Graduation requirement credit counting is the rule a graduation plan uses to decide which requirements each course's credit counts toward. By default, every requirement on the plan counts every course its course requirement matches. A plan can also have credit links, which let credit beyond one requirement's target count toward another requirement that is still short. Graduation plans, graduation requirements, and credit links are set up by users with the Registrar Full role.
Sharing is how a plan counts when it has no credit links. Each requirement counts every course its course requirement credits, so one course can count in full toward two or more requirements. A requirement never counts the same course twice. Example: A course on Indigenous history that matches both the Social Studies requirement and an Indigenous Studies requirement counts in full toward both.
A credit link connects two requirements on the same plan. The requirement in Takes Extra Credit From is the giving requirement, and the requirement in Counts Toward is the receiving requirement. When the giving requirement has more credit than its Required Number of Credits, the extra credit can count toward the receiving requirement while the receiving requirement is still short. Credit that moves leaves the giving requirement's row, so it counts once. A link can carry a Courses filter, a course requirement that limits which courses may use the link. To add one, review Creating Graduation Requirement Credit Link.
Examples
- Extra math counts as an elective: a link from Math to Electives. A student who earns 4 credits against a Math target of 3 keeps 3 in Math, and the fourth credit counts toward Electives while Electives is short.
- Only some departments may fill a requirement: an Additional Advanced requirement met by a fourth year of world language or math, or a third year of history, science, or art, never English. Add a link from each of those five requirements to Additional Advanced, and none from English.
- One kind of course has ordered choices: a digital arts course counts toward Technology first, then Fine Arts, then Electives. Add a link from Technology to Fine Arts with Courses set to a course requirement that matches the digital arts courses (Order 1), and a link from Technology to Electives (Order 2).
- Electives is whatever the core requirements have left over: add a link from each core requirement to Electives.
Courses that both linked requirements count are counted at the giving requirement first. They reach the receiving requirement only as extra credit, after the giving requirement has met its target. Example: With a link from Math to Electives, an Electives requirement whose course requirement matches every course still lets Math fill first. Math courses count toward Electives only when Math has more than it needs, wherever Electives sits on the plan. Two requirements with no link between them keep sharing, even when both link to the same third requirement.
Which course stays: a giving requirement with more credit than its target keeps credit up to the target, and the rest is extra. It keeps first the courses that have the fewest still-short requirements to move to. When two courses tie, the course that fewer of the giving requirement's links accept stays, whether or not those requirements are short, so the least flexible course keeps its place and the more flexible course moves. After that, the older course stays. The course that crosses the target can be split, for example 0.5 credit stays and 0.5 credit moves.
Order of counting: giving requirements are processed in plan order, which is the order the requirements were added to the plan. Each giving requirement tries its links by Order, lowest first. Each extra course, oldest first, moves to the first linked requirement that is still short and accepts it. A whole course moves when it fits the gap; otherwise only the part needed moves.
Note: Credit moves one step only. Credit that has moved never moves again, so a chain is set up as direct links from the original requirement. Example: For Math, then a Math and Science elective, then general Electives, add a link from Math to the Math and Science elective and a second link from Math to Electives.
Note: A receiving requirement never goes above its own Required Number of Credits, and it counts each course once, even when the course could arrive from two giving requirements.
Note: In-progress credit does not move along a link. A course in progress that both linked requirements count stays with the giving requirement until it earns credit, so the giving requirement can count it as in progress while the receiving requirement does not. Its earned credit can then move like any other extra credit.
Note: Only credit that a requirement already counts can move. A course that no requirement on the plan counts still counts nowhere. Extra credit with nowhere to go stays on its own requirement's row, so a requirement with no link out keeps showing its full credit. This suits a department where students take more than the minimum for college admission.
Total credits: a Total Credits requirement counts each course once against the diploma total. Create a course requirement whose criterion uses (Any course type), add it to the plan with the diploma total as its Required Number of Credits, and give it no credit links. The (Any course type) choice matches every mark, including marks that have no course type and level. Because a requirement never counts a course twice, the total is correct even when other requirements share courses. To print it as the totals line of the transcript, review Transcript Totals Line.
Where the numbers show: transcripts show the result as soon as a link is added or deleted, including transcripts for past school years. Adding or deleting a link in the Credit Links section also recalculates the plan's graduation requirements for every student, which can take a minute or longer, so the Standard Query: Admin - Graduation Requirements Summary and Standard Query: Admin - Graduation Requirements Details DAT queries show the result as soon as the save finishes. In the Details query and in the Graduation Requirements table, a course whose extra credit moved is listed under the requirement it counts toward, and a course that was split appears on two rows. Transcripts print one total row for each requirement and do not list courses, so credit that moved shows in the receiving requirement's totals. After a change to marks, course requirements, graduation requirements, or the plan, transcripts show the new numbers at once, and those DAT queries show them after the next refresh of the Graduation Requirements table (review DAT Regenerative Table). The same applies when a link is deleted because one of its requirements is removed from the plan or because the course requirement it uses as its Courses filter is deleted.
Note: Transcript - Semester - S1/S2 prints graduation requirements whenever a plan is selected in Show Graduation Requirement Plan, the same as the other transcripts that print graduation requirements. When the school preference Show Grad Req Move to Elective is turned on, S1/S2 prints the Move to Elective version of the requirements for a plan without credit links. A plan with credit links always prints the standard requirement rows on S1/S2, with its credit links applied.
Related articles: Graduation Requirement, Creating Graduation Requirement, Creating Graduation Requirement Credit Link, and Transcript Totals Line.