Degree Works FAQS

Degree Works is a web-based tool designed to assist students, faculty, and certain designated staff with monitoring a student’s academic progress toward degree completion.  Degree Works organizes course work in an easy to read degree audit summarizing completed requirements for a degree, as well as those that are still missing. It also provides information on how each requirement was satisfied and what courses can be taken to complete the remaining requirements. The degree audit does not replace academic advising – it is a supplement. 

Degree Works can be accessed through Gulfline – see instructions below.

• Visit Gulfline
• Click on Degree Works
• Type your FGCU eagle email and password
• Click Sign In

Degree Works is available to undergraduate students and graduate students in the College of Education and Lutgert College of Business.  If a student’s catalog term is prior to fall 2009, a message will appear indicating a What-If degree audit should be run (see What-If instructions below).

YES! Degree Works does not take the place of an academic advisor.  Your academic advisor is your first point of contact for questions about your degree audit.  You should always review your degree audit prior to meeting with your academic advisor, preparing any questions that you may have regarding your degree requirements.

The information in Degree Works is refreshed nightly. For example, any changes you make today (grade changes or classes added/dropped, etc.) will display in Degree Works tomorrow.

A degree audit is a review of past, current, and in-progress coursework that provides information on completed and outstanding catalog requirements necessary to complete your degree, major, minor, and concentration requirements when applicable. The degree audit is divided into block requirements such as Degree, General Education, University Requirements, Common Prerequisites and Major Requirements. Each block works like a checklist with boxes that are automatically checked when a requirement is met.

• Student View (Default): Most frequently used and displays a detailed view of students’ degree requirements.
• Graduation Checklist: A condensed view of the audit that removes course titles.
• Registration Checklist: A view of only the courses remaining, removing the courses already completed.

Yes. The Save as PDF button at the top of the degree audit saves the audit in PDF format. In this format, the audit can be printed or saved. Please Note: The PDF may take a couple of minutes to load.

• The Legend at the top and bottom of the degree audit explains the symbols used in the audit.
• The Student View Header contains current student information, including Name, UIN, Level (Undergraduate, Graduate), Classification Level (i.e. Freshman, Sophomore, etc.), Academic Standing, Holds, Graduation Status, Admit Term, SOARin4 Init Elig, College, Catalog Year, Degree, Major, Concentration, Minor, Student Athlete, 3/2 LL Wthdrwl, FGCU Hours, Transfer Hours,  Overall Hours, FGCU GPA, Transfer  GPA, Overall GPA, Honors Student, 3/2 UL Wthdrwl.
• The Degree Progress Bar under the Student View Header block shows progress towards degree based on an estimate of the total average of courses required for a degree.
• The Degree Block is a summary and list of requirements needed to complete a degree.
• Check Boxes in the blocks indicate whether a course is complete, in-progress, or still needed.
• Green Check Boxes and green shading indicate a requirement is satisfied.
• Blue Check Boxes and blue shading marked with a "~" indicate a requirement is in the process of being satisfied.
• Open Check Boxes with a red border and tan shading indicate a requirement that is still needed.
• Free Electives, Insufficient and In-progress Courses are listed in designated blocks at the bottom of the audit.

Free Electives block: Displays in-progress or successfully completed courses that do not apply directly to a student’s program of study.
Insufficient block: Displays courses that do not meet a grade requirement or do not satisfy academic requirements. Credits associated with these grades will be considered attempted credits and may be applied to the GPA.
In-progress block: Displays courses currently enrolled in, or registered for in a future or current semester.

Courses students are currently taking or have registered for in a future semester are included in the degree audit. These courses are also applied in the requirement block where they meet a specific requirement. While in progress, a grade of REG is assigned for currently registered and In-Progress courses. They are also grouped at the bottom of the degree audit in the In-progress block.

Courses listed in the Free Electives or Insufficient blocks do not meet any of the program requirements. Credits and grades in the Free Electives block apply to the FGCU GPA and may count toward the total number of credits need to complete your degree. Grades may apply to the FGCU GPA in the Insufficient block, however credits may not apply toward the total earned credits. Students should meet with their academic advisor to clarify any questions about these blocks.

Yes. Click on the Class History link at the top of the degree audit for a list of courses taken at FGCU, as well as transfer courses.

There is a drop-down arrow next to the degree information at the top of the audit. Use this to select your second degree. The degree audit with the additional major will display.

If you’re pursuing a second major within the same degree (i.e., BA in Psychology and BA in Sociology), both majors will appear in the Student View header and will display on the same degree audit.
NOTE: Please check that the Catalog Year listed in the Common Prerequisites blocks for each of the dual majors is correct and matches the Major Blocks.

You should contact your academic advisor to discuss this matter. If a correction needs to be made, a Change of Major will be initiated.

If you have not officially declared a minor or concentration, they will not appear on your degree audit. You should contact your academic advisor for information on how to declare a minor or concentration.

No. You should contact your academic advisor for information on how to change a major/minor/concentration.

Yes. Once accelerated and transfer credits are received, reviewed and articulated by the FGCU Admissions Office, they are posted to your record and will appear on your degree audit.

Degree Works looks at your program holistically, and places each course using a “best fit” scenario. The “best fit” process will not always be perfect, particularly when multiple possibilities exist. Courses may apply to different sections as you take more courses. If a course does not appear in a block that is expected, you should contact your academic advisor for assistance.

In most cases, yes. Degree Works is programmed to recognize that some courses can fulfill more than one requirement. If you have questions, you should contact your college’s advising office.

You should meet with your academic advisor to clarify the error and review your program requirements and completed coursework listed on your degree audit. Your academic advisor will make any necessary corrections.

No. Registration will continue to be accessed through Gulfline during scheduled registration dates.

If a course waiver or substitution is approved by the Dean’s Office, a designee will record the exception. The completed course will fulfill the requirement, and an additional note will appear on the audit that explains why the exception was entered.

This is a wild card in Degree Works. If the @ symbol appears before course numbers (i.e., @ 1000:4999), you can take any subject area with that level (i.e. a 1000-4000 level course from any subject area). If the @ symbol appears after a subject prefix (i.e. PSY @) it means that you can take any course with the subject prefix (i.e. any course in Psychology).

While Degree Works has been designed to check almost everything that you must complete to qualify for graduation, there may be additional requirements for a major that must be completed as well. You should use Degree Works in conjunction with the academic catalog and meet with your academic advisor regularly to ensure you remain on track for graduation.

• Before meeting with your academic advisor
• Before registration periods
• After registration to ensure that courses selected have been applied to degree requirements correctly
• Any time a change is made to your schedule or major
• After grades are posted each semester
• Before graduation to confirm all requirements will be complete

REMINDER – Degree Audits are updated nightly

SEP or Student Educational Planner is module within Degree Works used by students and academic advisors. As a student progresses, their plan will be customized by an academic advisor based schedule projections and information obtained during advising meetings with that particular student. The Student Educational Planner may be referred to as "SEP", "planner", or "Degree Works Plan".

You will work with your academic advisor at a scheduled advising appointment to develop a plan to graduation.

• Visit Gulfline
• Click on Degree Works
• Type your FGCU eagle email and password
• Click Sign In
• Click on Plans Tab

You may choose either Calendar view or Notes view.

Yes, the way to access and view your degree audit (worksheet tab) has not changed. The degree audit will continue to be the default page when you log in to Degree Works.

They are best used together! Your degree audit (worksheet tab) shows your degree requirements, both completed and outstanding, for each area of your degree. Your plan (plans tab) offers more information about the semester in which courses should be taken to satisfy prerequisite sequencing and match university course offerings. It is critical that you follow your plan to ensure timely graduation.

If you register for courses in a sequence that is different from your plan, please meet with your academic advisor to discuss outstanding requirements, sequencing, and an updated plan.

When viewing your plan in either Notes or Calendar view, click the Print button on the bottom right corner. It is recommended that you print your plan using the Notes view. This will ensure that all of the information on your plan will display on the printed version.

The Student View at the top of the degree audit displays the FGCU GPA (courses at FGCU only), the Transfer GPA (transfer courses only) and the Overall GPA (FGCU and transfer courses). The Degree block displays the Overall GPA. The remaining blocks display the GPA for the courses listed in the individual blocks. For example, the major GPA is a calculated GPA based on coursework used to fulfill major requirements. This GPA will appear within the major block requirements of the degree audit.

This tab is located at the top of the audit and includes three GPA calculator options (described below): Graduation Calculator, Term Calculator and Advice Calculator.

The Graduation Calculator option on the GPA Calc tab will show you what average is needed in your remaining credits to graduate with a desired GPA.

The Term Calculator option on the GPA Calc tab will show you your current FGCU GPA, completed credits and courses in-progress. By selecting the expected grade from the drop down boxes for each in-progress course and clicking Calculate, a new projected cumulative GPA will display.

The Advice Calculator option on the GPA Calc tab will show your current cumulative GPA and credits earned. You can enter your desired GPA and click Calculate. Advice will display outlining the credits and grades needed to achieve the desired GPA.

This feature allows you and your academic advisor to create a hypothetical degree audit for a different major using current academic history. You and your academic advisor can use this option if you are considering changing your major and would like to view how completed courses apply to a different major. What-If audits do not guarantee that you will be able to major in the area selected. If you decide to change your major, this feature does not officially change your major. To officially change your major, you must meet with your academic advisor and complete a Change of Major form. This option is also used when generating an evaluation for a second major, a concentration or minors.

Follow these steps to view how courses count in a different major:

• Click on the What-if button on the left side of the degree audit
• Select a degree – include any minors as well
• Select the appropriate catalog year for the semester to be admitted into this new program of study
• Click Process Audit
• Review how your existing courses would be applied to this new major
• Discuss this new major with your academic advisor

No, since What-If scenarios are not stored in Degree Works, academic advisors can only see the results of a What-if degree audit if you print a copy.