Degree Regulations

In this section:

• General Requirements for Graduation
• First Year Seminar (FYS) Waiver and Exemption Policy
• General Education Foundation
• Credit Residence Requirements
• Coursework Done Out of Residence
• Credit Validation

General Requirements for Graduation

A student becomes eligible to graduate when the student completes the requirements of the University and major degree program according to the catalog in effect at the time the student first entered WVU Tech. With the consent of the student's advisor and department chair, a student may choose to meet the conditions published in a later catalog. However, degree programs reserve the right to change requirements for graduation. If such changes are made, they may, at the discretion of the program, be applied to students already enrolled, provided the new requirements do not impose extension of time for completion of a degree.

As a general rule, a student has seven years to complete degree requirements in a baccalaureate program. The student may become subject to additional requirements if this period is exceeded. If the student interrupts their program for a period greater than one academic year, then the student will be subject to the requirements of the catalog that is in effect when the student returns. The student may petition the Classification and Grades Committee to continue under their original catalog in that event. The student has the option to follow a program as outlined in any catalog issued after their initial enrollment or readmission, but the student must satisfy all requirements of the program as outlined in the selected catalog. Combining and/or selecting program requirements from several catalogs is not permitted.

Degree requirements vary from program to program. The minimum total of semester hours for a B.A. or a B.S. degree is 120. The student is responsible for completing all course requirements including any required core requirements listed in the pattern sheet and should schedule a graduation check with the Registrar during both of the last two semesters preceding graduation. If a substitution or waiver is approved by the advisor and dean, a signed waiver form must be on file in the Registrar's Office. Candidates for graduation taking courses under the transient student status must see that a transcript is received in the Office of the Registrar no later than ten (10) calendar days after the Commencement date.

Graduation requirements for baccalaureate degrees from WVU Tech include the following:

1. Minimum 2.0 average in all courses attempted.
2. Minimum 2.0 average in all courses attempted at WVU Tech
3. Minimum 2.0 average in all courses attempted at WVU Tech, in major and minor, as indicated below:

a.) Engineering professional courses-all biology (for Chemical Engineering), chemistry, engineering, math, and physics

b.) Business and Accounting professional courses-all business, accounting, finance and economics. All Business Management and Accounting majors must sit for the Business Program Assessment Examination

c.) Biology professional courses-all science, math (including statistics), nursing, and psychology

d.) All other Baccalaureate Majors and Minors–all courses in major area and all courses within any elected minor area

Students admitted to professional schools may apply for graduation after successful completion of their first year providing that all other degree requirements have been met except for their major. A minimum of 120 semester hours, including professional school, is required.

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First Year Seminar

First-Year Seminar is required of all first-time, full-time freshman students and full-time transfer students enrolling with fewer than 24 credit hours. This course is designed to assist new students in transitioning smoothly to the Tech community. Students who do not pass this course must continue to re-enroll until they pass the course.

First Year Seminar (FYS) Waiver and Exemption Policy

Transfer and non-traditional students:

Transfer students who have earned 24 or more hours at another institution will have the first-year seminar course (FYS) waived regardless of college (course number indicator of 191).  Transfer students who earned credit for a freshman seminar course with similar learning outcomes at another regionally accredited institution can have the course approved as their FYS through the transfer equivalency process. Students who enroll at WVU Tech more than four years after high school graduation, or who have been absent from the institution for more than four years, may have the FYS waived by their college or school. 

Note: Students granted a waiver will need to make up the credit hour allocated to the FYS in the Course Program of Study.

Dual enrolled high school students:

Students enrolling as first-time freshmen who are not four years out of high school are not eligible to have the FYS waived regardless of earned credits.

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General Education Foundation

Every undergraduate degree program at WVU Tech requires that students satisfactorily complete the General Education Foundations. For General Education Foundations definitions, please see the list of approved GEF courses.

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Credit Residence Requirements

In order to meet residency requirements at West Virginia University locations for a bachelor's degree, students must complete a minimum of 90 total credit hours in residence or 30 of the final 36 credit hours in residence to earn a WVU degree. Individual colleges, schools, or departments may have additional residence requirements as part of their degree or major requirements. Students should consult their respective academic unit with questions regarding specific degree or major residence requirements. Coursework taken at other WVU system campuses, WVU administered credit by examination, placement credit, study abroad credit, military credit and experiential learning credit will not interrupt the final 30 credit hours in residence if earned during this period.

Academic units have discretion to require that up to 9 credits of upper-division coursework in the major, including the Capstone course, be taken in residence in the WVU system. Accredited programs may have higher residency requirements.

In order to meet residency requirements at WVU Potomac State College for an associate’s degree, students who have completed all undergraduate work in another West Virginia public higher education system must complete at least 18 hours of work at WVU Potomac State College; 8 of the last 16 hours must be on campus, or complete the final 15 credit hours of work at PSC. Transfer students whose undergraduate work has been completed outside of the West Virginia public higher education system must complete a minimum of 45 total credit hours in residence or complete the final 15 credit hours of work in residence at PSC. Student’s may also be required to earn up to 8 credit hours in residence for major fields.

Note: Resident credit hours are not synonymous with West Virginia State residency definitions for tuition purposes.

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Coursework Done Out of Residence Policy

Definitions

Transfer students are West Virginia University students who have completed post-secondary coursework at a regionally accredited college or university after graduation from high school, but before registering at WVU.  Courses brought to WVU upon original matriculation are called transfer work. 

Transient students are current West Virginia University students who temporarily matriculate at another accredited institution to take courses to be recorded on their WVU transcript or who return to the University after an absence of one calendar year or less. Courses brought in to WVU from another institution are called transient work.  Transient work includes:

• Military credit validated by the American Council on Education (ACE).
• Collegiate work approved through the appropriate workflow and completed at another regionally accredited institution in the United States.
• Collegiate work approved through the appropriate workflow and completed at colleges and universities outside of the United States which are accredited or approved by the Ministry of Education (or other appropriate governmental agency) of the country in which they are located.

Rules Governing Transfer Work

• Transfer students must have earned a 2.0 GPA in baccalaureate-level work at their institution of origin to be eligible for admission to the West Virginia University system. Individual programs may require a higher transfer GPA and/or other prerequisites for admittance as noted in the University catalog. More information can be found on the WVU Undergraduate Admissions website. 
• Any remedial courses, or courses taken from a non-regionally accredited institution, that have been included in the grade point average of the institution of origin will be removed before consideration for admission to the West Virginia University system.
• Transfer students who have fewer than twenty-four transferable credit hours must also meet freshman admission standards. 
• Upon matriculation to WVU, transfer students holding an Associate of Arts (A.A.), Associate of Science (A.S.), or an Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S) degree from a regionally accredited institution shall be deemed as having satisfied the WVU general education requirement.
• When applying transfer coursework to the WVU system transcript, all credit and grades earned at a regionally or internationally accredited institution will transfer to West Virginia University.
• Transfer credit is adherent to WVU policies. This includes, but is not limited to, repeated coursework policies and D/F repeat calculations. If you have questions on how this will impact your standing at WVU, please contact transfercredit@mail.wvu.edu.

Rules Governing Transient Work

• Approved transient courses will be assigned a WVU subject code, course number, grade, and credits and will be recorded on the student’s transcript.  Unapproved transient courses will be assigned credits and a grade of CR, but will not be translated into an equivalent WVU course. These courses will be designated as NOEQ 1NT and will not fulfill any requirements.
• Only students with a 2.0 GPA will be approved to take course(s) in transient. Students who have matriculated at WVU may take a maximum of eighteen (18) credit hours in transient, no more than nine (9) hours of which may be used to fulfill the major requirements indicated in the university catalog. Transient courses taken prior to fall of 2019 are exempt from the 18/9 restriction, as are courses taken through education abroad, the military, or at other WVU system campuses.

• Students who are advised by the Center for Learning, Advising, and Student Services (CLASS), may take up to the maximum allowable hours in transient. Once a major is declared, the new college can decide to allow or deny further transient work at the Dean’s discretion.

• Courses taken in transient and approved by the student’s college are recorded on the transcript and must be accepted by all WVU degree programs.

• Transient work may violate the Credit Residency Requirement and render the student ineligible for graduation.
• Courses completed for a grade other than W (Withdraw) in residence may not be repeated at another school for degree credit via the transient process.
• Students must have completed the required WVU prerequisites to take a course for transient credit or receive WVU credit for a course.
• Undergraduate transfer/transient coursework taken prior to the completion of a baccalaureate degree will not be posted to the student’s academic record towards another degree in the WVU system.  Undergraduate transfer/transient work taken after completion of a baccalaureate degree may be posted to the academic record towards a second degree in the WVU system.
• A student with extraordinary documented circumstances may appeal a decision regarding transfer or transient credit to the appropriate dean.

Procedures

• Prospective domestic and international transfer students will work through the TERR system to have their coursework reviewed and evaluated.  Determining course equivalencies, retroactive evaluation of NOEQ courses, and requesting an appeal will follow the appropriate workflow.  Once transfer coursework has posted to the WVU transcript, students will work with their departmental adviser to select courses for their first semester at West Virginia University and have their advising hold lifted.
• Transient students should work closely with their adviser before they take a course at another institution with the intent of posting the course to their WVU transcript.  Detailed instructions for initiating the transient request process can be found on the transfer and transient resource page.
  • The transient process should be completed before registering and paying tuition at another institution. Requesting approval for retroactive transient work is strongly discouraged and is done at the student’s own risk.
  • Students should meet with their adviser to discuss the appropriateness of the courses they are planning to transfer and to be informed of the policies governing transient credits.
  • Requests for transient credit must be submitted through the transient application, found on the transfer and transient resource page, and approved by the advisor and appropriate dean.
  • If the course(s) a student plans to take at another domestic or international institution is not already articulated in the TESS system, the student is responsible for submitting all necessary information required for review through the TERR portal accessible via the transfer and transient resource page.

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Credit Validation

Students seeking to complete an undergraduate degree after a significant break in enrollment may be asked to retake certain upper-division courses in their major to validate their subject knowledge (or otherwise demonstrate mastery). This requirement to re-enroll or demonstrate subject mastery in a course is at the discretion of the department chair and dean.

Courses completed in or articulated by the West Virginia University system up to seven years previous must be accepted by the student's program unless a specific accreditation policy invalidates the course. Courses completed more than seven years previous may be excluded from the major at the discretion of the program.

All prior coursework completed at WVU will be factored into the student's institutional GPA.  Coursework deemed to be insufficient to meet current course standards may be treated as elective credit but will not satisfy major requirements (as allowed by the student's academic major).  Transfer coursework will be evaluated per the University's Transfer Policy.

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In this section:

• Double Majors
• Dual Degrees
• Second Degrees

Double Majors

The double major is the awarding of one degree with two majors offered by one college/school. For instance, a student who completes majors in English and History earns one B.A. degree. A student who completes multiple majors with the same degree designation offered by different colleges/schools will be awarded dual degrees. The completion of double or multiple majors must lead to the same degree and can only be achieved simultaneously. Students must be accepted into each major and fulfill all requirements of each major in addition to satisfying all University requirements. Students who complete multiple majors within one degree will be awarded one degree, and the transcript will list the degree and each major.

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Dual Degrees

The dual degree is the concurrent awarding of two distinct baccalaureate degrees (i.e. B.A., B.S., B.S.E., B.S.J., B.S.B.A.). Dual degrees will not be awarded when a student is completing a double major in the same college/school. Students pursuing two majors in different degree programs are expected to have the full range of skills, competencies, and experiences as students graduating from each of the programs independently. Therefore, students must be admitted into each degree program and fulfill all requirements for each degree. Students should pay particular attention to GEF requirements for each degree. Simultaneous completion of dual baccalaureate degrees from different colleges or schools requires students to complete all college, program, and major requirements in order to earn both degrees.

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Second Degrees

Some students decide to continue their undergraduate studies after receiving their first bachelor’s degree. Students who attempt to earn dual baccalaureate degrees from WVU but do not fully complete requirements for both degrees simultaneously will become second degree candidates. Students who have previously earned a bachelor’s degree, whether from WVU or another institution, must complete a minimum of 30 hours beyond the first degree. Second degree candidates must meet all requirements for their degree program, major, college/school and the University, including residence requirements. General Education Foundations (GEF) requirements, however, are generally considered satisfied by completion of the first undergraduate degree. In the event that courses taken for the first bachelor’s degree are required courses for the second degree program, the college or school granting the second degree may approve course substitutions. In no circumstance may the coursework in the second degree program be fewer than 30 credit hours after the conferral of the first degree.

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In this section:

• Application for Graduation
• Honorary Diplomas Awarded Posthumously
• Graduation with Honors

Application for Graduation

A formal application for graduation must be filed in the Registrar's Office by the date listed in the academic calendar. A degree will not be awarded until an application is filed. The application should specify all degrees, minors, and areas of emphasis that the applicant expects to be awarded.

Beginning in Spring 2023, students who wish to participate in the spring commencement ceremonies may only carry over 8 or fewer credit hours to be completed in summer of fall term of the same year. These exceptions will require advance confirmation and approval from the office of the Registrar and the office of the student's academic dean(s), respectively. For Spring 2022, exceptions will be considered by academic deans on a case-by-case basis.

Honorary Diplomas Awarded Posthumously

West Virginia University honors the memory of deceased students who did not have the opportunity to complete their degree by awarding a posthumous honorary diploma. After approval of the Dean of the student's college, the diploma can be awarded to a student who has made progress toward a WVU degree.

Graduation with Honors

WVU Tech recognizes distinguished academic achievement by awarding degrees cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude. This distinction can be awarded on initial baccalaureates and specified entry-level professional degrees. Students who received academic forgiveness are not eligible to graduate with honors. All eligible candidates for a baccalaureate with a GPA of 3.8 or higher graduate summa cum laude. Those with a grade point average of less than 3.8, but equal to or above 3.6, graduate magna cum laude. Those with a GPA of less than 3.6, but equal to or above 3.4, graduate cum laude. All calculations for Latin Honors will be based on the overall GPA.

The GPA for honors consideration is based on WVUIT baccalaureate-level college work attempted through the final semester. This calculation includes baccalaureate-level college work transferred to WVUIT from higher education institutions attended. Credit hours earned with a grade of P or S are not considered in the determination. However, failing grades, are computed as hours attempted. Students must meet residency requirements at WVUIT to be considered for graduation with honors.

The GPA for honors consideration for entry-level professional degrees is based on professional-level work attempted through the last semester. This calculation includes professional-level college work transferred to WVUIT from higher education institutions attended. Credit hours earned with a grade of P or S are not considered in the determination.

Students entering and completing a second baccalaureate program, following completion of the initial degree, are not eligible to receive the honors designation.

The grade point average through the penultimate semester will be used for notations in the commencement programs.