Point and click your worries away

PSU’s new online Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS) can be found by accessing http://banweb.pdx.edu , then clicking on “PSU Information System.” Enter your student identification number and password, click on “student services and financial aid” and then click the final option, “DARS.”

Step one: Select college/school

Choose the school that your minor, major or certificate belongs to; choose “not declared/not applicable” for transfer audits.

Step two: Audit type

Choose bachelor’s of science, arts or music. For transfer audits, choose “bachelors.” Choosing “certificate” will generate a certificate audit, and “non-degree” will initiate a minor or second degree audit.

Step three: Major/minor/certificate

Choose the appropriate minor, major or certificate program. For transfer audits, choose “Undeclared/Unknown.”

Step four: Catalog year

Choose which catalog year you’d like DARS to compare your credits to. According to Robert Mercer, liberal arts and sciences adviser, “You can apply to graduate using any catalog in effect after you began college in the U.S. somewhere; the caveat is that that catalog you use can’t be older than seven years at your point of graduation.”

Currently, DARS can use catalogs dating back to 1997. The oldest valid catalog for use is the 96/97 catalog, which will expire this summer.

Step five: Submit request

Verify that the above information is correct, and send the request. The system warns that requests may take as long as five minutes to process, but most have been processing more or less immediately. Once you’ve reached the final page, return to the first DARS page and click “view submitted audits” to see if the new audit has returned yet.

-Christian Gaston