Instructions for Submitting LEP Proposals or Renewals

Limited Enrollment Programs (LEPs) are majors at the University of Maryland that control enrollment numbers to address situations where program capacity has been reached. Once a student has earned 45 credits, he or she must have successfully completed a specific set of courses called gateway requirements.

Students are either admitted to the programs as freshmen (direct admits) or as transfer students (internal or external). Directly admitted students must complete the gateway courses by 45 credits and maintain a GPA of 2.0. Transfer (internal or external ) students must complete the gateway requirements to be admitted to the program but often must earn a higher GPA than direct admits. Gateway requirements must be the same for both direct and transfer students. In both cases, only one repeat of one gateway course is allowed.

Proposals for new LEPs, as well as changes to existing programs and applications for renewal of LEP status, should be submitted to the Dean for Undergraduate Studies. Curricular changes require a PCC proposal.

Please address the following questions when applying for or renewing LEP status or when requesting a change in LEP requirements.

  1. Describe the current status of the LEP.

  2. If you are proposing a change in requirements, what is the reason for requesting the change?

  3. Describe the following features of the program.
    • What is your current enrollment limit? What is your proposed enrollment goal?
    • What are the current or proposed gateway courses?
    • If renewing the LEP or requesting a change to an existing program, what is the current transfer GPA?
    • If proposing a new LEP or requesting changes, what will the transfer GPA be? • Which of the gateway courses are available at UMD feeder community colleges (AACC, PGCC, MC, CSM)?
    • Policy requires that LEPs offer enough seats in gateway courses for all students attempting the LEP. How many seats are currently be offered in each of the proposed gateway courses this academic year? What are current enrollments in those courses?
    • For proposed LEPs or changes to existing programs, what is the timetable for phase- in of new students and transfer students? (Normally we use a two-year phase-in for external transfer students.)
    • What are the alternative majors students may select if they do not meet the gateway requirements?
    • Does the timing of the gateway review and subsequent courses allow transfer students to complete the major at the same rate as direct admits? Please include a four-year plan.
    • What is the market demand for this major?

  4. If changing GPA and/or gateway requirements (or proposing the LEP for the first time), please provide data to support the request. For example, if the GPA is raised, is there evidence to show that current students who successfully complete the gateway requirements are not graduating from the program? If the change reduces student enrollment, how many students would no longer be admissible? Does the change disproportionately affect a particular groups of students?

  5. If a proposed LEP change concerns a modification to the curriculum, the PCC proposal should be attached.

  6. If the proposal involves courses offered by departments in other colleges, please attach comment from those departments on the impact of the changes on those departments and colleges.

  7. Submit the proposal to the Dean for Undergraduate Studies, together with attachments.

  8. Members of the Enrollment Management Team will review the proposal and contact you for a discussion of particulars. They will then discuss a recommendation. The chair of the Enrollment Management Team will forward a recommendation to the Provost. Once the Provost has made a determination, the chair of the Enrollment Management Team will release the PCC proposal to the Associate Provost for Planning and Programs. The Associate Provost for Planning and Programs also sends colleges and departments formal notification of approval of a PCC action once it is complete.

  9. When the LEP and PCC processes are complete, the Dean for Undergraduate Studies creates the formal memo stating the new requirements, sends it to the Provost/EMT chair for signature, forwards the signed memo to the college/department, posts the new information at www.lep.umd.edu, and communicates the outcome to Undergraduate Admissions, the Registrar, assistant and associate deans for undergraduate education, and advisors.

July 5, 2017
William A. Cohen
Associate Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Studies





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