Attendance Reporting
Close

Attendance Reporting

Section Navigation

    Attendance reporting is federally required for the purpose of monitoring attendance and ensuring the accurate payment of federal funds by the Office of Financial Aid, Scholarships, and Veterans Education Benefits. Additionally, state programs such as the Tennessee Lottery scholarship also require attendance grade reporting. Tennessee Tech University reports attendance at grading by using the grades of FN and FA. 

    Failure to follow the procedure for FN and FA grades may result in a federal or state audit finding and financial penalties for the University for overpayment of funds. 

    After a student has officially registered for classes at Tennessee Tech, the student is considered to be actively enrolled in the class unless the student officially drops the class, officially withdraws from the University, or is otherwise removed from the class by administrative authority. All financial obligations are retained when the student discontinues class attendance without officially dropping or withdrawing from the University.

    Faculty are encouraged to review attendance daily within their course(s) to ensure federal compliance and also support student success measures. 

    If you have a student who has never attended class:

    • You must assign an FN Grade,
    • The FN grade should be reported within the first 14 days of class.
    • An FN grade entry requires a last date of attendance. The last date of attendance should be reported as the first day of class.


    If you have a student who has attended, but then completely stops attending class:

    • You must assign an FA grade.
    • The FA grade is the grade to be assigned, as of the date at which the faculty member determines the student stopped attending class and is no longer participating in the course or receiving instruction.
    • The FA grade should be reported within 14 days of the last known date of attendance.
    • Should the student start attending the course again, after a period of non-attendance, the FA grade may be removed. 

    Note: If a grade of FN or FA is changed after submission, an email from the professor confirming active participation in the class may be required. A grade change to F or W does not indicate participation in the course and will not allow reinstatement of financial aid. 


    An F grade is not an attendance grade and should be given when a student has failed but continued to attend class through the end of the term.

    Note: A student who stopped attending class, or never attended class, cannot earn an F grade.