Substitution/Waiver
Students often come in with courses that do not transfer as exact equivalents to UNCW courses and receive elective credit (i.e. ELEC 001 or PED 001). These will show under “Electives” at the bottom of the degree audit. If a student has taken a course similar to the content of a UNCW course but was designated as elective credit, a Course Substitution request can be done via SeaPort. Advisors initiate this form and process, which includes a rationale and ideally a course description from the college’s catalogue and a course syllabus as support. The student should take the lead in getting supporting documentation and catalogue information.
Students may also request for a Waiver of credit towards University Studies or a major requirement is less likely. One instance where this may occur is if a student transfers in credit for ENG 201 but has not taken ENG 100/101 (required at UNCW). The student will not need to back-track and take the 100/101 courses at UNCW, so a course waiver could be submitted for ENG 100/101. The student will still have to meet the 120 hours for graduation but will not have to complete this particular course.
If the Sub/Waiver request is for the Living in a Diverse Nation or Living in Global Society, the Sub/Waiver form should be sent to the Director of University Studies. The form can be found here
Competencies Petition
Using Transfer Credit for Competencies-Petition Form: Students may petition to request a transfer course to count for one of the following competencies: Writing Intensive, Information Literacy, Quantitative and Logical Reasoning (for catalogue years 2016-2017 and prior) or Critical Reasoning (for catalogue years 2017-2018 and later) The course must meet the learning outcomes of the competencies, listed here. The student will need to provide evidence, preferably in the form of a syllabus and their coursework that demonstrates how they have met the learning outcomes. The petition form is found here
University College advisors can direct students to work with their departmental advisors once they declare regarding major requests, for 300-400 level major courses.
Swap of Credit
Even though students are limited to number of credits of transfer (64 2-year institution, 93 4-year institution), all courses will be listed on the UNCW transcript (if college credit courses with C or higher). Sometimes students are not given credit (already met limit) for a course that is needed towards their major or University Studies credit. In these cases, advisors/students can contact the Registrar’s Office and request a “swap of credit.” For instance, a student may come in with 3 credit hours for COM 101 and 0 credits for ECN 221. The hours can be used for ECN 221 (for a Business major, for instance) instead of for COM 101, which would be an elective.
