Student Exceptions Overview

 Exceptions allow advisors to manipulate the DPR to either grant exceptions to curricula or override the system’s default logic.

Approving and Entering Exceptions

Academic programs have delegated authority to grant individual exceptions to major and minor requirements, excluding the Disciplinary Communication (DC) requirement. Each program or department sets its own internal approval process. Once approved, these exceptions are entered by the department or program in the DPR.

Exceptions to University and General Education (GE) requirements (including the DC) are approved by the Committee on Courses of Instruction (CCI), and are entered by staff in the Office of the Registrar.

Exceptions to college core courses are granted by the students’ college, and are entered by college advisors or preceptors.

Types of Exceptions

There are three types of exceptions:

Course Directive: Used to substitute or exclude courses to/from a requirement. Course directives can be used for any coursework, including transfer and exam credit.

Requirement Change:  Used to change the extent of a requirement (e.g., change from two required courses to one).

Requirement Waiver: Used to waive a requirement entirely.

Using Course Directives

The primary purpose of course directives is to substitute or exclude specific courses from a requirement.

Substitute: Substitute is used when you wish to pull specific courses into a requirement. These courses may or may not be satisfying other requirements in your or another academic plan. Examples of when to use substitute are:

• An exception is granted for a course that is not typically allowed to satisfy a requirement.
• A student is double counting a course across academic plans (note: course must be directed on all applicable plans for double-counting to work in the DPR).
• A requirement is being satisfied by one course but you want a different course to satisfy the requirement.
• A course is satisfying a requirement (in your or another program), but a student requests that the course be used toward a different requirement in your program.

Exclude: Exclude removes a specific course from a requirement that it is fulfilling, freeing it to fulfill another requirement on the DPR in your or another academic plan. Examples of when to use exclude are:

• A requirement is being satisfied by an in-progress course, but the student has already completed another course that fulfills it. (Note: the other completed course may now be satisfying a different requirement.)
• A requirement is set up to require multiple courses (lecture+lab combos for example), and a student wants different courses to satisfy.
• Your program’s requirement is using a course that the student intended to count towards another program instead.

Using Both Substitute and Exclude: In some complex situations you may need to both substitute and exclude courses from a requirement. For example:

• A major requirement needs three electives. A student has completed two courses, but wants one of those courses to apply to their minor, not their major. The student also has an approved exception to allow a course taken at UCSC to count as one elective which is not typically allowed. The advisor would exclude the first course to remove it from the requirement, thus freeing it to move to the minor. They would also substitute the approved course to add it to the requirement.

Using Requirement Changes

Requirement changes are used to change the number of courses or credits required.

Changing the requirement: There are several reasons a requirement may be changed that do not include unarticulated credit. Examples include:

• A student is approved to waive part of a requirement. For instance, if a lecture/lab combo is typically required, but the department waives the lab portion for the student. The requirement change would be from two required courses to one.
• A requirement needs seven credits to satisfy, however a student takes a 5-credit course that is approved. The requirement change would be from seven credits to five.

Using Requirement Waivers

Requirement waivers are applied when the requirement will be waived completely.

Waiving the requirement: In special circumstances, a student may have certain requirements waived entirely. Examples include:

• Transfer students being exempt from a requirement
• A program determines a student need not satisfy a certain requirement