Catalog Change Requests: An Overview
This article overviews the Catalog Change Requests feature in Transferology® Lab. When there are differences between course codes on a student transcript and those used in the course catalog data sets in Transferology®, Transfer Specialists and Program Admins can use this feature to submit a request to CollegeSource to review the course code display.
In this article:
Throughout the United States, colleges and universities publish academic catalogs that contain the institution's curriculum, program requirements, and policies during specific timeframes. These catalogs are considered the institution's official record of its academic programs and requirements. They are used by the institution - and other colleges and universities - to facilitate degree completion and transfer.
To see how courses, standardized exams, and military credits transfer to or earn credit at participating institutions, students and staff members first follow prompts within Transferology® and Transferology® Lab to select these academic experiences from electronic versions of college, university, and organization catalogs. These electronic catalogs are called course catalog data sets and are provided to Transferology from TES®. Each course catalog data set is an edition spanning over a particular time; at many institutions, an academic year.
Course Code Format
Course Catalog
Transcript
Effect of Course Code Format on Match Results
Generally, these codes will match, as most institutions use the same course code in the course catalog as on the transcript. Additionally, institutions supplying rules from TES or via a flat file import will always utilize the transfer course codes in the TES course catalog data sets by virtue of how rules are sourced to Transferology.
There may be instances, however, where institutions supplying transfer rules from other systems of record find that students and staff members cannot find Matches at the institution due to the transfer rule's transfer course code not matching the institution's catalog code, as described above. When creating transfer rules in a transfer solution system (such as uAchieve®) or a Student Information System (SIS), best practice is to format the transfer course codes as displayed on the transcript to ensure that the student's transfer credit can be correctly processed upon entry. Since these institutions are supplying transfer rules to Transferology in the format used in these systems of record, Transferology would be unable to find Matches to the transcript course code unless:
- The institution maps the transcript department - or the department from the transfer rules - to the catalog department via a Source Department Alias; or
- The transcript course code is entered into Transferology manually by the student or staff member.
- The transcript course code is supplied as an alternate field to Transferology via TES.
TES Catalog Changes Requests
Guidelines for Submission
- The transfer course code:
- In Transferology®.
- On the institution's transcript.
- The term the transcript course code appears on the institution's transcript.
- In instances where a course's department abbreviation differs between the transcript (BIOLOGY) and catalog (BIOL), whether all courses within the department are transcripted with the abbreviation noted, and during what time period.
- In instances where an extra character or zero is appended to the course catalog code but not the transcript code, or vice versa, whether all courses within the department are transcripted with the character noted and during what time period.
| The transfer course code in Transferology | BIOL100 |
| The transfer course code on the transcript | BIOLOGY100 |
| The term the transcript course code appeared on the student transcript | Fall 2022 |
On the transcript, does the institution use the noted department abbreviation for all courses within the subject? If so, for what time period? |
Yes Starting with the 2019-2020 catalog |
CollegeSource Review
- CollegeSource will make the final determination as to whether the transcript course code will be supplied to TES and Transferology and appear in place of the course catalog data set course code.
- CollegeSource does not and will not change actual catalog data supplied by the institution. Any change to the display of course codes in TES and Transferology is only a change to the type of code users see.
- While institutions submit a start and end date for the requested display change, a different timeframe may be applied if the catalog edition that contains the course extends beyond that time.
- CollegeSource's agreement to display the transcript course code in place of the course catalog data set code for a particular timeframe or edition is not an agreement to actively maintain the display of this data for past or subsequent editions.
- Changes to the display of course codes in TES and Transferology will be visible to all users of these systems and could influence how institutions decide to create transfer articulation rules. As such, the institution should take the necessary steps to verify data with the transfer institution before requesting display changes and be aware of the impact of the fulfillment of the request on other institutions.
Submit Requests
Transfer Specialists and Program Admins can submit two types of requests via the Catalog Change Requests functionality:
- Those for Course-Level Changes ask CollegeSource to consider populating and providing the transcript course code for individual courses within a Department.
- Those for Department-Wide Changes ask CollegeSource to consider populating and providing the transcript code for all courses at the institution or all courses within a Department.
- Within this path, users can additionally submit a course-level change to a single course in a department.
Select the hyperlinks above to see further information and instructions for submitting these requests.
Manage Catalog Change Requests
See Manage Catalog Change Requests for instructions on resolving and deleting active requests.