Advisor Tools

Advising notes should be clear, concise, and communicate the desired information to students, advisors, and administrators alike. Key information to include:

• Student's catalog year
• Student's major/minor combination
• Semester for which you are advising the student
• Specific courses you are suggesting the student take, being careful to note prerequisites, corequisites, and anything else of which the student should be aware (e.g. C or better)
• Advise the student to take 15 hours
• Repeat courses, specifically note which ones and why
• Completion and submission of change of major/minor, core substitution, and major/minor course substitution forms

Example: Advised as BBA in MKTG w/ENTR minor (14-15 catalog). For fall '18, choose at least 15 hours from the following: ACCT 3304, MGMT 3310, MGIS 3310, MKTG 3328, MKTG 3320, BUAD 3345, BUAD 3355.

Office of the Registrar

Financial Aid

Undergraduate Admissions

Career Services

Office of the Provost & Academic Affairs

SAM Center:

• SAM Center Leadership
• SAM Center Advising Team

College:

• College of Business Administration (CoBA)
• College of Criminal Justice (CoCJ)
• College of Education
• College of Arts & Media (CAM)
• College of Health Sciences (CoHS)
• College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS)
• College of Science & Engineering Technology (CoSET)

Change of Major/Minor

Core Substitution

Course Crosswalks

Major/Minor Codes

Major/Minor Substitution

Campus Connect is the name SHSU has chosen for the EAB SSC student scheduling software. It provides students the opportunity to take ownership of their advising and tutoring needs while allowing multiple departments across multiple divisions to communicate. You can access Campus Connect through MySam or click on the following link to access the system: Campus Connect

For issuees with Campus Connect, please send an email to campusconnect@shsu.edu, including your contact information and a description of the issue.

Using CourseLeaf software from Leepfrog, SHSU publishes a new catalog each year. All incoming students, freshmen and transfer alike, enter on the most current catalog, but can advisor can change the catalog to serve the student better.

Access SHSU's catalogs: SHSU Catalog Directory

If you experience issues, glitches, or need to report errors, please contact:

Dawn Caplinger

P: 936-294-4156

E: dcaplinger@shsu.edu

Degree Works is a web-based advising tool created by Ellucian that produces an easy-to-read and user-friendly academic evaluation to help advisors monitor students' progress toward degree completion. The Office of the Registrar maintains the system and scribes the degree components into the system. All advisors are required to add notes to Degree Works when advising students.

Use the MySam portal for Access to Degree Works, or click on the following link: Degree Works

Here's the training manual: Degree Works Manual

If you experience issues, glitches, or need to report errors with Degree Works please contact:

degreeworks@shsu.edu

Maintained GPA Calculator

Semester GPA Calculator

Target GPA Calculator

GPA Prognosticator

15 to Finish: Per the Office of the Provost, all advisors should advise their students to take 15 hours per long semester, for a total of 30 hours, to promote timely graduation rates.

Academic Policy Manuals

• Student Manual has links to several policies that directly affect students such as class attendance, graduating with honors, and student resignations.
• Curriculum & Instruction Manual has links to several policies that pertain to coursework and the university as a whole such as academic probation and suspension, academic fresh start, and grades in remedial classes.

Admissions Process

• Freshmen
• Transfer Student
• Admissions Staff

Core Math Requirement: Per the Office of the Provost, all incoming students must continuously enroll in their core math course until they earn course credit or can present proof of credit from an alternative source (e.g., AP, IB, Dual Credit). Review the policy in the most recent 2018-2019 Catalog.

Developmental Education Policies

Satisfactory Academic Progress

SHSU uses a modified version of the TCCN system. This system is a 4x4 alphanumeric system, so each course has a four letter and four-digit designation. For example, ENGL 1301 is the course number for Composition I. The four letters refer to the department/subject area (i.e., ENGL for the English Department). The four numbers are its course number and have varying meanings:

• The first digit is the course level.
  • 1 = freshman
  • 2 = sophomore
  • 3 = junior
  • 4 = senior
  • 5+ = graduate school
• The second digit is the number of credit hours the course is worth.
  • 1 = 1 hour
  • 2 = 2 hours
  • 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 = 3 hours, the most common credit hour
  • 4 = 4 hours
  • 0 = variable credit hours, speak with your advisor before registering
• The third and fourth digits are for departmental sequencing (e.g., ENGL 1301 comes before ENGL 1302).

You can review the institutions who have adopted the TCCN at the TCCN website.

The purpose of the TCC, often referred to as the Common Core, is to ensure that students "develop the essential knowledge and skills they need to be successful in college, in a career, in their communities, and in life."

• Elements of the TCC
• SHSU's Common Core

*Note: Like all higher education institutions, SHSU's Common Core can change from year to year. Make sure you refer to the correct catalog when advising your student.

You can view other institutions' Core Curriculum at either of the two following sites:

• Pre-2012 core: https://statecore.its.txstate.edu/
• 2014-present core: http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/apps/tcc/

The Texas Legislature has a website where state codes (i.e., laws) are searchable by the public. The process for Education Codes is:

• Go to the website - http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/
• Select "Education Code" in the Code field
• Then Search through the Article/Chapter options for basic groupings of codes.

This isn't a fast process. Here are some common codes you should know:

• American History Requirement: Texas Education Code 51.302 (first adopted by the Texas Legislature in 1955)
• Core Curriculum Requirements: Texas Education Code 61.821-822
• Government/Political Science Requirement: Texas Education Code 51.301 (first adopted by the Texas Legislature in 1929)
• Texas Administrative Code/THECB Rules - Chapter 4, Subchapter B §4.21-4.31
• Texas Success Intitiatives - Texas Education Code 51.3062
• Tuition for Repeated or Excessive Undergraduate Hours - Texas Education Code 54.014
  
  • Check Texas Education Code 61.0595 for exceptions to this code

The THECB is the state oversight and regulatory body for all public higher education institutions (2-yr & 4-yr).

• 60x30TX Higher Education Plan is the THECB's newest strategic plan (2015-2030) with the bold, yet simple goal of "striving for 60 percent of the 25- to 34-year-old Texas population to hold a certificate or degree by 2030."
• Transfer Policies and Resources/Fields of Study (FOS) are the THECB's effort to streamline the transfer process for undergraduate students in Texas by assuring students that their basic courses (~54 credit hours) will transfer from one state institution to another with no loss of credit.

The TSI is a state-legislated program designed to improve student success. There are two components: (a) An assessment (TSI-A) to assess a student's basic reading, math, and writing skills, and (b) developmental instruction designed to enhance the student's skills.

The Office of the Registrar maintains a Texas Success Initiatives (TSI) webpage housing the most current TSI requirements, exemptions, and policies.

If you have questions or concerns not addressed by the Registrar's TSI webpage, please contact the TSI Team in the Office of the Registrar.