This fall, new academic regulations went into effect, which updated guidelines on repeating courses and credential overlap.

At the end of August, the Office of the Provost issued new academic regulations for all students at Pitt. The regulations highlight new directives for student course and credit evaluations — with a new credential overlap policy, students can have an unlimited overlap of credits between a major and certificate, and fewer credits are needed to complete a double degree from two different schools within Pitt. Additional areas affected by the new regulations include advanced standing credits — credits from an outside institution put towards a degree at Pitt — and definitions of online and hybrid education.

The former course repeat policy stated that students could attempt a single class up to three times — something that has not changed with the new policy. However, some grading systems have adjusted.

Previously, NG grades — a no-credit grade given when a student does not complete all the assigned classwork due to extenuating circumstances — and withdrawals would appear on transcripts, but they would not be identified as a course repeat. Now, under the newly passed regulations, NG grades and withdrawals count as course repeat attempts. 

The only grade that doesn’t count as an attempt is a resignation — which occurs when a student withdraws from all enrolled classes for the semester. If a student resigns for the semester, they are still able to register for classes the next term.

According to Adam Lee, vice provost for undergraduate studies, the new course repeat policy will be applied starting this fall. However, NG grades and withdrawals dated before this semester will not be affected. 

“We tend to make [policies] effective for everybody at the same time, and that might lead to some implementation hiccups that need to be handled through exceptions,” Lee said. “For the most part, program changes you face are based on when students start a program.”

The new academic regulations also include a policy about credential overlap. In the new policy, the number of required credits for double majors from two different schools may decrease. Instead of completing 150 total credits, students pursuing two different types of degrees now only need to meet the credit requirements to satisfy both degrees, according to Lee. The requirement of 150 credits still applies to double degrees within the same school.

“You have to satisfy the requirements for both degrees, but there’s not a requirement of needing to take additional credits [just to meet 150],” Lee said.

The new policy also allows students to have unlimited credential overlap between a major and a certificate. Previously, students could only overlap two classes between a major and a certificate. 

According to Lee, the new policy was put in place to prioritize student learning.

“The philosophy behind that change was to focus on student learning outcomes,” Lee said. “If a course satisfies an outcome, it should be applied wherever it can. If [a student is] taking two credentials and the same course helps [them] make progress, we should lean into that.”

Redefinitions for advanced standing credits are also included in the new academic regulations. Advanced standing credits include transfer credit, standardized tests, credit by course examination and educational experiences in the armed services. The new academic regulations state that the initial acceptance of advanced standing credits doesn’t necessarily mean they will satisfy specific degree requirements. 

The details on what counts as an advanced standing credit are unclear, according to some advisers — including Meredith Guthrie, the director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Communication and an undergraduate adviser.

“There are some rules that are way more nebulous about transfer credits,” Guthrie said. “They redefine what counts as an online class or distance learning. Those are going to become more relevant later when they have more details for us … but they weren’t able to give us a lot of detail [yet].”

The new academic regulations also include definitions for distance education. Education that uses one or more technologies to deliver instruction to students who are separated from their course instructor is the core of Pitt’s distance education definition, which is directly in line with the Federal Academic Regulations. 

With the national expansion of online programs, Pitt is similarly advancing their digital education programs, according to Lee. In 2024, Pitt EDGE — the new University Center for Excellence in Digital Education — was formed to “develop, advance and promote” Pitt’s educational efforts in the digital space.​

“Pitt EDGE is going to support the development and implementation of the online and hybrid program,” Lee said. “There’s a national trend that there’s a market for online education, and we want to make sure that we’re thoughtful and intentional on how we engage with it.”

In 2026, Pitt will be launching its first fully online undergraduate degree in Health Informatics and Artificial Intelligence. 

Development of the new academic regulations began in the 2023-24 school year and underwent revisions in the 2024-25 school year. Subgroups for development were formed from members of PACUP, the Provost Advisory Council on Undergraduate Programs, and UCGS, the University Council on Graduate Studies.

“Each subgroup was asked to benchmark against our peer institutions and make recommendations on how we think revisions should look,” Lee said. “It included student representatives and also brought in folks from places like the Office of the Registrar to weigh in where appropriate.”

Alongside the regulations put into place this semester, two more will be implemented next fall.

“One [regulation] looks at academic standing, and one looks at incomplete grades,” Lee said. “Both of those had changes that were substantial enough and impact the enrollment system that we wanted to take some additional time to get that out there and actually build up the implementation.”

With class planning for next semester underway, Guthrie sees these new regulations as a positive change and has yet to face any outstanding issues with them in context to her students. 

“[The regulations have] all been positive,” Guthrie said. “Some certificates are going to see a real bump in popularity with [communication rhetoric] majors because they use so many communication classes. I’m sure that there will be certificates that become popular within other majors too.”