Summary
This article will help you search for and build an education plan in Degree Planner. You can also find information about where in Degree Planner to find all the degree and certificate programs at Shoreline, details about what each program requires and lists of elective options for each requirement.
Before you begin reading
This article assumes you have already successfully logged into Starfish and have found and opened Degree Planner link from the hamburger menu in the My Success Network page in Starfish. If you have yet to find Degree Planner, use the link below for the steps to do so:
Where to find Degree Planner?
IMPORTANT: Degree plans are intended to guide you in the selection of courses, but given the complexity of this process, the college does not guarantee plans will always be 100% accurate. If you have completed AP, IB, CLEP, DANTE, DLPT exams and/or college coursework from another institution, you may have already met certain requirements and may not need to take additional courses. You must talk with an advisor to have your plan reviewed and approved.
Starting to Build Plans
For students who have yet to start building plans in Degree Planner, you will see the Create a New Plan screen, where you can click Get Started to begin making plans.
This will take you to the Create New Plan screen. You will see this screen each time you build a new plan in Degree Planner.
You can select the catalog year you wish to start your plan by using the Catalog Year drop down menu. It will always default to the current year. In most cases, you do not need to change the year from the default year.
Exploring Plans
Searching
You can select the program to build by searching for it in the search bar and using words from the program name. In the example below, searching the term 'bio' resulted in 5 programs available to build that contained the letters b-i-o in the name of the degree.
This search returned several degree types available, including some noted by their acronyms.
Degree Types and Descriptions
Here is a breakdown of common degree types with acronyms and what they stand for: (Please click the bars below to see more details)
AS-T/MRP
Associate in Science Transfer (AS-T) Track 2, Major Related Program (MRP) designed to prepare students entrance into a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) program. Specifically, this MRP is a type of AS-T that prepares students for entrance into select majors at particular four-year schools for junior standing. These programs have specific, required classes within the AS-T degree, and will be displayed on your transcript as a different type of degree than the general AS-T.
AS-T1
Associate in Science - Transfer (AS-T) Track 1, transfers as a package to most baccalaureate colleges and universities in Washington state, satisfying most pre-major requirements and some general education courses for junior standing.
AAAS
Associate in Applied Arts and Sciences (AAAS), the degree is designed to prepare students for careers in the specific field of the degree.
AA-DTA
Associate in Arts - Direct Transfer Agreement (AA-DTA), the direct transfer degree is an agreement between Washington state community colleges and baccalaureate institutions. The credits earned in the AA-DTA transfer as a package to most baccalaureate colleges and universities in Washington, generally satisfying all of the lower division general education requirements and granting junior standing. Pre-Majors focus on courses best designed to help prepare students for a future major in that field.
DTA/MRP
Associate in Arts - Direct Transfer Agreement (DTA), Major Related Program (MRP) is a highly prescribed version of the Associate in Arts, AA-DTA, with a focus in on a specific major. These programs have specific, required classes within the DTA degree, and will be displayed on your transcript as a different type of degree than the general DTA.
AM
Associate in Music (AM) degree for students interested in entering a conservatory or seeking a terminal degree at Shoreline Community College with a music emphasis.
AFA
Associate in Fine Arts (AFA) where you can choose to transfer to a four-year school to earn a Bachelor’s degree or continue to develop as an artist without pursuing a four-year degree.
Certificate of Completion
Certificate of Completion is a short-term certificate designed to ensure students receive the knowledge and skills currently in demand by employers in the select field of study.
Certificate of Proficiency
Certificate of Proficiency is a longer-term certificate designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills in a specific career field to enter the workforce directly upon completion.
Note: You are free to build any plan but take notice of the degree type of plan being built, as it may have impact on financial aid, the length of program and the frequency of courses built.
Note: Only degree options currently coded into Degree Planner will be available to build, which may not encompass all possible degree options. Talk with your advisor if you cannot find your program or degree.
Browsing
Browsing all available plans is also an option and is the space where you can get details about all degrees offered. Select the Browse Link above the search bar to Browse.
This will open the Program Plans screen in Degree Planner, which lists all available degrees alphabetically by degree name.
Degree Details
Selecting any degree listed will open that degree's details page in Degree Planner.
Opening a degree details page will provide you with specific information about the degree.
Here are the breakdowns of the Degree Details page: (Please click the bars below to see more details)
Degree Requirements
You will find all the requirements for the degree listed under Program Requirements
These are further broken down into various requirement sections of the degree, oftentimes including sections detailing General Education, Distribution, General Electives, Core Courses and Graduation Requirements.
Elective Options and Lists
You can find full lists of applicable course electives by clicking the View Course Options link by any elective option in Program Requirements.
Here is an example of course options listed for Multicultural Understanding requirement in General Education for this specific degree:
Student Support
In every plan, you will find a Starfish Support link to bring you to support documents and tickets you can file to report on problems or ask questions.
Print Plan Details
You can print out a copy of the plan, with all the details about it, or you can save a copy as a PDF from the details page right hand corner.
Example:
Add to Plan
Selecting the Add To Plan button will populate the plan into the Create New Plan search field.
Pre-build Options
Once you have found a plan to build and the degree's name has populated the search field, you are ready to build! But before you build out the plan, there are a few optional steps to explore to customize how your plan will build out.
Advanced Settings
You can click on the Advanced Settings link on the Create New Plan screen.
Advanced Settings Options:
What term does your plan start?
This provides a drop-down menu of the quarter you would like to have your plan start. Degree Planner will default to the next available quarter. You can choose a quarter in the past to capture previously completed courses or start sometime in the future when you plan to begin taking classes.
How many credits per quarter?
You can specify the number of credits you would like Degree Planner to put into each quarter of the plan. Degree Planner will default to full-time credits, which is often 15 per quarter. This number may be different depending on the specific degree program.
Do you want to take Summer classes?
You can indicate to Degree Planner if you want it to populate courses in Summer quarter. Default is typically No, although it may be different depending on the specific degree program.
Schedule Preferences
Degree Planner can also help form a preferred course schedule, allowing you to customize which course sections it will place into your plan. Note that Degree Planner will only consider schedule preferences, if a required course is offered outside of your schedule preferences, it can still populate into your plan if there are no other viable options, as degree completion will supersede schedule demands.
Simultaneous Degree Planning
Degree Planner also allows you to plan multiple degrees at the same time, compiling the combined requirements into your custom plan. Note: Be sure to discuss this with your advisor before attempting to build simultaneous plans, as there may be issues that complicate your progress.
You can add more programs by clicking the Add Another Program link under the search bar once you have selected a program already.
Building Plans
Once all your settings are set, you can build your plan.
Click the Build Plan button.
You will be redirected to Your Plans page and Degree Planner will automatically start to build your plan.
You will see the 'Building' icon spin while the plan is being built, and you will not be able to open the plan until it finishes building. Most plans take 15-30 seconds to build, although some plans in STEM fields may take longer. If you plan takes over 5 minutes to build or does not build at all be sure to contact Starfish Student Support: Degree Planner: Report a Problem
While the plan is building, the blue progress bar will show you how close you are to completion of the degree, with the total credits earned out of the total needed indicated above the progress bar.
Once the plan has finished building, the status will change to In Progress, and you will be free to open the plan.
You can click on the Create New Plan button to make more plans. There is no limit on the number of plans you can build.
Build Status
When in Your Plans page, plans can appear with different status symbols representing distinct stages in plan development.
Building Icon: Used when plans are being actively built by Degree Planner
In Progress Icon: Standard status of most built plans
Approved Icon: This is your officially approved plan. Only one can be approved and your advisor must approve it. This will always be pinned to the top of Your Plans page.
Approval Requested: Shown when you have requested a plan you have built be accepted by an advisor and become your approved plan.
Returned Icon: Shown when a plan you have submitted for approval needs further updates or changes before it can be approved, or when you have not adhered to the plan and have gone off-track. You can make changes and resubmit a plan for approval.