Student Services

Students may use the Maria College Counseling Center at no charge for assistance with personal concerns.  Counseling offers the individual the opportunity to gain personal insight and develop new ways of coping with life’s difficulties.  Referrals to outside mental health agencies may be made when appropriate or at the student’s request.  All information is kept strictly confidential and does not become part of the student’s college record.

Reasons for seeking counseling may include:

• Adjustment to college life
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Difficulty concentrating
• Difficulties with relationships
• Eating disorders
• Grief
• Loneliness
• Phobias
• Rape
• Sexual harassment
• Sexuality issues

The office schedule is as follows:

• Walk-in or by appointment, Monday through Friday, 9:00am – 4:00pm.
• Evening and weekend hours by appointment only.

Campus Minister Sister Jean Roche, RSM, offers psychospiritual guidance, grief counseling, guest lectures, weekly rituals and retreats for faculty or students upon request.  In addition, students may use the services of the Campus Minister when they need assistance with spiritual and personal concerns.  All services are provided free of charge, and all information is kept strictly confidential and does not become part of a student’s college record.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00am – 4:00pm, for both walk-ins and students with appointments.  Evening hours are available by appointment only.

The goal of Campus Ministry is to nurture the spiritual life and growth of the Maria College community by focusing on spirituality as:

An innate wisdom of the human heart
enlivening a zest for life,
a search for deeper meaning
and purpose,
a love for all that is
good and beautiful,
a passion to create
a better world
and a sensitivity
to the Divine energy
which permeates
all creation.

The Core Values of Campus Ministry are as follows:

Presence: Availability, giving full attention to each person; listening with the ear of the heart.
Compassion: Creating sacred space where persons can reflect on their pain and suffering without fear; maintaining an attitude of nonjudgmentalism, treating each person with respect and lovingkindness.
Service: Accompanying others on the path to healing and wholeness, offering quality educational experiences, facilitating creativity and community.
Spirituality: Fostering connectedness, teaching spiritual practices conducive to healing and wholeness, offering psychospiritual guidance.
Humor: Recognition of humor as a redemptive gift, fostering interior joy in self and others.

The following services are offered through Campus Ministry:

Psychospiritual Guidance and Grief Counseling

Spiritual practices
Foster a sense of connectedness with creation, self, others and God.

Self-expression and healing through art journaling
Gain insights through drawing biblical and personal stories, dreams, guided meditations and visualizations, and relationships.

Tai chi
Learn inner balance and reduce stress through simple, gentle exercises.

Religious and Spiritual Practices Instruction

Learn to pray in myriad ways:

• Intercessory prayer
• Mantras and chants
• Body prayer
• Kithing
• Scriptural prayer
• Prayer and ritual
• Prayer as listening

Healing Rituals

Meditation
Quiet one’s mind through intentional focus.

Rituals
Participate in rituals of healing and learn to create new ones.

The Registrar’s Office provides students with a wealth of information and services that help them navigate the educational landscape at Maria.  Below are some helpful links students can use to access information and complete a variety of administrative tasks.  Paper-based forms may be faxed to the Registrar’s Office.

Course Schedule

View the schedule of classes for the semester.

Web Services

Register for classes using web services.  A user name and password are required.  Students may also use web services to view their academic history, tuition and fee charges, financial aid funds and degree audit.

Registrar Forms

All forms for the Registrar’s Office can be found here.

Transfer of Credit Policy

Maria College will accept transfer credit for courses taken at other accredited institutions of higher education provided:

• The course is required for the student’s enrolled degree or certificate   program at Maria College.
• The course content of the course to be transferred is equivalent to the course content of the course required at Maria College.
• The course level of the course to be transferred must be equivalent to the course level of the course required at Maria College.
• The course length, credit hours, and contact hours of the course to be transferred is equivalent to the course length, credit hours, and contact hours of the course required at Maria College.
• Transfer credit may only be granted once for any given course.
• A grade of “C” or better has been earned (at least 2.0 on a 4.0 grading scale).

Requesting Transcripts from Maria College

A transcript is a complete official academic record for the period of time enrolled showing courses taken, credits hours earned, grades received, semester and overall grade point averages as well as degrees and certificates conferred at Maria College.   All transcripts are printed on security paper, bears the signature of the Registrar and the seal of the institution. 

Requests for transcripts must be in writing with the signature of the student indicating consent for release of the record.  There is no charge for transcripts.  Transcripts can be mailed or provided over the counter but cannot be faxed.  We are not able to provide information contained in the transcript over the phone.  Maria College does not issue unofficial transcripts.  However, recent students are able to view their unofficial record through Web Services. 

Transcript requests can be mailed to or picked up in person:

Maria College
Registrar, Main Building, Room 100
700 New Scotland Avenue Albany, NY 12208

 Or requests may be faxed to: (518) 453-1366

 The Records Request Form can be found at Records Request Form.

Degree Verification

Maria has authorized the National Student Clearinghouse to provide degree verification.  The company’s contact information is as follows:

National Student Clearinghouse
2300 Dulles Station Boulevard, Suite 300
Herndon, Virginia 20171

Phone: (703) 742-4200
Fax: (703) 742-4239
E-mail: service@studentclearinghouse.org
Web: www.studentclearinghouse.org or www.degreeverify.com

Where will your path take you after you leave Maria College?  The Career Development Office helps both current students and alumnae/i figure that out.  It is a resource for individuals who need help formulating career plans, obtaining post-graduate employment or transferring to four-year institutions.  A specialized library is available containing information on career planning and potential sources of employment, notices of career fairs, civil service job announcements, and state and federal employment applications.  An annual survey of Maria graduates is conducted to measure trends in employment and gather data on transfer to bachelor’s degree programs, and copies of the survey are kept on file in the Career Development Office.  The office welcomes correspondence from our graduates!

Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 9am – 4pm
Evening and Weekend Hours by Appointment

Student and Alumnae/i Services

Group and individual presentations are offered to help students:

• set up credential files.
• understand various resume and cover letter styles.
• develop interview skills and strategies.
• learn about job search strategies.

Individual Sessions may be made by appointment or on a walk-in basis to obtain assistance with:

• career aspirations.
• personal goal setting, both short and long term.
• interview practice.
• job hunting.
• transfer to four-year programs.

The Career Development Office also holds on-campus job fairs, maintains a list of job postings and schedules on-campus recruiters.

At Maria, Academic Advisors work hand-in-hand with students to help them reach for and achieve their academic and occupational goals.  Maria’s Academic Advisors are there to guide and facilitate students in not only registration for courses, but in making informed decisions that have an effect on the now and the future.  Advisement is another integral part of the small, encouraging environment at the College.

What is Academic Advising?

Academic advisement is a continuous, interactive process between an advisor and a student, which facilitates the development and achievement of the student’s overall goals. All fulltime faculty members serve as advisors. Each student will have a faculty advisor to advise on matters of course selection and overall guidance from the initial orientation to the completion of degree requirements. Discussions between the student and the advisor should assist in exploring and clarifying educational, career, and life goals. A student should consult with the advisor before making decisions that may affect academic progress and success. Together the advisor and the student are expected to maintain a professional and mutually respectful relationship as they review the student’s progress toward the attainment of educational objectives.

Services for Students with Disabilities Policy

The Dean of Student Services coordinates support services for students who identify themselves as having a physical, psychological or learning disability.  Maria College is proud to be an educational institution that welcomes and supports a diverse student body, and is committed to providing a supportive environment for students with disabilities.  The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 have helped students to become more aware of their needs and rights; therefore, requests for accommodations have increased.  Given the pressures on both faculty and staff to deal with these requests, it is important that students are aware of policies and procedures designed to handle them in an effective and fair manner.  The ADA focuses on an accommodation being reasonable.  Accommodations are NOT reasonable if they do the following:

• Pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others.
• Make substantial changes in elements of the curriculum.
• Require substantial alteration to educational opportunities/course objectives.
• Pose undue financial or administrative burden.

Policy for Requesting Accommodations

A student who seeks reasonable accommodations under the ADA or Section 504 is responsible for notifying the College of his or her disability and for documenting that disability.  Once documentation has been approved, it is then the responsibility of the student to contact faculty members in writing or in person, notifying them that they will be receiving information regarding the accommodation from the Dean of Student Services.  Then, the Dean of Student Services, with the student’s permission, will notify the faculty, informing them that the student may request accommodations.  Accommodations may be granted only from the date of documentation disclosure at Maria College.

Confidentiality

Disability-related information will be treated as medical information and handled under the same strict rules of confidentiality.  It will be kept in secure files with limited access, and will be shared only on a limited basis with a compelling reason within the institutional community.

Security Procedures

Students should report any criminal or related incidents on campus to the Business Manager, Room 100A in the Main Building, (518) 438-3111 and/or summon help from the Albany police by dialing 911.  The Director of the Evening Division and Weekend College is available at the Registrar’s Office in the Main Building, Room 100, (518) 438-3111, after 4:30pm on weekdays and on weekends when the college is in session.

Students who would like an escort to their automobiles in the college parking lot should request this from the Security Guard located in each building. When Maria is officially closed, students need permission from the Business Office to enter campus buildings.

If you would like to view campus crime statistics for Maria College, visit http://ope.ed.gov/security.  This is a link to reported criminal offenses for more than 6,000 colleges and universities in the United States.

New York State Sex Offenders Registry

The administration of Maria College would like students to be aware of the Federal Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act, enacted in the legislature on October 28, 2000, and effective on October 28, 2002.  The act relates to sex offenders on college campuses.

The law requires institutions of higher education to issue a communiqué advising the campus community where such important information may be obtained.  It also requires sex offenders to provide notice, under state law, to each institution of higher education in the state where the person is employed, carries on a vocation, or is a student.

The New York State Registry can be accessed at http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/nsor/index.htm.

For information on sex offenders in Albany County, contact the Albany Police Department at (518) 438-4000 or visit http://www.communitynotification.com/ny/albany.