  • The teaching institution registers the student if a "seat" is available.
  • The teaching institution informs the Registrar's Office the student has been enrolled.
  • The Luther Registrar's Office will email the student they have been registered for the course at the teaching institution.
  • The student will be held to the teaching school's drop policies

Course Billing and Student Payment

  • Tuition for CIC courses is included in Luther tuition. Full-time students will be eligible to maintain their financial aid award. Students must register for at least 12 hours each semester/term to establish full-time enrollment status for financial aid purposes.
  • Students will not be charged room, board, or CAF.
  • Luther College will pay the course fee(s) to Acadeum on the student’s behalf.
  • Refunds: Withdrawal from online courses will follow Luther’s Tuition Refund policy. Please follow this link for additional information.

The Official Course Record

  • The credit hours as well as the letter grade will be included on the student’s Luther College transcript. However, the CIC course grade will not be used in calculating the student’s Luther term nor cumulative GPA.