This document provides information and expectations for advising students in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of New Orleans. It outlines responsibilities for students to seek regular advising and request graduation checks. It also outlines responsibilities for COLA departments and the COLA academic counselor. It reviews college policies around graduation checks, student advising for different groups, and how to read and submit forms to the electronic degree audit system.

1. 2000 Lakeshore Dr.
New Orleans, LA 70148
College of Liberal Arts
Advisor’s Workshop
February 16, 2016
504-280-6267 | cola.uno.edu
cola@uno.edu | 273 Milneburg Hall

2. Expectations and Responsibilities
Students are expected:
– To seek advising for their first few semesters at
UNO, and with each change of major, either from
FYA or major department depending on their
academic level.
– To request a graduation checksheet when they are
2-3 semesters away from graduation (typically 75+
hours earned). Click Here
– To check their UNO e-mail weekly.

3. Expectations and Responsibilities
COLA departments and programs are expected:
– To advise their majors who are at or beyond sophomore
standing, although it is wise for freshmen to seek
verification of their first year advising with their
department.
– To make determinations of substitutions and waivers and
for majors, esp. transfer students. These should be
submitted using the Substitution, Waiver, and Adjustment
form, but can be e-mailed to Jenn if there are questions
about what action to take.
– To request re-articulations and bypass credit:
• Re-articulations go through Jamie Dello Stritto- jdellost@uno.edu
• Bypass credit goes through Maureen Bowen- mbowen@uno.edu

4. Expectations and Responsibilities
The COLAAcademic Counselor is expected:
– To complete graduation checkout for all COLA
majors through college procedures.
– To advise all COLA students regarding academic
success, academic actions (probation, scholastic
drop, etc.), appeals and petitions, major decisions,
and student athletes.

5. College Policies and Procedures
Graduation Checkout:
– Graduation checksheet- will be completed for any
student graduating in 2-3 semesters, ideally with
75+ hours earned. These are done when requested
and e-mailed to the student. The college may check
with the department about substitutions and
clarification of requirements. No substitutions for
major requirements will be granted without the
permission of the department.

6. College Policies and Procedures
Graduation Checkout:
– Electronic Degree Audit verification- the college will
compare the updated graduation checksheet with the
electronic degree audit for each student to verify that
they are the same in case of errors in the system or
human error in input on either system. There are often
cases where the audit pulls something it shouldn’t,
causing errors in different places. The college will put
in audit forms to fix these issues if the department
hasn’t already. The audit is also still new, so there are
tweaks still needed to have it work more efficiently for
us. The college will request these changes as
discovered.

7. College Policies and Procedures
Graduation Checkout:
– Final graduation verification- after grades post, the
college will check all electronic degree audits and
checksheets to verify each student has completed
all requirements for degree, and submit the final
graduation list to Academic Affairs.

8. College Policies and Procedures
Student Advising:
– Athletes- the COLA advisor will verify with the student athlete
advisors and coaches that each athlete has a schedule that meets
division requirements, allows for practice schedules, and progresses the
student toward graduation
– Liberal Arts Undecided- the COLA advisor will discuss major/career
options, assist with schedule creation, and direct student to department
advisors for potential majors
– Graduating Seniors- the COLA advisor will discuss graduation
checksheets and remaining requirements, explain college procedures
regarding substitutions, waivers, and exceptions, and assist students
with post-graduation plans (i.e. provide documentation of graduation
progress, advise on graduate programs, etc.).
– Academic Success- the COLA advisor will reach out to and meet with
students on probation, academic warning, scholastic drop, and other
academic issues to discuss previous issues, explain university policies,
and plan for future success.

9. How to Read the Electronic Degree Audit
Catalog year
– this is at the top left of the audit. It may be
important to see this regarding requirements that
have changed. If old major requirements are
causing a student’s degree audit not to collapse, it
may be better to put in a substitution, waiver,
adjustment form than to change the catalog year,
because doing so could cause unwanted
repercussions.

10. Catalog Year

11. How to Read the Electronic Degree Audit
General Education Requirements
– If the student is on the 2014 catalog or later, any
gen ed requirements that weren’t met by transfer
work or UNO work prior to 2014 must come from
the Gen Ed menu found at:
http://www.uno.edu/general-education/course-
menu.aspx
– If the student is on the 2014 catalog, but wants to
use a course that’s on the 2015-2016 Gen Ed
menu, an audit form will have to be done

12. How to Read the Electronic Degree Audit
Collapsed Audit
• all fields are completed or in progress. You can
open it up by clicking the arrow to see what is
being used where. All fields will be marked
satisfied.
– Note that a field will be marked as satisfied if a
course for the requirement is in progress, so a
collapsed audit at the beginning of the semester,
does not guarantee that it will be collapsed at the
end.

13. Collapsed Audit
You can click on the green
arrows to open up the
collapsed fields if you want
to check what has been
used for requirements.

14. How to Read the Electronic Degree Audit
Unsatisfied Fields
– anything unsatisfied will be marked in red. These
are the fields that should be addressed through
advising for future semesters and/or addressed by
substitution, waiver, and adjustment forms.

16. Submitting Substitution, Waiver, and
Adjustment Forms
Found on the Registrar’s website under Forms or
through the link below
https://sharepoint.uno.edu/academicaffairs/regist
rar/_layouts/FormServer.aspx?XsnLocation=htt
ps://sharepoint.uno.edu/academicaffairs/registra
r/Degree%20Audit%20Form/Forms/template.xs
n&OpenIn=browser&SaveLocation=https://shar
epoint.uno.edu/academicaffairs/registrar/Degree
%20Audit%20Form&Source=https://sharepoint.
uno.edu/academicaffairs/registrar/Degree%20Au
dit%20Form

17. Submitting Substitution, Waiver, and
Adjustment Forms
Special note about Substitutions, Waivers, and
Adjustments
– Each student can only have 5 actions taken. This
does not include adjustments to compensate for
other actions, actions taken to fix a problem with
the audit, or re-articulations and bypass credit
– This rule is not being enforced officially right now,
but could go into place sometime soon, so we
might as well begin following it as best as we can.

18. Submitting Substitution, Waiver, and
Adjustment Forms
Substitution
– to be used when using one course instead of the
specified course in the catalog. These are often
independent studies, special topics, and transferred
non-equivalents. This is also often used when a
curriculum has changed, and the department
wishes to allow students on previous catalogs to
use the new courses to satisfy the requirements.
– One for one

20. Submitting Substitution, Waiver, and
Adjustment Forms
Add Course to Requirement
– to be used when a course will satisfy a particular
requirement, but is not specifically stated in the
catalog. These are similar to substitutions, except
that the requirement is not a specified course (e.g.
Music electives).
– One for many

21. Example when used one for one

22. Example when used one for many

23. Submitting Substitution, Waiver, and
Adjustment Forms
Adjust Required Hours
– often used for transfer students who took courses
that are either more or less than 3 hours. E.g.
Student took 8 hours of foreign language, so the
initial 6 hours needs to be adjusted up 2 hours and
the free electives adjusted down 2 hours to
compensate.

25. Submitting Substitution, Waiver, and
Adjustment Forms
Waive Requirement
– often used when a student demonstrates advanced
proficiency, usually in the arts. Can also be used
when a more recent curriculum has eliminated a
requirement.

27. Submitting Substitution, Waiver, and
Adjustment Forms
Exclude Course from Requirement
– Used when the audit is pulling in a course it
shouldn’t into a requirement, causing problems in
other areas- usually residency. This is almost
exclusively used by the college to remove excess
transfer work.

28. Contact Info
Jenn Batina
Phone: 504-280-1240
E-mail: jmiguez@uno.edu