Streamlining Certification Process for Degree Progress

2. Division I Progress Toward Degree: Improving the Certification Process

3. Cross Campus Collaboration • Regularly scheduled training. • People respond well to standardized processes (no surprises). • Does your campus respond well to task forces? • Know their busy times and work around them. • How can you make it easier for them? • Work on the relationships year round. • Know all of the people who support you, directly and indirectly.

4. Degree Applicability – how do you know? • Standardized calendars for getting updates. • Annual review process with each college. • Education of college advisors and liaisons. • Evaluate available tools on campus. • Explore the use of technology to automate the process.

5. Certifying Transfer Eligibility • Define everyone’s role: coach, compliance, admissions, certifying officer, FAR. • Set requirements for timing of reviews and documentation needed for reviews. • Restrict offers of aid until certain process steps are complete. • Define steps to be taken before SA is allowed to trigger transfer.

6. Certifying Transfer Eligibility – part two • Google and the National Student Clearinghouse are your friends. • Define a specific process for course articulations, including roles and timing. • Be aware of nontraditional coursework and know how your institution will handle it. • Document procedure to check for declaration of degree and degree applicability of transfer coursework.

7. Certification Risk Areas • What is your process / how do you triage: • Transfers • Major changes • Failed courses • Grades that aren’t degree applicable • Remedial courses • Repeated courses • High performing students • Double majors • Optional minors

8. Cool Things We’ve Seen From IT • First, know what they can already do, without creating a custom solution for you. • Exception Reports. • Degree applicability information and achievement of PTD requirements printed on the certification form for each SA. • Specific excel queries written by the certifying officer exported at regular times throughout the year.

9. More Cool Things We’ve Seen From IT • Custom certification reports exporting certification information by team. • Regular change of major reports. • Reports of nondegree courses for review by academic staff.

10. Role of the FAR • How and when does the FAR insert himself or herself? • What information/tools do you provide the FAR so they can be an informed participant in the certification process? • What are the other ways the FAR can provide leadership in this process?

11. Policies and Procedures • Define all of the players and their roles. • Include roles in job descriptions. • Flowchart the process. • Define who has ultimate authority for important steps in the process. • Include timelines and deadlines.

12. Policies and Procedures • Include how collaboration works – who to contact with questions, who reviews the work, etc. • Include every detail – course substitutions, incompletes, etc. • Schedule and perform a regular review of policies and procedures, including who is involved and when.

13. Annual Calendars • Simple list of every step to be taken by month. • Prioritize each step. • Include who takes each step. • How does each step impact the others? • Who needs to know the outcome of each step?

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