Campus-Wide Degree Audit Copyright CAUSE 1994. This paper was presented at the 1993 CAUSE Annual Conference held in San Diego, California, December 7-10, and is part of the conference proceedings published by CAUSE. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, that the CAUSE copyright notice and the title and authors of the publication and its date appear, and that notice is given that copying is by permission of CAUSE, the association for managing and using information technology in higher education. To copy or disseminate otherwise, or to republish in any form, requires written permission from CAUSE. For further information: CAUSE, 4840 Pearl East Circle, Suite 302E, Boulder, CO 80301; 303449-4430; e-mail info@cause.colorado.edu CAMPUS-WIDE DEGREE AUDIT By Emil O. Hanson Weber State University Ogden, Utah Abstract: Weber State University's Degree Audit system is accessible across campus and is used to advise students, as well as to evaluate program progress for degree candidacy. Departments have access to screens where they electronically input program requirement waivers, substitutions and/or exceptions. They also use the Degree Audit screens to clear or sign off students. Advisors can perform "what if" functions for students who are trying to decide among two or more majors. By printing several program of studies or Degree Audits, the student can determine the courses needed to complete any program, compared with courses in the system they have already completed, and which are stored in their electronic transcript file. The Degree Audit system reduces confusion about program requirements for students, and reduces time and the problem of misadvisement for faculty advisors. Secretarial work/time is reduced significantly because memos are no longer sent between departments and the Graduation Office. CAMPUS-WIDE DEGREE AUDIT Preface The Weber State University Degree Audit program is unique in many respects. Most degree audit systems across the country are printed to a blank sheet of paper and the requirements and data meeting those requirements usually look alike, making them difficult to read. The STAARS system prints to a partially pre- printed form making the requirements stand out and are more easily read. The system is based on a comprehensive file of program requirements spanning a seven-year period, based on the changing requirements in annual catalogs. The variable program requirements are input into the file using a unique screen format allowing a great deal of flexibility (Appendix A), and at the same time providing the necessary logic to make the requirements machine readable as it compares those requirements to the transcript record. The transcript is also formatted in such a way as to provide uniformity of data and yet the flexibility to record all types of achievement and different courses, some of which may be equivalent. The system not only reads the Transcript File, but it pulls data from several data files, including the Transfer Course file and the current Registration File, so that it prints current enrollment data on the Degree Audit form, placing asterisks in the grade column to distinguish them from completed courses which have a letter grade in that column. I. Graduation Office A. Application - Students are encouraged to apply for graduation a year in advance of the time they think they will complete requirements. An application form is completed, and a $25 application is paid. The fee covers all of the expenses related to a student's graduation and Commencement exercises, including the diploma cover, insert, cap and gown, and the after-Commencement luncheon social, etc. The Graduation information is then input to the Graduation Input screen (Appendix B). B. Input Procedure - From the application a Graduation Office clerk calls up the Degree Audit screen (Appendix C) from the Graduation Menu Screen. If there are several applications that need to be processed, they can all be keyed in at once or they can be input one at a time. After the data is input and "return" is keyed, Degree Audits can be printed off on request. The following data is input to initiate the Degree Audit from the application form: SS#, degree, year, major, minor. C. The Degree Audit System - As "return" is keyed the system compares the course ID numbers of the program requirements with the course ID numbers in the student's Transcript File. If any match, the grade is put in the grade column of the Degree Audit form indicating the requirement is done or complete. Those courses without grades are courses that haven't been completed. Double asterisks in the grade column are currently enrolled courses. D. Checks - When the Degree Audit form(s) is printed off, it is reviewed for possible errors, and all graduation deficiencies are highlighted. E. Mailing - The Degree Audit is double-checked for accuracy and then is either handed or mailed to the applicant with a letter of instruction. F. Clearance - Students take the evaluation to their major, and if appropriate, minor department advisors, who review the requirements and transcript data to review major/minor deficiencies with the student. The major/minor course requirements are listed on the form, and if any of the courses have been completed, a grade appears in the grade column. If everything looks correct, the major/minor department chair will clear the candidate based on their completing the remaining requirements as outlined on the form. The Graduation Office then has the responsibility to follow up and verify that everything on the contract is done before the student is allowed to commence and receive a diploma. G. Transfer Course Equivalencies - Approximately 60 percent of transfer students transfer from other institutions in Utah. We are in the process of loading and annually updating those institutions' course masters into the STAARS Course Equivalency tables. When transfer courses are input to the Transfer Maintenance screen (Appendix D) they are compared against that particular institution's equivalency table, and if a course is identified as equivalent to a WSU course, it is given an equivalency number and will slot throughout the system wherever the equivalent WSU course was identified as a requirement. When we finish coding EDI, then the transfer courses will come in and be matched electronically, and the product will be a degree audit form that will be sent to the student, hopefully before the term they applied for begins. H. Major/Minor Substitutions/Waivers - If the student negotiates to use a substitute course and/or have a course waived, the department must call up the Graduation Log Screen (Appendix E) and log in the substitution course name and number, and the course name and number for which it is substituting; or in the case of a waiver, they would identify the course being waived. The next time the Degree Audit is run those waivers or substitutions show up on the form where the requirement was previously listed that is now waived or substituted. If the exception approved is other than a waiver or substitution, the exception is typed out on the Graduation Comments screen (Appendix F). I. Committee Action and Institutional Requirements - Students sometimes request a waiver or substitution of requirements which are considered institutional requirements. They include general education, specific course requirements, total hours, GPA, upper division hours, etc. Exceptions to these requirements must be approved by the administrative Admissions Credits and Graduation Committee. If the student's request is approved, the secretary of that committee logs the waiver and/or substitution into the Graduation Log File; and when the student's Degree Audit form is printed electronically, the log notation is printed in the appropriate place on the Degree Audit form. J. Final Clearance - Once the department has cleared the candidate, the dean of the school must clear them. The student reviews the Degree Audit with the dean or the dean's designated official, and if everything appears satisfactory, they clear the student electronically by calling up the Deans Signoff screen (Appendix G). The student is never required to return the hard copy form used to verify graduation status and clearance. All exceptions, if any, and the dean's clearance, are done electronically. In the former procedure, students took the Degree Audit form to the departments to obtain the necessary clearances, and every once in awhile discrepancies were found. It was decided that in the STAARS system, hand carried clearances would be avoided. K. Diploma Processing - Each quarter candidates, who have indicated that quarter as their completion date, are checked for completion of requirements. The degree is then systematically posted to the Transcript File (see below). Thedegree information is downloaded to a PC diploma file which is set up to produce diplomas. Diplomas are printed, checked for accuracy, and mailed. L. Graduation Input Screen - The Graduation Input screen controls all graduation reports. (See Appendix B at the end of this section.) There are two fields on the screen--one is for the student's estimated date of graduation, and the other is the actual quarter the student graduates. When the quarter code is input to the Actual field, degree information is systematically posted directly to the Transcript file and the next time a transcript is requested, it will show the degree information in the designated place (Appendix H). M. Graduation Reports - Each spring a variety of Graduation reports are requested by department chairs, deans, the College Relations Office, etc. The report formats available in STAARS include: graduates by major, minor, school or college, by degree type, alpha order by degree, etc., ranked by college, by major. The Commencement program has a specific format, and one of the reports prints the names according to the Commencement program order. One report calculates Summa Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, and Cum Laude. These are then printed in the Commencement program, honoring these students. The above designations are stored in the Gradadd File, and the diploma is printed with the various honors identified. II. Campus-Wise Advisement A. The Degree Audit program is accessible to academic and support departments all across campus. They use it exactly the same way that the Graduation Offices uses it, utilizing the same screens and form. B. When students come in for advisement at whatever level of achievement and regardless of major or minor, students have access to a complete and personalized Program of Study to guide them through their academic career. C. The primary advantage of maintaining everything electronically, including waivers, substitutions, or any other commented exception is that all offices are looking at the same data. The hard copy programs provided students are guidelines only; the official record is the electronic record which may be modified weekly with a waiver or substitution. No paper is passed between departmental advisors/chairs and the Graduation Office. D. Departments also have access to a display only Transcript screen (Appendix I), even though every course that is printed on the transcript also comes out on the Degree Audit screen/form. If students question a grade or hours, they have access to the transcript to verify. This access includes options to display just WSU work, transfer work, and/or experiential credit, such as challenge exams, CLEP, AP, etc. E. Departments have access to each student's current Registration Display screens (Appendix J), as well, in order to verify current enrollment that is displayed on the Degree Audit form with asterisks in place of grades. F. What if - Departments can assist undecided students in selecting majors by printing various programs showing how the student's completed courses compare with required courses for the programs in the system. That is not the most effective way to select a major, but it is nevertheless one of the factors. G. Personalized training is available on request to each department or when new secretaries are hired, etc. III. Future Modifications A. The Graduation software will have a Tracking Screen programmed to track a candidate's status and specific data necessary to print their diplomas. When this program is completed the Graduation Office will no longer use the hard copy application to track students. The 3" x 8" card is currently the only paper in the Graduation Office and we want to get rid of that. B. Stage II of the Degree Audit program will evaluate deficiencies and print them in summary form at the bottom of the electives column. Rather than print a narrative of the requirements, it will merely print the number of the requirement that is deficient. Therefore in the Stage II format each requirement on the form will be given a unique number. This information will save time for Graduation clerks and further reduce advisement errors across campus. C. EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) implementation will provide electronic transfer of credit between institutions, which will make it possible to complete evaluations and assign equivalencies electronically before the transfer work is ever touched by a staff member. (Appendices not available in text-only version)