General New Student FAQs

Cars are permitted but are not essential. If you bring a car, you must apply for a free parking sticker online at Benedictine.thepermitstore.com after August 1.

No pets other than fish are allowed.

Benedictine College is a Smoke- and Tobacco-free Campus. All college buildings, including residence halls, as well as college grounds are smoke free. In addition, candles, candle warmers, and incense are not permitted.

The college follows United States federal and state laws for the use of alcohol. Students under the age of 21 are not allowed to use or have alcoholic beverages in their presence. Anyone 21 or older may not consume alcohol in the presence of minors.

Benedictine is first an academic community and therefore students are expected to be courteous and cooperate in always maintaining a good and quiet environment. Residents are asked to keep the volume of music, movies, and electronic devices to a minimum. Speakers may not be placed in windows or on radiators. Musical instruments may not be practiced in student rooms. Students may use practice rooms for such purposes.

Anyone who does not abide by these regulations may be asked to place any of the above items in storage. During finals week, quiet hours begin on Study Day and extend to the last day of exams.

Each room has two desks, desk chairs, a dresser, closets, and extra-long twin sized beds and mattresses. Students provide their own linens to accommodate the extra-long twin-size mattresses. Furniture may not be removed from the room.

Mini blinds are provided in each room. The wall paint is a neutral color. Paint, nails, tacks, or adhesives that damage walls, woodwork, or furniture are prohibited. Command Brand Hanging Strips, a 3M product, is the college’s recommended adhesive for hanging posters and hooks on walls in most residence halls. Command Adhesive is not allowed in St. Scholastica Hall and Our Lady of Guadalupe Hall. Students in these halls should use thumbtacks or blue painter’s tape.

All beds will be bunked in the freshman residence halls on move-in day.

Yes, we allow our beds to be unbunked.

• Option 1: College unbunks the bed. Students who wish to have their beds unbunked by the college may submit a request to their RA or RD.
• Option 2: Student unbunks the bed. Students are permitted to unbunk their beds but do so at their own risk and should exercise caution to avoid personal injury and/or damage to the furniture or the room. To unbunk the bed, remove the top mattress first for easier lifting, then lift off the top bed frame and remove the four metal pins that had secured the top bed. Students should return the metal pins to the RD.

Bedrails are available upon request from each residence hall’s staff.

Raven Bucks work like a convenient debit system, using your Benedictine student ID card. At any time, you may deposit funds onto your ID card (a minimum of $5 will start your account) and use Raven Bucks by swiping your ID card at these locations across campus: all dining locations, Rocky’s Copies, Wepa printing kiosks, select vending machines, and the Raven Store. There are no fees to use Raven Bucks, and they don’t expire. Students may add Raven Bucks online before arriving on campus, using a credit card through a secure link on the Benedictine website.

Atchison has several banks that offer financial services, including “student-priced” checking accounts. We highly recommend you visit with the banks and consider establishing an account; some community businesses will more quickly accept checks from students when the checks are drawn from a local bank account. A UMB Bank ATM machine is located on campus in the St. John Paul II Student Center and several others are located throughout the City of Atchison. The College Business Office issues student account bills as well as work-study payroll checks. Direct deposit of payroll checks has replaced issuance of paper checks. Direct deposit is available to both local and non-local banks and is highly encouraged for its overall convenience and security.

Benedictine’s IT Department offers support to students in the areas of virus protection, internet connectivity, and tech support for student email, RavenZone, Canvas, and login and password issues. The on-campus help desk provides assistance on all college-owned computers. Only limited repair and servicing options are available on student-owned computers through the help desk. The campus network provides connectivity for all offices, residence hall rooms, and computer labs, including those in Westerman Hall, Cray Seaberg Hall, and St. Benedict Hall. Access to internet service is available in all residence halls through either an Ethernet connection or WiFi connection. The college provides wireless network access inside all residence halls and academic buildings.

In order to access the internet, all devices that connect to the Benedictine College network must be registered. Device registration cannot be completed until you arrive on campus. The first time you open an internet browser; a registration page will pop up. Your RavenZone username and password will be needed to register your device.

If you are not automatically routed to the registration page, please visit https://register.benedictine.edu.

If a parent has a question about the schedule, it’s best to discuss it with the student, and then have the student discuss it with his or her advisor. Sometimes there are reasons that aren’t immediately apparent why a particular course is more appropriate for a student than an alternative he or she has shown interest in, so it’s best for there to be a conversation between the student and the advisor when making schedule changes.

Some courses have course packs rather than textbooks. If there is no textbook listed, students should feel free to reach out to the professor and ask about the situation.

A student should engage the help of his or her advisor. The advisor cannot always get a student into every course needed in the semester that the student hopes to take, but will work hard to make sure the student has all the courses needed to complete a major in a timely manner. If the waitlisted course is required for a major, and the student has a specific reason why it is important to take it in a specific semester, the student can also approach the professor of the class and ask for assistance. As students gain seniority, they have earlier access to registration, and this is a good way to get into some of the high-demand courses that students might be waitlisted for earlier in their college career. 

Advanced college credits, including AP and CLEP credit, appear on the Benedictine College transcript as they are received by the Office of Academic Records.

• Go to class: Class attendance is the single most important variable associated with success. Students who miss no more than two class sessions per week are 10% more likely to remain on track to graduate.
• Study in the library: Highly successful students (3.0 GPA or higher) spend 20% more time in the library than the rest of the student body.
• Put in the time: Students who do well put in roughly three times as much time on academic activities (class, studying, labs, etc.) as those who struggle.
• Get involved: Next to going to class, being involved in campus activities is the second most important factor in staying on course to graduate.

The first step, even though it can be tough, is for the student to approach the professor directly. Many times, the professor simply isn’t aware that something he or she is doing is problematic, and speaking to the professor is the best way to resolve the situation. However, if the situation isn’t resolved with a direct conversation, the next step is to approach the department chair. If that also fails to address the issue, then meeting with the Dean of the College is the next step.

Once classes begin, college students become the college’s primary point of contact. In contrast to the high school years, direct student-specific communication to parents ceases once a student is in college. Federal law protects the college student’s right to privacy concerning education-related records. In general, Raven parents will not receive outreach initiated by Benedictine regarding student-specific Financial, Education, and Student Life-related records.

At Benedictine College, we have created three distinct and equally important ways students may grant permission for college officials to communicate with parents regarding separate areas of college-related matters specific to students: RavenZone Proxy User, TouchNet Authorized User, and FERPA Waiver.

Students are encouraged to check that their health insurance plan includes coverage within Kansas and is in network with Amberwell Health, which provides medical care in Atchison. Some health insurance plans do not offer coverage in Kansas. Also, because each state has its own Medicaid eligibility requirements, other states’ Medicaid coverage is not honored in Kansas.

Benedictine College assumes no responsibility for losses, damages, or injuries of any sort occurring to persons or property in college residential facilities. Residents are encouraged to confirm that their parent’s home insurance policy covers their possessions should anything be damaged or stolen. If they are not covered, students are advised to purchase their own insurance policy. Please refer to the Student Handbook section on Damage to Personal Property Policy for full information.

Despite the rising cost of credit card processing fees, the college wants to continue offering the option to pay using credit cards. To be able to continue offering this payment option, the costs associated with processing the credit card payment will now be charged to the credit card user.

Benedictine’s firewall restricts access to sites with objectional content such as pornography, guns, and drugs. Users needing access to a blocked site may send a request to the IT Services Helpdesk. If there is a valid reason for access to the site or if the site has been incorrectly classified, the user will be granted access to the site.