Required Coursework/Student Outcome Tracking

When students only enroll in courses required for their degree, they can graduate faster, spend less money, and reduce loan debt. Additionally, there are lifetime limits to financial aid so graduating sooner will help ensure students do not run out of aid.

Courses in the following areas are considered required:

• Intellectual Foundation courses
• Major Courses
• Concentration areas required within a specific major
• Courses outside the major that are specified in the degree audit
• Upper divisions courses needed to achieve the upper-division credit requirement
  • Undergraduate students that began in fall 2020 or after must earn 45 upper-division credits
  • Undergraduate students that began prior to fall 2020 must earn 33 upper-division credits.
• Electives needed to earn enough credits for graduation (most bachelor’s degrees require 120 credits) after all Intellectual Foundation and Major courses are considered.

Students should review Degree Works to determine which courses to enroll in each semester. Once registered for courses, confirm that the courses display in the audit as fulfilling requirements.  Students can also see which courses are required in Banner using the following prompts: 

• Log in to Banner > Student > Registration > Add or Drop Classes > Select Term > Scroll to the bottom of the form and hit Submit Changes (you do not need to make any actual changes). 
• A new page will display titled, “Registration Compliance Results”. 
• If “Not Eligible” is displayed in the State Aid and/or Federal Aid columns, that indicates the course is not aid-eligible. 

Students are strongly encouraged to re-review their Registration Compliance Results about a week before classes begin. Note that a prior semester's grades or changes to Degree Works could affect their upcoming semester's eligibility. Therefore, it is good practice to review the Registration Compliance Results after the prior semester has been graded.

Follow the steps below to determine how your financial aid will be affected based on your registration.

1. Log in to Banner to view your financial aid package. Take note of the types of financial aid you have been awarded.
2. Review the Credits Required by Financial Aid Program chart. For each type of aid you have been awarded, compare the number of required credits displayed in the chart with the number of required credits for which you are enrolled.
   1. If you are not enrolled in enough required credits, that aid source is subject to cancellation or reduction. Carefully read the next section regarding your options.
   2. If you are enrolled in 12+ credits of required coursework, there will be no impact to your financial aid.
   3. If you are enrolled in at least six credits of required coursework, you can still qualify for federal student loans (but other aid programs may be affected).

Your first step is to review Degree Works to try to determine why the course has been marked as not required. If Degree Works shows the course is in the “All College Elective Credits Above Degree Requirements” section at the bottom, that is an indication that the course is not needed. 

If the course is not in the “Above Degree Requirements” section, students should contact their advisor.  Advisors should review the degree audit and also uncheck the option to "include pre-registered classes" at the top of Degree Works and re-process the audit. This removes the upcoming registration from the degree audit.  Next, review where the course was showing as required in the degree audit. If another course is now showing in its place, this means the student already has a course that fulfills this requirement and they do not really need to take the new course. If you or your advisor needs help, contact the Financial Aid Office at finaid@buffalostate.edu.

Your second step is to decide on your course of action below:

1. Change Your Schedule: If you do not need the non-required course(s), it is generally recommended that you drop the courses and add other courses that are required for your program. This will help you graduate quicker and save money. Use Degree Works and/or consult with your adviser to identify courses required for your program. Be sure to also review the Special Cases below.
2. Update Degree Works: If you believe the non-required courses are truly required, you should work with your academic advisor. If you they agree, they should add an exception to your audit that shows which degree requirement the course is fulfilling. Once this is completed, contact the Financial Aid Office at finaid@buffalostate.edu to review your account.
3. Stay Enrolled in the Course(s) Not Required:  You may remain enrolled in the non-required course(s), however, this may result in a reduction or cancellation in your financial aid (review the section above to determine which aid will be affected). You may also enroll in additional required courses to offset taking non-required courses. For example, if you are currently enrolled in 9 credits that are required and 3 credits that are not required, you could add another required course to ensure no reductions in your aid.

As long as a student is enrolled in at least 12 credit hours of required coursework, they will qualify for the maximum in federal and state aid. If the student picks up the additional non-required course, their bill will not go up (fall and spring semesters) and they remain eligible for full-time aid since their other classes are required.

Students that prefer to attend part-time should refer to the chart above to determine how many required courses they need to take in addition to the non-required course to still receive some aid.

Federal Aid: Students may repeat a course they earned a C- or below once and receive federal financial aid. Note that withdrawals do not count as a previous attempt for the repeat policy (but all withdrawals are included in the student’s SAP calculations).

State Aid: Only courses previously failed may be retaken for state aid. If a student’s program requires that a certain grade be achieved in a specific course and the student earns below the minimum, the student may retake the course and receive state aid for it.

Minor courses are not required to complete a degree. However, students often need additional electives to earn enough credits to graduate. If these additional electives are also minor courses, the student can receive aid for them. 

Courses for either major are considered required for federal aid, but only courses pertaining to the primary major are required for state aid. The automatic SOT process does not always account for dual majors correctly. Staff in the FAO will work to identify these issues and correct them. Students in dual majors should pay close attention to ensure they are enrolling in required coursework and contact the FAO if they believe the SOT results are incorrect. 

Students earning a dual degree must earn at least 150 credits to graduate. Credits needed in both majors (one for each degree) are considered required for federal aid, as too are all the credits needed to earn 150 credits. It may be advantageous for some students in a dual major to switch to dual degree to extend their aid eligibility. Only credits toward the primary degree are used for state aid (TAP).

Students should contact the Financial Aid Office if they change their major. The Financial Aid Office will review the major change, and if needed, reprocess the student's courses through the SOT process.

Students can receive federal and state aid for remedial coursework. Note that remedial courses do not bear credits, which means the student will not earn credits for their completion. Students receiving the NYS Excelsior Scholarship are required to earn 30 credits each year, and therefore may need to enroll in additional courses to achieve the annual 30-credit requirement (24-credit requirement for EOP).

Since students have through the first week of the semester to add/drop courses, financial aid reductions will not occur until after the first week of the semester. However, only aid-eligible aid will appear on the student’s bill. Therefore, students should carefully and regularly review their billing account.

New York State TAP and the Excelsior Scholarship are more flexible regarding required coursework during a student's final year of study. In a student's second to last semester, they must enroll in at least 6 credits of required coursework and be enrolled in 12+ credits overall (e.g., can take 6 credits of required and 6 credits of non-required courses). In a student's final semester, they must enroll in at least 3 credits of required coursework and 12 credits overall. Students in their second to last or final semester of study taking non-required courses may need to notify the Financial Aid Office at finaid@buffalostate.edu that they are in their final terms. 

This rule in the student's final year does not apply to federal aid.  

The Student Outcome Tracking (SOT) audit does not always handle dual degrees and dual majors correctly. The Financial Aid Office will automatically review students enrolled in dual majors and/or dual degrees, but students are encouraged to reach out if they believe the results are incorrect.

Students in individualized studies, particularly Track 1, often need their adviser to make exceptions in Degree Works to show where each course fits within the major. Carefully review your degree audit. If you see that your individualized studies major block is missing courses, work with your advisor to have your courses placed into the major. Once completed, notify the Financial Aid Office.

Students pursuing the 2-minor option in Individualized Studies should review the coursework required for their second minor. The SOT process does not handle the 2-minor option correctly in all cases, so students should reach out to the Financial Aid Office if one of these courses has been flagged incorrectly as not required. 

The SOT process does not always treat the major requirements of students in an Arts and Letters major correctly. Students should contact the Financial Aid Office if they believe a required major course has been incorrectly flagged as not required. 

Courses solely needed for a minor or an undergraduate certificate program are not eligible for federal or state aid. However, if these courses are used toward the minimum credits for graduation (typically 120 credits), then they can be used for aid. 

While we advocate for a well-rounded education and lifelong learning, the regulations for federal and state aid are strict and generally do not allow for this. Courses you would like to take that do not fulfill a graduation requirement are not eligible for aid. However, by taking a combination of required and non-required courses, students can still receive aid (refer to Credits Needed by Financial Aid Program chart above). Students are encouraged to plan ahead so they may still receive aid in semesters where they will take non-required courses.