2024-2026 Undergraduate catalog

Every two years, the University produces a catalog that requires all programs to review their curriculum and submit a proposal with a fall 2024 effective term. Any revisions necessary to reflect fall 2024 requirements should be entered, approved at the collegiate level, and ready for review at the Provost’s level by March 1, 2024. Undergraduate programs should review the Undergraduate Catalog Checklist. 

Program requirements should be rebuilt in Coursedog to minimize any formatting issues that may have occurred during the data import. See the Coursedog Catalog Guide for additional guidelines on how to enter this information.

Exit counseling

Undergraduate students who will be graduating this spring and received student loans will be sent an email in early April with instructions to complete their exit counseling. A hold will be placed on their account if they do not complete it in a timely manner, so it is best for them to do it when they receive the email and to not wait.

Estimated Financial Aid Award Notices set to be sent

Incoming freshman who are planning on attending the University of Minnesota beginning fall 2016 will start receiving estimated financial aid award notices the first week of March. These letters show students the cost of attending the University and a very solid estimate of the financial aid (i.e., scholarships, grants, loans) they are eligible to receive. Students and their families often use these letters to assess the financial fit of the University to their budget and compare financial aid offers from different institutions. All students, including returning students, will receive their official financial aid notifications in early July after tuition and fees have been set by the Board of Regents.

Mid-term notifications start February 10

University Senate Policy requires instructors of 1xxx-level courses to provide in-progress notifications to students who, based on performance in the course thus far, appear to be in danger of receiving a grade of D, F, or N. Instructors can enter mid-term grades starting February 10, 2016 by going to the "Grade Rosters" tab of MyU's Faculty Center. A "Mid-Term Grade Entry" quick start guide is available to help instructors.

Proposed name change to an APAS report

There is a proposal that the “Generic Student Course Report” be renamed the “Student Course Report” to better reflect the report contents. This is the report that lists for students when APAS is unable to locate a match between the degree program for a student and a degree audit coded in APAS. Please submit feedback on this name change to trau0001@umn.edu.

Policy update (October 2015)

Updates to the Promoting Timely Graduation policy passed the Senate Committee on Educational Policy (SCEP) at the committee’s October meeting. Next, the Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) will consider the updated policy. The intention is for the policy to be retitled and to include updated language to better support students’ timely progress to degree. If passed, the policy will also replace the Declaring and Pursuing an Undergraduate Major policy.

Office of the Registrar's St. Paul staff moving to Williamson Hall

The St. Paul Office of the Registrar staff will be moving to Williamson Hall between November 19-20, 2015. The move will allow the staff to be closer to their colleagues and create more opportunities for integration and cross-training across the OTR units.

New report available: My Advisees (Midterm Grades)

A new PeopleSoft query report is now available by going to MyU > Reporting Center > Student Services > Advising > My Advisees - Midterm grades. Here, you can find your advisees with midterm grades for the selected term and midterm grade.

Mid Term Alerts in the new system (now, In-Progress Notifications)

University Senate Policy requires instructors of 1xxx-level courses to provide in-progress notifications to students who, based on performance in the course thus far, appear to be in danger of receiving a grade of D, F, or N. The process for doing this has changed with the University’s PeopleSoft Upgrade, and the former mid-term alerts system has been retired. The new process was made available on October 1, 2015 and takes place in the “Grade Rosters” tab of MyU’s Faculty Center. The ASR Student Records Training & Support team has created a “Mid-Term Grade Entry” quick start guide to help instructors.

Verification for Financial Aid

Undergraduate students who have a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) on file, may be selected for verification. This is a federally mandated process to check the accuracy of the data reported on the FAFSA. A record may be selected for verification if data on the FAFSA seems out of proportion to other figures or selection may be random. If students are selected for verification, they must provide documentation including a verification form (provided by the University), tax documents, and other data the institution may request including W-2 forms.

Verification must be completed before financial aid will be disbursed. Please remind any of your students who have been selected for verification to provide the information as soon as possible.

Change in One Stop phone queue

One Stop Student Services recently made a change in their phone queue options. Any financial aid questions will be directed to press 1 and will be routed to One Stop Counselors. General questions about dates and deadlines, etc., will be directed to press 2 and will be routed to Customer Relations Representatives. As the phone options have changed, please encourage your students to listen to the entire voice message when calling One Stop.

One Stop implements Salesforce knowledge base FAQ software

One Stop launched its new knowledge base FAQ software through Salesforce. The software will help counselors and other staff access and contribute important information in one shared resource for students, streamlining workflows and improving response. For a few weeks, the software will go through a soft launch while users watch for bugs and monitor student behavior. When all articles are published and things prove to be working well, One Stop will begin to bring more focus through their current home and contact us pages, eventually linking to the knowledge base in MyU. The knowledge base can be found by going to onestop.umn.edu and clicking on Ask One Stop at the bottom of the page. This site is still in transition, more articles will be added on an ongoing basis.

Reverse Transfer available July 1

The National Student Clearinghouse’s Reverse Transfer service is the first national automated solution for exchanging reverse transfer student data. Through reverse transfer as many as two million eligible students could be awarded associate degrees. The new course credit exchange “highway” will facilitate the awarding of reverse transfer degrees by allowing institutions to exchange data in the same way with all of their partner degree granting institutions via the Clearinghouse. It doesn’t matter if the student transferred to another associate degree granting or bachelor’s level institution first, attending public or private institutions, or transferred across state lines. If eligible, the student is awarded an associate degree. The Reverse Transfer service is free to institutions and students. To learn more, visit the Reverse Transfer website via the National Student Clearinghouse.

Providing In-Progress Notifications on Academic Performance (formerly Mid-Term Alerts)

The policy formerly known as "Providing Mid-Term Alerts on Academic Performance" underwent comprehensive review earlier this winter. As part of the comprehensive review process, the policy was re-named to “Providing In-Progress Notifications on Academic Performance” to make it more clear that students can be notified of good performance as well as poor (the old name with the word “alert” seemed to imply that the system could only be used to send notification if a student was doing poorly).

Since the new process will use delivered PeopleSoft functionality (which is tied to grade roster generation), the policy was also revised to remove references to the specific weeks in the semester when the notifications were to be sent. The language now reflects that these types of notifications are to be sent to students at such a point in the semester when students can either improve their academic performance or withdraw from the course by the withdrawal deadline. Faculty are also now encouraged to send notifications to all students in all classes.

One Stop closed Tuesday, March 17

One Stop Student Services will be closed for service on March 17 (the Tuesday of spring break) for Upgrade related training. This includes the One Stop Student Services Centers in 333 Science Teaching & Student Services (STSS), 130 West Bank Skyway, and 130 Coffey Hall. Walk-in, phone, and email service will not be available during this time; the Helping U desk in STSS will stay open.

One Stop Student Services will re-open at 8 a.m. Wednesday, March 18. Please pass this information along as necessary to the staff in your unit.

One Stop hours for registration

In order to accommodate and better serve students during the condensed registration appointment times, One Stop Student Services is adding weekend and extending weekday phone line hours. One Stop counselors will be available via phone Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., from March 23-April 4.

Staff will still be available in person Monday-Friday during normal walk-in hours. Contact information can be found on the One Stop website.

If you have any questions regarding this announcement,  please contact Julie Selander at goode021@umn.edu.

Change to 13-Credit Exemption Request deadline

Due to a planned system outage for the Peoplesoft Upgrade, the 13-Credit Exemption Request deadline for the Twin Cities campus has been moved to Thursday, February 12 (formerly Monday, February 16). It is at the discretion of the department or college whether to grant exceptions after the February 12 deadline.

This change is only effective for spring 2015 semester due to the upgrade. Please update any materials and websites you may have regarding this date change.

If you have any questions, please contact Julie Selander at goode021@umn.edu or 612-625-6579.

RAC meeting Monday, Aug. 4

All advisers and collegiate staff are encouraged to attend the next Registrar's Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting on Monday, Aug. 4 at 9:30 a.m. in 402 Walter Library on East Bank. The meeting will cover several key updates regarding the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program (ESUP), including the impact on your work. In addition, other changes and information related to the academic year with be provided.

FERPA Q&A: Validity of releases signed in high school

Question: Can a high school obtain college records for an alumnus using a release that the alumnus signed when he/she was still in high school?

Answer: When state high schools request transcripts for alumni, these letters are often accompanied by signed releases from the high school's former students (forms created by the high school with signatures from the students before they graduated from high school). You may be wondering whether or not you can/should fulfill these requests.

Technically speaking, a signed release should be from an "eligible student." While in high school, the student does not qualify as an eligible student, as the record "belongs" to the parent in the K-12 arena. The receiving department should contact the student and obtain the appropriate signed consent. Until that consent is received, the college transcripts should not be released.

Nomination call for Lillian H. Williams award

The Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EOAA) is now accepting nominations for the 2014 Lillian H. Williams award. The award recognizes individuals or units within the University community that exemplify a commitment to equal opportunity and affirmative action through educating the community on topics related to equity, diversity, and the struggle against discrimination and harassment.

To submit an individual or unit, provide a one-page nomination to Nancy Xiong. All nominations are due by July 28, 2014. The winner will be announced at the 2014 EOAA Fall Liaison Conference on October 27. For more information, visit the EOAA website.