Student Program Change (SPC) Implementation

This page is dedicated for advisors and academic stakeholders who support our students and contains updates on timeline, process and improvements for student program changes (e.g. change of major, minor, catalog year, etc.).

What you need to know

In Spring 2026, the Registrar team implemented a new timeline as a necessary part of the University’s ongoing Course Program of Study (CPOS) implementation. To ensure accurate CPOS eligibility determinations for financial aid purposes, all student program changes must be submitted no later than five (5) business days before Census, as defined on the official Academic Calendar, for each regular semester (Fall and Spring). Program changes submitted after that deadline will still be processed; however, they will not be reflected in CPOS aid eligibility until the following term.

In Fall 2026, the Registrar team will continue implementing improvements to the Student Program Change (SPC) process to best serve our team, academic stakeholders, campus partners—and ultimately—our students. The deadline for SPC for Fall 2026 is Aug. 21, 2026.

What is changing?
  • Imaging and form software changing from Perceptive Content to SoftDocs
  • Automatic entry of valid requests in Banner, removing the need for manual entry by the Office of the Registrar
  • Use of a new data validation spreadsheet for the request submission
  • Students will be automatically notified via email when the request has been successfully processed in Banner
  • Students will now be required to contact advisor/department for all requests, including drops
What is not changing?
  • Students will continue to contact advisors/department to request program changes
  • Advisor/department will continue to submit requests on behalf of students
  • Requests will continue to be sent through YAMM (Yet Another Mail Merge)
  • Office of the Registrar will continue to manually review submissions prior to automatic entry into Banner
  • Invalid requests will not be processed, and the Office of the Registrar will communicate with the advisor/submitter
  • This process is used for continuing students only, as changes to new students’ majors must be submitted through Slate
Why is this changing?

Generally, CPOS determines a student’s financial aid eligibility based on the student’s declared and active program of study. Therefore, the student’s program of study must be up to date by the beginning of each term in order for CPOS to correctly evaluate the student’s registered courses against their current program of study requirements.

Timeline Changes: The deadline of five (5) business days before Census was selected to allow students the maximum amount of time to connect with their advisors and update their program of study, while simultaneously allowing adequate time for academic and administrative departments to process the requests and reassess the student’s aid eligibility.

Process Changes: This change will streamline the request process by validating advisor-submitted data, automating updates to student records in Banner and integrating with the University’s new SoftDocs imaging solution. The updated process will also notify students once their request is complete.

Timeline Best Practices

To ensure students have enough time to adjust their schedules and maximize their financial aid in light of CPOS requirements, student program changes should be finalized well before the deadline.

  • Students should be advised to make any and all changes to their program of study while completing registration for the upcoming semester.
  • Likewise, departments are encouraged to approve student program changes as soon as possible.
Instructions & Workflow for Partners
  • Step 1 → Student contacts Advisor to initiate request
  • Step 2 →  Advisor submits request using updated submission spreadsheet (SPC Submission Spreadsheet) , mail merge email template, and sends to new email address for processing (resources found in Registrar Shared drive > Enrollment Student Support Folder)
  • Step 3 →  Registrar Admin reviews submitted requests, re-routes to other reviewers if necessary, and routes for auto-updating the student’s record in Banner
  • Step 4 →  If there are no errors, the student’s record is updated in Banner and the student is notified that their request is complete. If the request is invalid, the Registrar Admin reviews further and routes for correction or other reviewers as appropriate
  • Requests are effective using the effective term on the request.  However, if requests are not completed prior to the census date, they will not be valid towards the CPOS evaluation of the student’s financial aid for that term. Requests to change from DE to non-DE and vice versa may not be submitted for the current term due to changes to student’s fees.