This year, The Bulletin of Information for the 2019-2020 academic school year changed the necessary hours to graduate from 128 to 120. However, this does not change the necessary liberal arts core classes and the degree core classes that need to be completed before graduation. 

There is a form on BadgerWeb called the “Request to Change Bulletin of Record” in which the student can apply to have this new bulletin of information apply to them. According to Dr. Jennifer Good, associate provost, the Office of the Registrar will look at the degree audit and assess if the new bulletin will benefit the student. The new bulletin also contains new added core classes for several programs. If the student decides to change to the current bulletin, they will have to take extra classes, which will leave them with more than 128 hours at graduation. In the majority of programs, the hours of classes needed between the degree core and the liberal arts core add up to 128 hours or more. 

The ability to apply for the new bulletin has always been an option on BadgerWeb. This continues to be an option for students, but the new change in necessary hours to graduate will “not affect students as much as they think it will affect them,” Good said. This policy will attract transfer students as well as initiate the first of the changes for the following years in academic policy. A new common core is in the works for either the following year or the next. This new common core will replace the four separate cores listed in the new bulletin (Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Bachelor of Science in Education), so there will only be one common core for all students.

Currently, this new bulletin may affect a handful of students, but whether or not this change will affect you will depend on your degree program and if any changes have been made to the core required to graduate.