Degree Audit for Graduate Programs of Study A Paperless Approach

1. Degree Audit forGraduate Programs of StudyA Paperless Approach • PACRAO 2008 • Presenter: • W. Matthew Bemis, Associate Registrar • University of Southern California

2. Presentation Overview • Answering the fundamental question: What is required to successfully execute degree audits for graduate programs, and how to fully integrate degree audit processing for programs in which course requirements are not specified or defined? • An in-depth look at an electronic program of study application and its connection to degree audit processing • The obstacles we encountered in degree audit encoding • The value added benefits and efficiencies graduate degree audit processing has provided • The role of the Degree Progress Evaluator: How it has evolved

3. The Terrain at USC • Academic advisement done in academic units • Evaluation of degree requirements for all graduate programs is done centrally in the registrar’s office • The registrar’s office is the sole degree granting authority on campus • Degree conferral and deferral notices are issued through the registrar’s office (Degree Progress department)

4. Our answer to the fundamental question… Build a SIS-based program of study application • SIS-based process (GRAD.INFO) was built to replace traditional methods of communicating information from academic units to the registrar’s office. The information captured on this process includes: • USC course work required for degree completion • Application of available transfer work, within prescribed limits • Reporting of prior degree information • Recording of non-course-based events (e.g., date of candidacy, Thesis and Dissertation completion, completion of other summative experience requirements, leaves of absence, time extensions) • Recording of thesis/dissertation committee members • Recording of thesis/dissertation titles (information is used for Commencement Book download) • Submission of application for degree/graduation (specifying catalog year and term of expected graduation)

5. Summary View of GRAD.INFO GRAD.INFO is a five-page SIS process that represents electronic programs of study for graduate students. The process enables departments to view and update graduate student progress toward degree completion. USC Courses Transfer Courses Events Notes/Comments Degree Check Application

6. Page One of GRAD.INFO • Displays student admission information such as: • Degree objective • Major • Term of Admission/readmission • Displays all USC graduate course work • Allows advisors to apply pertinent USC course work to a specified program of study.

7. Summary of applied course work Specified program of study Admissions information Page One

8. Units and GPA change to reflect applied course work ‘Y’ indicates course is applicable to degree program Applying Courses

9. ‘V’ indicates visitor or limited status Limited Status

10. Page Two of GRAD.INFO • Displays degrees earned at other institutions • Displays evaluated graduate-level transfer course work • Allows advisors to apply pertinent courses within transfer unit limits to a specified program of study

11. Degree(s) earned at other institution(s) Evaluated transfer work from specified institution Level of evaluated transfer course ‘Y’ indicates transfer course is applicable to degree program Page Two

12. Page Three of GRAD.INFO • Displays codes for non-course-based events such as: • time extension • completion option • leaves of absence • dissertation submission and completion • Allows advisors to enter codes which affect student progress (e.g. change in expected graduation date, change of catalog year). • Thesis /dissertation committee members and thesis/dissertation titles are also captured on this page.

13. ‘TIMEX’ code extends time through specified term Time Extension

14. ‘COMPX’ code indicates date comprehensive exam passed Comprehensive Exam

15. ‘DS’ and ‘DIS’ codes indicate date of dissertation submission and completion, respectively Dissertation Submission and Completion

16. ‘Y’ displays thesis/dissertation title ‘C’ indicates committee chair; ‘M’ indicates committee member Thesis/Dissertation Committee

17. Page Four of GRAD.INFO • Provide area for advising notes and comments • Allows advisors to communicate information that is specific to the record but not represented by a page three event code.

18. Notes/Comments

19. Page Five of GRAD.INFO • Electronic application for degree utility • Required information is completed by academic department at the time the application for degree is submitted. • Displays the information recorded, to include: • Expected graduation date • Catalogue year • Term of admission • Creates a degree tracking key in SIS transcript area

20. Default and required information populated for degree application submittal Degree Check Application

21. Degree Check Application for Dual Degrees

22. Integrating GRAD.INFO data with Degree Audit Processing • Step 1: Determine all necessary requirements that must be included in degree audit processing. No child left behind! • Step 2: Codification of specified requirements in degree audit tables • Step 3: Map data from GRAD.INFO to append attributes to applied course work and to convert non-course-based events into values that will be tested in the degree audit requirement tables • Step 4: Enable the ability to include customized comments on a student’s degree audit

23. Components of the Graduate Degree Audit • Prior bachelor’s degree verification • Time limit requirement processing • Continuous enrollment requirements • Minimum 500-level requirement • Total unit requirement • Specified course work required for degree • Summative experience and other non-course- based requirements (e.g. Leaves of Absence)

24. Sample Graduate Degree Audit Admission Information Prior Degree Information Freeform Comment on Audit (from SIS process)

25. Sample Graduate Degree Audit Continuous Enrollment Requirement Time limit Requirement Total Unit Requirement

26. Sample Graduate Degree Audit Summative Experience Requirement Registration History

27. Degree Audit Encoding Challenges • Mapping non-course-based events to course-like entries for testing in degree audit requirement tables • Encoding the Time Limit requirements • Reporting Time Limit information on the audit • Accommodating Leave of Absence and Time Extension actions that affect Time Limits • Enforcing and reporting the Continuous Enrollment requirements

28. Page 3 Events – Mapped to Exception actions which affect audit processing 100 (15) (25) Entries are mapped based on SIS support table:

29. SIS support table defines the EXC action CTLCD definitions EV: (ACTION = E, PSEUDO = C) – Accept lines test for pseudo value in COURSE field EC: (ACTION = E) – Accept lines test for real course value defined in COURSE field TO: (ACTION = Q) – Sets a system code as defined in AC1 field YT/CLINE date values mapping DATE field of page 3 (15) – Identifies the specific date when an event was met RELATED field on page 3 (25) – Identifies the term in which an action was approved

30. ‘TIMEX’ code extends time through specified term Examples of page 3 actions -Time Extension

31. Degree Audit View – Time Extension Audit processing with Time Limit action

32. ‘DS’ and ‘DIS’ codes indicate date of dissertation submission and completion, respectively Dissertation Submission and Completion

33. Degree audit recognizes dates recorded in GRAD.INFO Degree Audit View – Dissertation

34. ‘LOA’ code indicates leave of absence for specified term Leaves of Absence Processing and their effect on Time Limit processing

35. Leaves of Absence Processing Time Limit for a five year program, with no LOA recorded Time Limit for a five year program, with one approved LOA recorded

36. Leaves of Absence are also reported in the summary of registration area

37. The Biggest Hurdle – The Continuous Enrollment (C/E) requirements • Proved to be the most challenging component of Graduate degree audit processing • Must be enrolled each fall and spring term from term of admission through degree completion • C/E in Thesis and Dissertation registration is required in each fall and spring term through the term of defense • Had to accommodate some exceptions • Alternate registration was acceptable for some programs • Thesis/Dissertation registration not required if oral defense was done by add/drop of the offending term • Strong programming support was needed to create code to enforce and report C/E accurately

38. Sample text for Continuous Enrollment

39. Program-Specific comments/notations Comments appear in the header section of the audit

40. Value Added Benefits of Degree Audit • Transcript maintenance: • Repetitious course work • Excess credit • Limited status units • Pre-requisite violations • Not-for-degree-credit registration • Student information totals are compared against degree audit output totals to identify records with discrepancies between SIS and degree audit unit or grade point average totals

41. Sample Transcript Maintenance Report

42. Value Added Benefits (cont.) • Audit completion notification • The audit completion report is run daily outside of regular degree clearing cycles and displays all students who have met all degree requirements but have not graduated • To facilitate this report, degree audit updates are performed automatically when relevant activity to a record occurs • Change of grade • Add/drop of programs of study • Recording of academic exception • Updated transfer credit • Change in registered course work

43. Sample “Completion” Reports

44. Automated Degree Conferral Processing • USC confers more than 60 percent of its graduate degrees through automated processing • Most students eligible for graduation in a term in which grades have been released will have their degrees conferred within two business days • Graduated students are sent email notification of their degree posting, conferral date, diploma delivery information, and transcript ordering instructions • More secure than manual posting of degrees

45. Automated Degree Deferral Processing • Completed after conferral processing through batch processing • Students with outstanding degree requirements are sent email notification of their deferred status and instructed to review their degree audit report for specific information • Students are also sent a generic deferment letter to their address of record - most respond to the email notification

46. How Life has Improved with Graduate Degree Audits • No longer prepare and issue manual degree check reports or deferment notices to students and departments • Standardization in the way in which graduate program requirements are reported • Provide real-time academic advisement information for students and departments – advisors LOVE the reports, and rely on them heavily • Enabling the ability to confer/defer degrees programmatically • Ability to quickly identify students who are and who are not on track to graduate

47. How the Role of the Evaluator Has Changed • Staffing levels have declined over time • Evaluator position has lost many of the operational responsibilities formerly assigned to the position (issuing degree checks, responding to transfer credit inquiries, processing change of information requests, recording substitutions) • Evaluator position has evolved into one where expertise is expected over a wide range of areas • Training of other staff on campus has become an integral part and important function of the position

48. Questions? • Email: wbemis@usc.edu