Beehive Blog–January 21, 2026

A white honeycomb with two gold cells and four blue cells. "Beehive Blog"

The Beehive Blog offers timely updates, insights, and resources to help Rochester Community and Technical College students stay informed and engaged throughout their academic journey.

Highlighted in This Week’s Beehive Blog

Gender Violence Prevention Training

To create a safe learning environment, all new students are required to complete Gender Violence Prevention Training which is provided through Desire2Learn Brightspace (D2L). If you are a new student, look for the course upon signing into D2L. You will continue to receive reminders to complete the course until you do so. (Go ahead and get it done!)

Financial Aid

Financial Aid disbursements for the Spring Semester 2026 are scheduled to begin on January 23, 2026.  RCTC delivers all Financial Aid disbursements, student payroll checks, and refunds through BankMobile disbursements, a technology solution powered by BMTX, Inc.

As a student, when your payment is ready to be issued to you, the funds will be sent to “BankMobile Disbursements.” BankMobile will then issue your Financial Aid overage check and/or student payroll check using the refund preference of your choice with BankMobile.

For more information, look for posting on campus, on the web, and in your student email account!

If you have questions about BankMobile disbursement services, please contact the RCTC Cashier’s Office at 507-285-7311. View our institution’s contract with BankMobile, powered by BMTX, Inc.

Failure for Non-Attendance and Failure to Withdraw

Instructors may assign students the grades of FN and FW.  The grade designations are for students who never attend a class (FN) and students who stop attending a class during the semester but do not officially withdraw (FW).  These grades carry the same weight as a failing grade (F).  Withdrawals from courses where students received a FN or FW may be made through the eServices website until the withdrawal deadline from a course.

Weather Emergencies

All current RCTC students and employees automatically receive an RCTC Emergency Alert at their RCTC email account during an emergency.  If you wish to receive an alert as a text message, a phone message, or an email message to a non-RCTC email address you are encouraged to sign up for the RCTC Emergency Alert, our emergency alert messaging system.

Whenever possible, decisions affecting day classes will be made by 6:00 am, and decisions affecting evening classes or activities will be made by 3:00 pm. If the decision is to have a delayed start (i.e., the campus will open at 10:00 am), all classes with a start time before that time will NOT meet. If the campus closes early because of inclement weather, all classes that start before the closure time will begin to meet at their regularly scheduled time but must conclude at the closure time.

The decision to remain open or closed during inclement weather is never an easy call; however, the safety of our students and employees is always part of the equation.  Those safety questions include, but are not limited to:

  • Are state highways open and snowplows operating?
  • Are local transit systems running?
  • Is wind, cold, or ice a factor?
  • Are power or heating systems affected?

Because weather and related road conditions are not the same in every area where students and employees live, each individual ultimately makes the decision as to whether it is safe to travel.

Student Printing

RCTC implemented student print accounting to promote Green conservation, control rising printing costs, and keep student technology fees down. The following information represents RCTC’s student printing guidelines.

RCTC students will receive 500 sheets/credits of paper in their print accounts at the start of each semester, which can be used for single-sided or double-sided (duplex) black laser printing.

Currently, the Library Technology Center (GL 334) on the library’s third floor and the Academic Success Center (GL 235) support duplex printing.  RCTC continually expands duplex printing services throughout campus and will keep updated changes on the RCTC Student Printing webpage.

Each student who logs on to a campus computer can track and purchase additional sheets/credits of paper through the print management account icon on the computer desktop.

For frequently asked questions and additional details, visit the student printing website.

Academic Achievement Lists – Fall 2025 Lists Coming Soon

Excellence in scholastic achievement is recognized by compiling three lists of students. The qualifications for each list are as follows:

President’s List: Students must have completed 12 credits or more for the same semester and have a 4.0 GPA.

Dean’s List: Students must have completed 12 credits or more for the same semester with a 3.5-3.99 GPA.

High Academic Achievement: Students must have completed 9-11 credits for the same semester with a 3.5-4.0 GPA.

Additionally, the credit courses completed must have earned grade points. Credits for P (Pass) and grades of I (Incomplete), AU (Audit), W (Withdrawal), and NC (No Credit) are excluded from the count. These lists are posted on campus and distributed to local media.  A listing can also be downloaded from the College website

Phi Theta Kappa Invites are Coming Soon!

Attention students with a GPA of 3.4 or higher! Check your email in the next couple of weeks for an invitation to join Phi Theta Kappa. Phi Theta Kappa members make the most of their community college experience by being active members of our chapter and contributing their time and talents to activities related to PTK’s hallmarks of scholarship, leadership, fellowship, and service.

Invitations to join Phi Theta Kappa will come directly from Phi Theta Kappa. You can feel comfortable treating all other “honor society” invitations ([email protected], etc.) as spam and deleting them. If you have questions or want to confirm your invitation’s legitimacy, please contact Ellie Randall, RCTC Sociology instructor and Phi Theta Kappa advisor ([email protected]).

Hungry? Check Out the Food Service!

Food is available for purchase on the main RCTC campus and Heintz Center.

WINCITY Campus Kitchen (Main Campus)

Mondays-Fridays from 8am-2:30pm

 

Gilded Pour Coffee Shop 

Mondays-Fridays from 8am-2:30pm

 

Coming Soon: 

 Grab & Dash Deli (Heintz Center)

Mondays-Fridays from 7:30am-2:30pm

Learning Center is Here for You!

The Learning Center provides FREE tutoring for all RCTC and WSU-R students to help them build the skills and confidence needed to be successful in their coursework and reach their academic goals.

Our tutors are specialists in their content areas and are eager to help you.

For the Spring 2026 semester, there are many different options for getting help: drop-in help, scheduled appointments with a tutor, and online appointments are available in some academic areas. Writing, Math, Science and Computer Science tutoring can be found in Goddard Library. Stop by and check us out, or visit our website for hours and services to find what is best for you. Hope to see you soon!

Tobacco-Free Campus–Inside and Out

RCTC is a TOBACCO-FREE campus. Smoking, tobacco use, and tobacco sales (including the use or sale of smokeless tobacco products) are prohibited on college-owned, operated, or leased property, including all college-owned vehicles. This includes any building or structure, athletic playing field, playground, parking lot, or other outdoor property owned, leased, or contracted by RCTC.

The policy is not intended to deny individuals their use of tobacco products. It provides an exception for tobacco use in private vehicles in college parking lots. View the full policy.

There are cessation services available in Olmsted County.

Quit Plan Services, 1-800-354-PLAN

American Cancer Society, 1-800-ACS-2345

American Lung Association of Minnesota, 1-800-LUNG-USA