Intended Outcomes:

The primary goal of this initiative is to ensure that students receiving federal financial aid are registered for courses that satisfy CPoS requirements for federal financial aid. CPoS requires that full-time, undergraduate students are enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours (minimum of 6 credit hours for part-time students) of required, degree-applicable coursework each semester in order to receive the full financial aid package. More information about CPoS is available here.

Students who are not meeting CPoS requirements are notified by the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships and may require advisor assistance to identify the appropriate courses to take for CPoS and for their degree program at USC. This initiative allows advisors to connect with students and ensure that they are registered for appropriate courses. Advisors have the contextual knowledge to guide students in selecting appropriate courses to satisfy CPoS requirements while aligning with their academic goals.

Timeline for Intervention:

Mid-July through the add/drop deadline

Intervention Process:

The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships (OFAS) identifies students who are not meeting CPoS requirements based on their current enrollment. OFAS then sends a list of these students to the UAC for distribution to college advising contacts. If possible, these contacts complete an initial review and make exceptions in Degreeworks as needed to bring students in alignment with CPoS. Students whose records are corrected with exceptions are removed from the OFAS outreach list.

Once this initial review is complete, OFAS notifies remaining students that they are currently not meeting CPoS requirements and encourages them to liaise with their academic advisor to adjust their schedule. Undergraduate Academic Advisors (UAAs) receive notification if their students are on this list and have been contacted by OFAS. Advisors review the cases assigned to them and identify what schedule changes and/or DegreeWorks exceptions a student needs to meet CPoS requirements.

If DegreeWorks exceptions will bring the student into compliance with CPOS, academic advisors will ensure these are completed based on their college's preferred process. If schedule adjustments are needed, advisors reach out to their students using a variety of methods (email, text message, phone call, etc.) to assist the student with making any necessary adjustments to their schedule.

Collaboration with the Office of Financial Aid:

What Financial Aid can do	What advisors can do
Run the CPoS process in Banner to audit student registrations  Alert students if they are not meeting CPoS requirements Provide list of contacted students to UAC	Advise towards courses that are degree-applicable and count towards CPoS requirements  Assist students with registration needs/requests
What Financial Aid cannot do	What advisors cannot do
Advise towards degree-applicable courses Directly alter a student’s schedule	Provide financial aid counseling

For more information on CPoS, review the Course Program of Study (CPoS) Information website.