Programs

A Program is the thing a student enrolls in to gain access to courses — an M.Div, a one-year certificate, a continuing-education track. It is also where you set the academic and financial rules that govern everyone enrolled in it: how progress is measured, whether it costs money, what counts toward graduation, and how its courses and specializations are organized.

You author programs entirely from Desk (Program → New). This page walks through the options and then explains the part that trips people up most — tracks and emphases.

How a program is shaped

A handful of orthogonal choices define the character of a program. Set these first; everything else hangs off them.

Choice	Field	What it decides
Level	Program Level	The tier (Certificate, Bachelor, Master, Doctorate, Continuing Ed…) and whether the program is ongoing.
Has an end?	(mirrored) Is Ongoing	Degree-style (graduation, GPA, transcript) vs. ongoing (no end, no graduation).
Progress model	Enrollment Type	Measured by terms completed (Time-based) or credits earned (Credits-based).
Admissions	Enrollment Mode	Apply only during published windows (Timed) or any time (Continuous).
Cost	Free Program + payment flags	Free, or paid with payment-gated enrollment.

These are independent — a program can be Credits-based, Continuous, and Free all at once, or any other combination.

Program Level and "ongoing"

A Program Level (Desk → Program Level) is a reusable tier you attach to a program — Certificate, Bachelor, Master, Doctorate, Continuing Education, etc. Besides categorizing the program, it carries one important switch:

Is Ongoing — "Check this ONLY if the Program has no definitive end (no graduation, credits, etc.). Useful for free courses, continuing education, etc."

When the chosen level is ongoing, the program mirrors that as a read-only Is Ongoing flag and automatically skips everything that assumes an end: graduation audit and requests, GPA and honors, the alumni transition, and the Academic Review step on withdrawal. Leave the level non-ongoing for any real degree.

Progress model — Time-based vs. Credits-based

For degree (non-ongoing) programs, Enrollment Type picks how you track a student toward completion:

• Time-based — progress is counted in terms. Set Terms for completion. Courses can carry a suggested Term number so the audit knows where each one belongs in the sequence.
• Credits-based — students enroll in courses in any term, and progress is counted in credits. Set Credits for completion.

Max Years to Graduate (optional, fractional years allowed, 0 = no limit) caps how long a student has; on enrollment the system stamps a maximum graduation date of enrollment date + this many years.

Admissions — Timed vs. Continuous

Enrollment Mode controls how applicants get in:

• Timed — applications are accepted only during published Term Admission windows.
• Continuous — applicants may apply any time; the public "Apply" button tags them to the current Academic Term.

The application form

The public "Apply" button opens a Web Form that creates a Student Applicant. The built-in form is intentionally thorough (personal, education, employment, church, doctrinal statement, signature…), which is right for a degree program but far heavier than a free course or continuing-education track needs.

To use a lighter form, set Application Web Form on the program. The button then opens that form instead. The route is resolved in this order:

1. The program's Application Web Form, if set.
2. Seminary Settings → Default Application Web Form, if set (a site-wide default for every program that doesn't choose its own).
3. The built-in student-applicant form, as the final fallback.

So you can leave most programs blank and only point your free/CE programs at a short form — or flip the default and reserve the long form for the few programs that need it.

Build your own form; don't edit the built-in one. The shipped student-applicant form is a standard web form — it is re-synced from the app on every update, and any changes you make in Desk are overwritten. Instead, create a new Web Form (Desk → Web Form → New) for the Student Applicant doctype with just the fields you want. Your own forms live in the database and are never clobbered. The Application Web Form picker only lists Web Forms built on Student Applicant.

A few things to get right on a custom form:

• Keep the prefill fields. Include program and academic_term (and term_admission if you accept Timed applications). The Apply button passes these in the URL, and Frappe only prefills them if the form actually contains those fields. You also need the Student Email, as this is needed for login. You do not need to add academic_year — it is derived automatically from the academic term, so leave it off the form.
• For the doctrinal statement, just add the signdoctrine signature field. The current admission Doctrinal Statement is rendered automatically as a read-only block directly above the signature on every Student Applicant form (built-in or custom) — you don't add a ds2 field and you don't write any script.
• Set its own success behavior. The built-in form redirects to the payment page after submission. That redirect lives on the built-in form, so a custom form for a free program won't carry it — set the new form's Success URL (or a success message) to send applicants wherever makes sense, e.g. a simple thank-you instead of a payment page.

Cost and payment gating

• Free Program — bypasses enrollment invoicing and skips Financial Review on withdrawal.
• For paid programs, Require Payment Before Enrollment holds each course enrollment at Awaiting Payment until the student pays (or reaches the Minimum Payment %). Require Staff Verification of Course Enrollments makes a registrar approve a student's draft enrollment before they can pay.

The mechanics of payment-gated enrollment are covered in Enrollment.

Courses

The Courses table lists every course that belongs to the program. For each row:

• Mandatory for this program (required) — every student must pass it to graduate. Leave it unchecked for electives.
• Mandatory on program enrollment (pgm_course_reqonenroll) — the student is automatically enrolled in this course; no one has to register them by hand. This is separate from Mandatory for this program above: that flag is about graduating, this one is about getting signed up. A course can be one, the other, both, or neither. See Auto-enrolling students below.
• Credits for this program — the same course can be worth a different number of credits in different programs, so credits live on the program row.
• Term number — a suggested term, used to sequence the audit.
• Allow more than once — permit the course to count for credit more than once.
• Disabled (+ Disable Reason) — retire a course from this curriculum without deleting history. Students who already took it keep their record; new students no longer see it. The system stamps Disabled On automatically.

List every course here. Even courses that only matter to one track or emphasis must appear in this main Courses table. The track tables below just point at courses that already exist here.

Auto-enrolling students into courses

Tick Mandatory on program enrollment on a course and students no longer have to register for it — the system signs them up for you. This is meant for the courses everyone in the program takes (a required orientation, a first-term core sequence), so the registrar doesn't enroll each student one by one.

A few things worth understanding about when and how this happens:

• It waits for an offering. A student can only be enrolled once the course is actually being offered — that is, once a Course Schedule for it is open for enrollment. If the course isn't offered in the term the student enrolls, nothing fails: the student is simply enrolled later, automatically, the moment a future offering opens.
• It picks one offering sensibly. When the course is open in more than one place at once, the system prefers an offering in the student's own enrollment term, then an online (Virtual) section, then the earliest-starting one.
• Paid programs still bill normally. "Mandatory on enrollment" does not mean free. On a paid program the auto-enrollment is invoiced and sits at Awaiting Payment exactly like a hand-made enrollment until the student pays.
• Prerequisites are respected. If the course has an unmet mandatory prerequisite, the student is not auto-enrolled; instead a to-do is raised for the registrar to sort out the sequencing.
• No double enrollment. A student already enrolled in (or who already passed) the course is left alone.

The list is fixed at enrollment time. Which courses a student is auto-enrolled into is decided when their enrollment is submitted, from the flags as they stand that day. Turning the flag on for a course later does not reach back and enroll students who are already in the program — by design, so a curriculum change never silently re-enrolls an existing cohort.

To push a newly-flagged course to students who are already enrolled, open the Program and use Actions → Apply Mandatory-on-Enrollment to Active Students. It adds the new course to each active student's list and enrolls them where an offering is open. The button only appears once the program has at least one mandatory-on-enrollment course, and it only ever adds — it never removes a course a student was already set up for.

Tracks and emphases

A track is a named group of courses inside a program. Tracks come in two flavors, distinguished by one checkbox — Program Emphasis? — and they behave very differently.

Organizational tracks (not an emphasis)

Leave Program Emphasis? unchecked to use a track as a requirement carve-out — a way to say "the program requires N credits from this group of courses."

Example: "Students must earn 6 credits of Biblical Greek." Create a track Biblical Greek, set Track Credits Required = 6, and list the Greek courses under it (on the Courses per Track table). The student may satisfy the 6 credits from any of those courses.

Organizational tracks are about communicating and grouping structure. Students do not declare them; they are not specializations on a transcript.

Emphases (a declared specialization)

Check Program Emphasis? to make a track a declared concentration — an Old Testament emphasis, a Counseling emphasis, a Missions emphasis. Emphases are actively tracked on the student's audit and (unless marked advisory) gate graduation.

Key fields on an emphasis track:

• Track Credits Required (addcredits) — the minimum credits the student must earn within the emphasis. These count toward the program's total.
• Track Credits Ceiling (max_credits, 0 = unlimited) — the maximum emphasis credits that count toward the degree. Credits beyond the cap are still earned, but stop counting toward the program total.
• Emphasis Declaration — when a student takes it on:
  • At Enrollment — must be chosen before the enrollment is submitted.
  • Anytime — may be declared later (optionally only after earning a Min Credits to Declare).
  • Auto-grant — assigned automatically once the student meets the emphasis's credit requirements.
• Advisory Only — the emphasis is informational and does not block graduation.
• Fallback Emphasis? — marks the one default emphasis (e.g. General Studies) assigned to students who never declare a specific one.

Mandatory courses for an emphasis are set on the Courses per Track table by ticking Mandatory? for a (track, course) pair. A student on that emphasis must pass those specific courses, on top of meeting the credit total.

Multiple emphases

If Allow Multiple Emphases is on, a student may declare more than one. The Emphasis Overlap Policy then decides how the credits add up:

• Shared Credit Pool — all emphases draw from the same program total. A course can help satisfy two emphases at once.
• Additional Credits Required — each emphasis beyond the first adds its track credits on top of the program total, so a double emphasis genuinely costs more credits.

Worked examples

1 — A language requirement (organizational track).Goal: 6 credits of Greek, student's choice of course. Track Biblical Greek, Program Emphasis? off, Track Credits Required = 6; list the eligible Greek courses on Courses per Track. The track documents the requirement and groups the courses; the student picks any 6 credits' worth.

2 — An Old Testament emphasis declared up front.Goal: students choose OT at enrollment, take 12 emphasis credits including two required courses. Track Old Testament, Program Emphasis? on, Track Credits Required = 12, Emphasis Declaration = At Enrollment. On Courses per Track, add the OT courses and tick Mandatory? on Hebrew I and OT Theology. The student must choose this emphasis before submitting enrollment, pass both required courses, and reach 12 OT credits.

3 — A counseling emphasis declared later. Same as above but Emphasis Declaration = Anytime and Min Credits to Declare = 30 — the student can pick it up only after 30 program credits.

4 — Auto-granted emphasis. Set Emphasis Declaration = Auto-grant. The student never declares it; once they have met the track's credit requirement, the system records the emphasis for them.

5 — Double emphasis that costs more. Turn on Allow Multiple Emphases and set Emphasis Overlap Policy = Additional Credits Required. A student who declares both Old Testament and Missions must complete the program total plus the second emphasis's track credits.

6 — A safety-net emphasis. Create General Studies, tick Program Emphasis? and Fallback Emphasis?. Students who never declare anything else are treated as being on General Studies for graduation.

GPA, honors, and graduation

For degree programs:

• Basis for GPA — the top of your scale (US = 4.0; others vary).
• Credit-weighted GPA — when on, GPA is weighted by course credits; when off, it is a simple average.
• Accept Transfer Grades in GPA — whether transferred course grades count in GPA (also requires the source Partner Seminary to allow it).
• Honors Levels — a list of honor names with minimum GPAs (e.g. Cum Laude at 3.5). The highest level a student qualifies for shows on their enrollment.
• Students Can Request Graduation + Graduation Request Trigger (Enrolled in final courses vs. Passed final courses) — whether and when a student can file a Graduation Request from their audit page.

The non-course requirements a program demands (letters, chapel, projects, etc.) are configured separately — see Graduation Requirements.

Publishing on the web

The Web tab controls the public-facing program page: Route (URL slug), Blurb and images for the program list, Program Description and Requirements, duration fields for sorting/filtering, and two visibility switches — Display Enrollment Windows on Web and Display Apply CTA on Web (both off by default; the CTA has no effect for Continuous programs, which apply any time). Untick Publish on web to hide a program entirely.

How it all shows up on the Program Audit

Everything above converges on the Program Audit page (also visible to staff). For each enrolled student it shows:

• Credit / term progress toward the program total.
• Program mandatory courses and their status.
• Each declared emphasis — credits required vs. earned (respecting the ceiling), and any still-missing mandatory track courses.
• The parallel Graduation Requirements (non-course evidence).

A student is eligible to graduate only when the credit/term total is met, all program-mandatory courses are passed, every non-advisory emphasis has met its credits and required courses, and the graduation requirements are clear.

Quick reference

If you want to…	Do this
Create a degree program	New Program; pick a non-ongoing Program Level; set Enrollment Type + Terms/Credits for completion
Create a free, never-ending offering (e.g., a Free Courses page on the website to train believers and serve as a marketing tool for the seminary)	Use a Program Level with Is Ongoing; tick Free Program (often, Enrollment mode = continuous)
Track progress by credits, any order	Enrollment Type = Credits-based; set Credits for completion
Mark a course required for everyone	Tick Mandatory for this program on its Courses row
Enroll every student in a course automatically	Tick Mandatory on program enrollment on its Courses row
Apply a newly-flagged auto-enroll course to current students	Program → Actions → Apply Mandatory-on-Enrollment to Active Students
Retire a course from the curriculum	Tick Disabled on its Courses row and give a reason
Require N credits from a group of courses	Add an organizational track (Program Emphasis? off) with Track Credits Required
Offer a declared specialization	Add a track with Program Emphasis? on; set credits, required courses, and declaration timing
Let students declare two specializations	Allow Multiple Emphases; choose an Emphasis Overlap Policy
Give undeclared students a default	Mark one emphasis as Fallback Emphasis?
Let students apply year-round	Enrollment Mode = Continuous
Use a shorter application for a free/CE program	Build a Web Form on Student Applicant; set it as the program's Application Web Form (or the Default Application Web Form in Seminary Settings)
Show the program (and Apply button) publicly	Web tab → Publish on web, Display Apply CTA on Web

Related

• Enrollment — how students enroll, and payment-gated course enrollment for paid programs.
• Graduation Requirements — the non-course requirements (letters, chapel, projects) that sit alongside courses.
• Graduation Request — the request-and-approval flow.
• Academic Calendar — terms and the enrollment windows that open courses for registration.