Advising Matters: Using Correct Year's Catalog Vital
Posted by Barbara Goodman on 2/12/2008
One of the first and most important things to determine when advising a student on degree requirements is catalog year. Program requirements may change from catalog to catalog, so it is critical that advisors determine which set of degree requirements apply to each student. A common mistake made by new advisors is picking up the requirement sheet for the current year and advising all students based on that set of degree requirements.The Catalog of Studies states that “A student’s degree program requirements are normally those specified in the catalog for the student’s first year of enrollment” and that “Students who transfer to a different degree program may be required to meet the program requirements specified in the catalog for the year of entry into that program.”
Policy for the College of Education and Health Professions does place a student in the catalog year when s/he declares that major and/or concentration (if applicable). However, if program requirements change and the student would benefit from changing catalog years, then any student may choose to meet the program requirements specified in a catalog for a later year. What if the student leaves the university and then returns? Students remain in their catalog year unless they leave the university for a period of two years or longer.
How can an advisor determine which catalog year applies to any particular student? ISIS “lingo” for catalog year is “Requirement Term.” The Student Program/Plan screen on ISIS shows the requirement term for each student. For instance, it may show Requirement Term: Fall 2004 to indicate the semester that the student declared that major/concentration in the college.
The Catalog of Studies covers an academic year. For instance, the current Catalog of Studies is 2007-2008, and a student whose requirement term shows Fall 2007, Spring 2008 or Summer 2008 will be completing the requirements in the 2007-2008 catalog. There will be one exception to the requirement term shown on ISIS that applies only to Nursing Students. When they are admitted to the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing, we change these students from Pre-Nursing to Nursing, and so the requirement term shown on ISIS on the current program/plan screen will indicate the term that they entered nursing school. These students are under the degree requirements for the catalog year that they declared pre-nursing, which can be found by clicking on the tab “include history.” If you scroll down through history, you can find the requirement term for their declaration as a pre-nursing student.
Questions? Please feel welcome to call or come by BCSS and speak to me or any BCSS advisor!
We want to hear from you. Please e-mail comments and feedback to Barbara Goodman at bgoodma@uark.edu.