In academic year 2018-19, OSU rolled out “institutional awarding” for undergraduate students, which involved undergraduate/post-baccalaureate students no longer applying to graduate. Instead, the office of the registrar and college advising staff use degree audit data to determine when a student becomes a candidate for graduation. This transition affected a number of processes related to advising, degree conferral, commencement, etc. This effort was considered Phase I of Institutional Awarding.
Phase II includes leveraging existing data to predict anticipated graduation term and also accurately determine when students are “on track” or “off track” to degree completion that will address compliance and related needs connected to Financial Aid, Athletics, Veterans, and National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) verifications. This will be setting the stage for improved course offerings over time, and creating student populations to target for different types of advising.