Prerequisites, Approval and Enforcement

New prerequisites, as well as changes to established prerequisites, must be approved through the Educational Policies Committee (EPC). Prerequisites will be computer-enforced only if they have been approved by EPC. If a department chooses to not have prerequisite enforcement computerized for a specific course, the department must make a written request to the Registrar’s Office. Prerequisites for each course must all be enforced or not enforced at all. There will be no partial enforcement of prerequisites. If a department chooses to reactivate computer enforcement of prerequisites for a specific course, the department must make a written request to the Registrar’s Office. There are some prerequisites that are not currently conducive to computer enforcement. In these cases, the department will be notified and advised regarding available options. Computer enforcement of prerequisites for a multiple-listed course (i.e., a course jointly offered by two or more departments) will be determined by the department having administrative responsibility for the course.

Until prerequisites and prerequisite changes have been officially approved by EPC, they cannot be included in the online version of the General Catalog. Approved prerequisites will not be added to the online catalog until after the last day to add classes for the semester preceding the semester for which the prerequisites are effective. 

The prerequisite enforcement assumes that a student will successfully pass the classes they are registered for. Students are therefore allowed to register for the next course before grades have been posted for the prerequisite course. Once grades have been posted, the prerequisites will be re-evaluated based on the grades received and if the student no longer meets the prerequisite the student will be dropped from the course. The affected students will be notified by the Registrar’s Office of classes that have been dropped due to lack of the required prerequisites.