Academic Programs

A prerequisite is a course or other educational requirement, such as a placement test, that must be completed prior to registering for another course or before proceeding to more advanced study.  Prerequisites define the knowledge or skills for successful performance in a course and advise students of the minimum requirements in order to enroll.  Departments specify the minimum satisfactory grade or test score for completing the prerequisite. 

Students may attempt a course without having a prerequisite only if the instructor has consented to give an override. If consent is not obtained, students who have not fulfilled a prerequisite will be disenrolled from the course during end of term processing (usually the week following the release of grades).

A course that can only be taken at the same time as another course is considered a corequisite. Both prerequisites and corequisites display in the Academic Catalog.

Prerequisites/corequisites cannot be:

• Added or changed without an approved proposal, subject to the Office of the Registrar’s Prerequisite Policy
• Courses or test codes from other institutions
• Used to limit or control enrollment
• At a level more advanced than the course (e.g., a 100-level course cannot have a 300-level prerequisite)
• At an undergraduate level for a graduate level course (e.g., a 500-level course cannot have a 400-level prerequisite)
• Different for crosslisted courses
  • Slash-listed courses may have different prerequisites but they can only be enforced for courses at the same academic level. Graduate prerequisites for slash-listed courses are discouraged.
• Special Topics (x99) and Blanket Numbered Courses (reserved numbers x01 to x10).  Topics and content are variable and cannot be used to accurately assess knowledge or skill level.
• Experimental “X” courses. These courses can only be offered a maximum of three time for the purpose of introducing new learning materials and innovative teaching on a trial basis before seeking permanent approval.

Registration Restrictions

Some classes may be restricted by campus, degree, program or class standing, or require departmental approval. These are considered registration restrictions, not prerequisites, because they are added at section level by the Schedule Desk. Registration restrictions may apply to different sections while prerequisites apply to all sections of the same course. Registration restrictions are therefore indicated in the Schedule of Classes, not the Catalog.