UH Hilo Academic Policies | Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Catalog Choice and Retroactivity

Effective Fall 2011 onwards

Students may choose to fulfill all requirements from a UH Hilo catalog for which they are eligible or they may fulfill the general education and integrative requirements from one of the catalogs for which they are eligible and all of the major requirements from another of the catalogs for which they are eligible.

  • Except as noted below, UH Hilo students may elect to follow the requirements selected from the following UH Hilo catalogs:
    • The default catalog for all students entering UH Hilo will be the one in effect when they first enroll at UH Hilo as long as they maintain continuous enrollment, defined as no more than a one semester interruption1 (excluding summers); if a student interrupts hislher enrollment by two or more consecutive semesters1 (excluding summers), the "entering" catalog will be the one in force when the student returns to UH Hilo.
    • Students may elect to use the catalog in force at UH Hilo when they entered any campus of the UH System as long as they maintain continuous enrollment as defined as above.
    • Students may petition the Dean of their College for an approved leave of absence for unusual circumstances beyond the student's control; an approved leave of absence will allow a student to use the UH Hilo catalog in force when s/he entered UH Hilo or another UH System campus with a break of more than one semester.
    • At the time of graduation, students may elect the UH Hilo catalog in force at graduation.

  1. Early in their academic careers, students should choose an entering UH Hilo catalog and should file a "catalog choice" form with the Office of the Registrar. This will determine the default requirements in STAR. At the time they file an application for graduation, they will again have the opportunity to choose a UH Hilo catalog or catalogs under which they choose to graduate.