Courses in Program of Study

Any program that leads to an associate degree and certificate programs that have been approved by the Federal Department of Education. Generally speaking, those certificates are at least 16 credit hours in length or require an associate degree to be admitted into the program.

This federal requirement is in place to help you complete your degree or eligible certificate within a reasonable amount of time. On-time completion of your program at WCC can lead to great benefits! You will save money by paying less in tuition and not borrowing as much in student loans. You can save time by transferring quicker or entering the job market to begin working. The Federal Department of Education supports you in your educational goal by guiding you toward timely completion by only covering the cost of required courses.

All federal and state programs are affected. This includes the Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), Federal Direct Loans, Federal Work-Study, Michigan Competitive Scholarship, Tuition Incentive Program, Children of Veterans Tuition Grant, GEAR UP and Fostering Futures Scholarship.

Check your program in MyWCC! Navigate to the "Student Services" tab, click on "Student Records", then "General Student Information". Your program of study will be labeled "Major".

To see if your courses are eligible, run a degree audit using DegreeWorks. In MyWCC, go to the Student Services tab, select "Student Records", then click on "Check Your Degree Progress Using DegreeWorks" This is a great tool for you to check your program, review your progress and see courses remaining to complete your program!

We have a great set of videos to help you with DegreeWorks and show you the available features.

We will use DegreeWorks to determine if a course is part of your program. A process will run which will let us know if you have a course that isn’t in your program and your financial aid eligibility will be adjusted.

Yes. However, these courses will not count toward your enrollment level for determining your financial aid eligibility. If your aid, at the lower number of credits, does not cover all of your tuition and fee charges, your will need to pay the balance due.

If you register for courses that are not in your program, your financial aid eligibility will be based on the reduced enrollment level for the courses in your program. Use DegreeWorks or meet with an advisor to ensure you are taking the correct courses. You may need to adjust your schedule.

If you decide to take courses outside of your program, Federal and State financial aid will not pay for those courses. You can complete an authorization form which will allow any extra financial aid to be used for your uncovered charges. Log in to MyWCC, click on the Financial Aid tab, Authorization Information and Title IV Authorization.

You can also pay out of pocket or set up a payment plan to cover courses outside your program.

The Financial Aid office may need to re-evaluate your financial aid eligibility based on your change in schedule. This could result in you having to repay a portion of all of the financial aid you have received. You should contact the Financial Aid office before you change your schedule once the semester begins.

Yes. The course must count toward your program and meet the federal requirements for repeating a course.

Federal regulations allow financial aid to cover a maximum of 30 remedial/developmental credits. If you have not attempted more than 30 of these credits, financial aid will count your remedial/developmental credits in your enrollment level.

What about prerequisite courses?
Prerequisite courses for programs are also consider in this 30 credit hour limit.

Yes. ESL courses will count toward your enrollment level for financial aid.