Office of the Registrar

Student Degree Plan

We have planned a semester by semester schedule of the classes you need in order to graduate with your specific major. This plan, like blueprints for a house, includes the exact number and description of courses to be taken. While some classes may be taken out of order, caution must be taken to stay on track toward graduation.

How can I view my student degree plan?

  1. Access STARS on the Web at www.wiu.edu/stars
  2. After logging in, select the Student Degree Plan Display menu option. Here you may view your plan and/or print it.

How do I read the Student Degree Plan Display Screen once I get to it?

  • SELECT (Sel): This column allows you to access the list of classes you can choose from to fill that specific requirement. There is no SELECT column on STARS; the list is found by putting the cursor on the COURSE in question, and hitting the F4 key. To return to your student degree plan, hit F4 again. If using STARS on the Web, clicking the mouse on the DETAILS button to the left of the COURSE in question will give you this information. Clicking on the Return to Degree Plan Display button will take you back to your degree plan.
  • TERM: The semester in which the courses have been or will be taken.
  • COURSE: Specific classes that have been or will be taken.
  • REQUIREMENT: Courses necessary for graduation. This field will be blank for classes that were not originally in the degree plan. Classes not yet taken that are identified by stars(*) are general education courses.
  • HOURS: The number of hours for which the corresponding course should be registered or the total hours needed to fulfill that specific requirement.
  • COUNT (Cnt): The number of classes for the given semester 
  • PRIORITY (Prty): Represents the importance of a class. Courses with higher numbers are listed first within the semester, denoting priority.
  • STATUS: Only on STARS printout. Indicates classes that have been "met" and those that have not.
  • DESCRIPTION: Defines the REQUIREMENT/COURSE abbreviation or code.

    Example:
    FL 1998  COMM130 . . . . INT HUMAN COMM
    SP 2001  *BA****C . . . .SOCIAL SCIENCES

  • NOT ALL SELECTED: Appears at the bottom right of each semester that does not have a COURSE filled in for one or more of the REQUIREMENTs.

What if I'm participating in GradTrac?

You want to graduate in four years or less, and we are committed to work with you to make that happen. As you know, we have promised to offer the classes you need and provide an automated degree audit system to ensure that you and your adviser have the information you need. Your responsibility is to meet the requirements of the GradTrac agreement, and the information here is provided to aid you in the process.

If you choose not to follow your degree plan, you may be considered ineligible for GradTrac benefits. This will happen if you take too few hours or the wrong classes during one semester and cause a later semester to require 18 or more hours. Other causes of ineligibility are: rearranging the order of classes that are only offered during specific semesters, failure to declare a minor by the time your degree plan calls for minor courses, changing/adding a minor*, and a major or overall grade point average below 2.0**.

 *Some are acceptable. **Business and Law Enforcement require 2.5

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