Learning Support General Information
The purpose of the program is to help under prepared students pass college level courses and to graduate. The Learning Support Program integrates personal development and academic development into coursework and provides support services such as counseling.
- Students who do not present valid assessment scores that demonstrate college readiness based upon established cut scores will be placed into the appropriate corequisite learning support for reading, writing, and/or mathematics as defined by the academic program requirements.
- Degree-seeking students, either first-time or transfer, entering without valid assessment scores or transferable college-level credit, will be enrolled into corequisite learning support in the appropriate subject area along with the linked college-level course or may be given the option of challenge testing to place into college-level courses without learning support.
- Non-degree-seeking/ Certificate-seeking students entering without transferable college-level courses will be subject to the same placement standards and procedure prior to enrollment in college-level general education courses that are subject to learning support criteria.
- Students testing into Learning Support should complete their Learning Support courses in their first semester.
- Tennessee Board of Regents colleges follow a corequisite Learning Support Model. Students must enroll in the required Learning Support course during the same semester as the associated college-level course. For example, students placing in Learning Support Math must take both the Learning Support Math and the college-level math course during the same semester.
- Students with LS requirements may take additional college-level courses to complete their schedule and to meet their Financial Aid requirements and to further their educational goals. Your advisor can help you select college-level courses without LS prerequisites/co-requisites that may also be taken while students are completing the LS requirements.
- LS credits cannot apply to a degree because they are not college-level courses. However, Learning Support courses count toward full-time status and for financial aid purposes.
- Students will satisfy learning support by passing the college-level course in the learning support area with a grade that satisfies the minimum grade requirement for the college-level course at that institution. Students will enroll in both learning support and the college-level course every semester until they pass the college-level course, even if they have passed learning support one or more times.
- Students wishing to drop or withdraw from either learning support or the linked college-level courses will be required to drop or withdraw from both courses.
- The cost to challenge placement is as follows:
- Free for initial testing for Columbia State students
- $25.00 if challenging valid ACT or previous ACCUPLACER® scores. The cost is non-refundable and non-transferable.
- $25.00 for NON-TBR remote ACCUPLACER® testing.
- Once students attempt or complete a course in a content area, they cannot re-test in that area.