Course Program of Study

Students will be notified by the Office of Financial Aid if their federal financial aid is impacted due to enrollment in classes that do not apply to their degree program. They will be able to see the courses that are not applicable on the Financial Aid tab on OwlExpress.

We will start running the process after registration opens for each term.

A student’s course registration will begin being reviewed one week after registration opens.  We will continue to review their courses if they add or drop any sessions.

Once enrollment has been “frozen” at the end of drop/add, a student’s registration will be reviewed one final time.  The only time this would be reviewed again was if a student adds or drops a course for 2nd session.

We highly encourage continuing students to officially declare their added major by the below priority deadlines. At the very least, all curriculum changes should be completed prior to the first day of classes.

NOTE: Requests for major changes and course substitutions are not immediate and require manual updates in the system.

Students receiving federal financial aid are welcome to take classes which are not required for their Program of Study. However, they will need to pay for those classes out-of-pocket or with non-federal financial aid.

Electives must satisfy a requirement of your declared major. If you have been notified that an elective is not counting toward your Federal Financial Aid eligibility, contact your academic advisor. If an advisor determines that the elective is satisfying a requirement and will count toward your declared major, they will submit a course substitution request. Not all advisors will be able to submit a request so it is important that you speak with an advisor as soon as possible to allow for processing time.

Scholarships do not require that students enroll in courses in their program of study. Scholarship awards will not be based on classes counted in the student’s major.

All students can find their major in their DegreeWorks through Owl Express.

• Start by logging into Owl Express
• Select Student Services and Financial Aid from the Main Menu
• From the Student Services and Financial Aid Menu, select DegreeWorks-Degree Audit
• Click on the DegreeWorks button
• This will take you to the “Student View” of your DegreeWorks worksheet

Students enrolled in courses impacted by CPoS will be notified via their KSU email and Financial Aid tab in Owl Express. Note that students will only be notified if CPoS impacts their Federal Financial Aid eligibility.

Do NOT begin modifying your schedule without consultation with an academic advisor! An advisor will be able to review your registration and determine whether the system is accurately assessing your enrollment. If not and your enrollment has been approved to count as part of your declared major, Contact your Financial Aid counselor to discuss options.

Changes should be completed by the Friday of drop/add to ensure there are no issues. However, you do have until the last day of drop/add for enrollment changes. Please note that you do risk having enrollment that cannot be evaluated in time.

First, the term “financial aid” refers to any funding designed to assist with your educational expenses. Most financial aid flows through the school and is applied directly to your student account.

FEDERAL Financial Aid: This financial aid is generally determined based on the information included on your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and comes from the U.S. Department of Education. Examples include the Pell Grant, SEOG Grant, Stafford Loans, and PLUS Loans to name a few. CPoS DOES impact these awards.

STATE Financial Aid: This financial aid may also use information included on the FAFSA to determine eligibility, but sometimes require an additional application. The primary difference is that the source of funding is from the state government. Examples include the HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarship. CPoS DOES NOT impact any of these awards.

INSTITUTIONAL Financial Aid: This financial aid may also use information included on the FAFSA to determine eligibility, but primarily looks at other factors such as high school GPA, standardized test scores, and performance. Examples: Athletic Scholarships and Departmental Scholarships, etc. CPoS DOES NOT impact any of these awards.

Only courses that are part of the program of study as documented in the degree evaluation are eligible for federal aid. Students receiving financial aid are welcome to take classes that are not required for their Program of Study. However, you will need to pay for those classes out-of-pocket or with non-federal financial aid.

Current semester majors must be officially declared and reflected in the student’s DegreeWorks by the Friday of Drop/Add. Courses counting only toward future majors will not count toward the program of study.

Satisfactory Academic Progress is based on total hours taken and not federal aid eligible hours taken. All hours will continue to count towards this as noted at Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) for Financial Aid Recipients 

The advisor will be able to see this information on the Student Advising Guide on OwlExpress and on DegreeWorks.

• Owl Express- Financial Aid Tab 
  The Award Overview will show the courses that are ineligible and eligible for federal and state aid.
• Degree Works
  The area under your personal information will reflect the courses that are ineligible to receive federal financial aid.
• View Academic Transcript/Advising Guide
  This application is visible to students and advisors. An “N” in the CPoS column indicates federal financial aid will not pay for this course.

We will begin notifying students one week after registration opens.

We highly encourage the completion of course substitutions for registered courses by the priority deadlines below.

Processing for registered course substitutions received by the Office of the Registrar after the first official day of classes cannot be guaranteed in time for CPoS assessment.

NOTE: Requests for major changes and course substitutions are not immediate and require manual updates in the system.

We highly encourage continuing students to officially declare their major by the below priority deadlines. At the very least, all curriculum changes should be completed prior to the first day of classes.

NOTE: Requests for major changes and course substitutions are not immediate and require manual updates in the system.

If a student believes a course should count, but it isn’t, they should contact their academic advisor

Learning support (classes below the 1000 level: ENGL 0999, MATH 0999, etc.) are eligible for financial aid funding up to a maximum of 30 attempted remedial hours. As long as the student is otherwise eligible for federal financial aid, the credits for the remedial courses will be considered as in-program and eligible for federal financial aid.

A student may change their major by simply following the steps below.

• Log onto Owl Express
• Select the Student Records tab
• Select the Declare or Change Major option
• This will open a form that will allow you to make changes to your major
• Please allow 5-10 business days for processing your change. You can return to this site at any time to check the status of your request

For many years, the U.S. Department of Education has required that institutions ensure federal financial aid funds are used to pay for courses that apply to a student’s degree program. 

Kennesaw State University will begin actively implementing CPoS in Fall 2019.

The override process is completely manual and requires action from multiple departments. Please allow 7-10 business days for your financial aid to reflect the override.

Do not wait until the last minute to submit updates as major program changes are not immediate. It is the student's responsibility to ensure that their major accurately reflects their current enrollment and that any updates are submitted in sufficient time to allow for processing. We recommend major updates be submitted 5-10 business days before the beginning of the term at the latest.

The CPoS automated review process happens nightly. It can only review updates that are reflected on your account. If the updates have been fully processed and your course is determined to be eligible, the CPoS alert/flag will be cleared within 2-3 business days of the overnight CPoS process.

NOTE: Requests for major changes and course substitutions are not immediate and require manual updates in the system.

Double majors must be officially declared and reflected in the student’s DegreeWorks by the Friday of Drop/Add. Courses counting toward undeclared majors will not be included in the program of study.

NOTE: Requests for major changes and course substitutions are not immediate and require manual updates in the system.

There are two separate process that will affect these courses.  The first is the program of study evaluation and the second is the repeated coursework evaluation.  The repeated course will count for the program of study evaluation if it is in the program of study as documented by the degree evaluation, regardless of the presence of a previously taken same course.  The course would still then need to pass repeated coursework evaluation to be eligible for federal aid. Visit the Repeated Coursework Policy website for more information.