C-5: ENFORCEMENT OF RECOMMENDED PREPARATION AND PREREQUISITE, CONCURRENT, CO-REQUISITE COURSES
Prerequisite, concurrent, and co-requisite courses include content that is required for a student to succeed academically in a given course. Course instructors, or others designated by the academic department in which their courses are offered, have the right to permit students to take the course without the student having the stated prerequisite, concurrent, or co-requisite requirements, if the student demonstrates mastery of the required course content through some other means.
Academic departments should develop clear procedures for enforcement and override of prerequisite, concurrent, or co-requisite requirements; communicate those to students; and identify a person (a prerequisite coordinator) who can act as a point of contact for students and the University Registrar.
Enforcement Procedures
The course registration system permits automatic enforcement at the time of course registration of prerequisite, concurrent, or corequisite courses. Students registering for courses for which automatic enforcement is used will be allowed to register for courses for which they have met the prerequisite, concurrent, or corequisite requirement.
Students will be allowed to enroll conditionally in courses that require prerequisites if, based on their current official enrollment, they will satisfy these course requirements prior to the time courses requiring prerequisites begin.
Students will be allowed to enroll conditionally in courses that require concurrent courses if, based on their current official enrollment, they will satisfy these course requirements prior to the time courses requiring concurrent courses begin, or if they are registered for the concurrent courses in the same semester as the course requiring them.
Override Procedures
Students wishing to enroll in a course for which they do not have the prerequisite, concurrent, or co-requisite requirements can request permission for enrollment by submitting an online form within the LionPATH Student Center. The form approver assigned in LionPATH may consult with the faculty member or prerequisite coordinator and will make the decision directly within LionPATH. The faculty member or prerequisite coordinator may request any of the supporting documentation listed below:
- Evidence of registration in a course that can be transferred as a direct equivalent for the prerequisite, concurrent, or co-requisite course and will be completed prior to the date they will begin to take the course that requires the prerequisite courses. In this case, the academic department may require that the student provide evidence of successful course completion before taking the course that requires the prerequisite course.
- Evidence of registration in or completion of courses that are not direct equivalents but are determined, by the course instructor or others as designated by the academic department, to demonstrate mastery of the prerequisite, concurrent or co-requisite material. This evidence may include transcripts and other course documents (e.g., syllabi, examinations) as determined by the academic department.
- Prior learning assessments (credit by examination, credit by portfolio, AP examinations, etc.) that are determined by the course instructor, or others as designated by the academic department, to demonstrate mastery of the prerequisite, concurrent or co-requisite material.
- Other evidence or assessments demonstrating mastery of the prerequisite, concurrent, or co-requisite material as determined by the course instructor or the academic department offering the course.
If a request has been approved, the student will receive an email notification to their Penn State email alerting them of the approval and they can self-enroll in any of the class sections for which they have been approved. Once the request has been approved, students are permanently approved for enrollment. If a request is denied the student will receive an email notification including the reason for denial. A student can resubmit with additional documentation.
Course Disenrollment Procedures
For courses that have automatic prerequisite enforcement at the time of registration, prior to the start of each semester, the University Registrar will review conditional course enrollments and identify students who do not have prerequisite, or concurrent courses completed. A report will be available to each academic unit for distribution to course instructors. Each academic unit will determine, with course instructors, those students who should have an approval to take the course and those students who should be disenrolled. Following the review period, the Office of the University Registrar will disenroll students who were conditionally enrolled and now do not satisfy the prerequisite and were not approved to remain enrolled. The Office of the University Registrar will notify these students and their academic advisor of the disenrollment. Reports will be available to each academic unit.
The detailed timeline for the registrar's review of prerequisites is as follows:
- Prerequisite requirements are enforced during the prior semester of enrollment at the time of course registration.
- Students will be conditionally enrolled in a course with prerequisites if they currently are enrolled in the necessary prerequisite courses.
- On the Wednesday before the first day of classes, the Post Enrollment Requirement Checking (PERC) rosters are generated and will list those students who do not satisfy the prerequisite requirements or met the prerequisite conditionally at the initial time of enrollment and have not yet been grade reported, so the enrollment is still conditional.
- Between the Wednesday and Friday before the first day of classes, departments, colleges, and campuses review the PERC rosters to determine if any students who were conditionally enrolled but now do not satisfy the prerequisite requirements should be permitted to remain enrolled in the course.
- On the Friday before the first day of classes, students who were conditionally enrolled are dropped from a course if they did not successfully satisfy the prerequisite or co-requisite requirement(s) and do not have an approved override.
- Students who drop one class in a set of concurrent or co-requisite courses to be taken in the same semester may be disenrolled from all concurrent or co-requisite classes, unless they have an override previously processed.
In departments not using automatic prerequisite enforcement at the time of registration, faculty or designated prerequisite coordinators may identify students to be disenrolled from a course for which they do not have a listed prerequisite, concurrent, or co-requisite course and for which they do not have an approved override. The department's head or the department head's designated faculty or staff member will then implement disenrollment and notify the student.
Senate Policy: 34-58, Course Availability
Revised: ACUE (3-4-99)
Revised: ACUE (4-7-05)
Revised: ACUE (10-4-12)
Revised: ACUE (5-5-16); Effective Fall 2016
Revised: ACUE (8-1-19)
Revised: ACUE (4-7-22)