Faculty FAQ_degree_audit

Faculty FAQ

Degree Audit Report

What is Degree Audit?

Degree Audit has replaced the Undergraduate Progress Report, a previous method of tracking degree progress within the university's home-grown tool, My Academic Profile. This move from a manually maintained system to an automatic report allows an up-to-date assessment of a student's requirement status.
Degree Audit includes not only overall graduation requirements and general education requirements, but also information about where a student stands relative to their major, minor and certificate requirements. Major, Minor and Certificate requirements are being implemented as each academic plan is tested and approved by the corresponding academic department.
The audit is used in advising as a gauge of requirement completion, but does not determine graduation clearance, as this is managed by the major/minor/certificate Academic Department in conjunction with the Graduation Committee in the Registrar's Office.
Any adjustments to the audit display (which requirements are shown, or what courses are used in a requirement) must be communicated directly to a Degree Audit Specialist who maintains audit functionality and processes exceptions and substitutions into an individual student's report.

To see the new Degree Audit Report,
a. Log on to myUMBC > FacultyCenter, and locate the Advising & Student Support section of the page.

b. Click once on the link named "Student Academic Information" OR click on the "AdvisingCenter" link. Select Degree Audit.

Some of the information organized in MAP does not appear to be available in either Degree Audit or Transfer Course List. Why is that?

The Student Administration system that UMBC (and many other universities in Maryland and elsewhere) have implemented inevitably will have somewhat different features and formats than our previous home‐grown system. Overall, the new SA will provide students with more accurate, timely, and detailed information than has ever been available previously.
In an effort to provide advisors and students alike with the documents and tools necessary for record assessment, a new AdvisingCenteris available with easier accessibility and navigation. Degree Audit is included as one of the tools in the Center.

How do I know if transfer credits are counting toward graduation?

View the Transfer Credit report to see detail regarding which classes are acceptable ("posted") at UMBC.  This transfer coursework must be included in the student's official transcript in order to be used by the audit.
If you see transfer coursework included in the Transfer Credit report, but do not see that coursework anywhere in the student's audit, then it is likely that the transfer credit has not been officially added to the student's record.
Once officially on record, Degree Audit will display how each transferred ("posted") class fits into various requirements.
Questions about how transferred courses are being applied to a student's major should continue to be discussed with their advisor. If substitutions are made using transferred coursework that would not automatically fulfill a requirement, simply send the substitution approval/information to a Degree Audit Specialist so that the transfer course(s) can be added to the student's requirement display.

How do I tell if a course is a transferred course? What is the difference between an indirect equivalent course and a direct equivalent course?

Transfer courses in Degree Audit and throughout a UMBC record are identifiable by the grade, where there will always be a "T" following the original grade (AT, BT, CT, DT, PT, CRT, etc). (To review a transfer grade key, please consult the Transfer Report FAQ.)
 
An indirect equivalent course is awarded to transfer courses that have not been approved for a direct UMBC course. Because of this, they are more identifiable as Transfer Courses. Indirect equivalent courses include a course discipline (ex. HIST) and an L for Lower‐level or U for Upper‐level.
 Indirect equivalents can also include General Education coding before you see the letter L or U. Examples include SSL, for Social Science  Lower‐level, or AHU for Arts & Humanities Upper‐level; but a course may not have to have this coding and still be acceptable in a general education requirement in Degree Audit.

Direct equivalents look just like a UMBC course, and are identifiable in Degree Audit as transfer courses by looking at the grade; a letter grade (A, B, C, D, F, or CR - which stands for Credit) followed by a "T" indicates the course is a transfer course. You can verify transfer courses in the Transfer Credit Summary.

Indirect transfer courses can gain direct equivalency only through an official review process (prompted by the student or advisor through the Office of the Registrar) by an Academic Department Articulation Coordinator, which is then communicated to and made official by Transfer Services in the Office of the Registrar.

Why do some of the tabs in Degree Audit say "Satisfied" or "Not Satisfied" when that doesn't make sense? 

The "Satisfied"/"Not Satisfied" text is a delivered display in Degree Audit, and is used on every requirement header written within the Audit report. Unfortunately, some of the items we want to share on this report are simply information‐based and are not pieces that would necessarily be satisfied or not satisfied. This text, however, will still appear. You can ignore this display on the "Degree Audit Information" tab (which may be open or closed, dependent on the time and activity of the semester), the "UMBC Graduation Requirements" tab (which remains open for easy accessibility until the student has officially graduated), and the "Courses Not Used in General Education Requirements" tab (which remains closed, but can be expanded to view detail).

All other tabs will reflect your status within that particular requirement area. Each tab remains "Not Satisfied" and expanded until the hierarchy of requirements have been completed or in progress/registered coursework is present that will thoroughly fulfill a requirement; in which case the status will change to "Satisfied" and that requirement line and/or area will collapse.

Who do I contact if I notice an error or inconsistent data in a student's Degree Audit?

Submit a help desk ticket with the words "Degree Audit" in the title/header.  Include student's name and campus ID, as well as, the issue, error or problem encountered.