Processing decisions on application records in Slate

General Framework

• Schools have different methods for creating initial decisions (Admit, Deny, Waitlist, etc.) on applications, either manually or within the application review workflow in Reader. Please connect with the Graduate Admission team in Enrollment Management if you have questions or need to make alterations to your school’s process.

• All decisions must be released at some point to avoid disrupting reporting and data transfers, whether or not you intend to communicate it with the applicant.

  • Releasing a decision without an assigned letter constitutes an administrative update only.

  • Releasing a decision with a letter template or document will trigger a basic notification email to the applicant within 20 minutes, notifying them that a change has been made to their application and prompting them to log into their portal to view the letter.

    • This delay and intentionally vague email message allow you to reverse decisions or change letters before a student views them, if necessary.

    • A date in the “Received” column next to the decision in Slate indicates the first date the student read the letter associated with that decision.

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• Slate will determine which decision to add to a record after receiving a student’s reply or deposit.

  • It’s best practice not to manually add a confirm/deposit decision to a record.

  • If changes need to be made to reflect an exception or manual process related to someone’s decision to enroll, you should change or add a payment activity in the Activities table of their Slate application (more details in the Enrolling Students section below).

• Slate decisions on a record are listed from newest to oldest and should remain in standard order. Admit/Confirm, Admit/Decline, and Deposit Pending decisions should only be created if an Admit decision already exists.

Initial Decision Codes

• Most schools only send admitted student applications to Banner, but all Banner codes are listed below for general reference.

• The exact decision code sent to Banner is determined by the use or lack of an associated Decision Reason, so it’s important to use them when appropriate.

• For reporting purposes, it’s important to select the appropriate Decision Reason for withdrawing students. All students with a decision move to the application status “Decided,” but those who withdraw before submitting their applications or completing their checklists must be marked with a reason so that they’re not reported as reviewable applications based on their Decided status.

Decision Codes for Enrolling Students

• The Admit/Confirm decision is now the only decision that indicates a student intends to enroll.

• The Slate decisions Admit/Deposit D3, Admit/Deposit D5, and Admit/Deposit D9 will be retired.

• If a program wants to change the deposit amount collected, the rules creating an Admit/Confirm decision must be updated as well as those creating Payment Due activities on applications. Contact the Graduate Admission team in Enrollment Management to update amounts and rules.

• Admit/Confirm decisions should always be added by Slate and never created manually.

  • If no deposit is required, an Admit/Confirm decision will be added by Slate as soon as the student submits a “yes” in their reply to offer of admission form.

  • To waive a deposit, check that the Activities table already has a Payment Due activity, then click New Activity in the Activities table of the application to add a Payment Waived activity, using the same amount as the Payment Due activity:

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  • To mark that a deposit has been received outside of Slate (i.e. via a mailed check), do the same but select “Payment Received” as the Payment Type instead. You may want to include details like a check number or transaction type in the Private Comments.

  • A few minutes after adding a payment activity manually, Slate will recognize the updates and add an Admit/Confirm decision with the appropriate reason associated, and Banner will receive the appropriate decision code within 12 hours. If no decision is added after the “Rule execution successfully queued” message disappears at the top of the record, contact the Graduate Admission team in Enrollment Management to troubleshoot.

Processing Enrollment Deferrals

• If a student has not yet been admitted and wants to defer to a later term within the same calendar year, simply update the term on their application and then review it with that new term associated.

• If a student has been admitted and wants to defer to a later term within the same calendar year:

  • Update the term on their application in Slate.

  • Add a decision code to their Banner application (SAADCRV): add DC if they never confirmed/deposited, or CA if they did previously confirm/deposit.

  • The Slate-to-Banner process should create a new Banner application with the new term, though confirm/deposit codes may be blocked until the learner record is updated by the Registrar. The Graduate Admission team in Enrollment Management will coordinate with the Registrar’s office to get these updated as quickly as possible.

• If a student has been admitted and wants to defer to a later term in a later calendar year:

  • Add the Admit/Decline – Defer to Future Term decision and decision reason to the Slate record.

  • Banner will receive the appropriate decision code automatically.

  • When the period and associated rounds are created that align with the student’s term of matriculation, manually clone or create from scratch their new application in Slate.

  • Update the entry term, set the “Deferred From” term, and delete the Registration field values in the new application only.

  • In Slate, first add the Admit – From Deferral decision and decision reason to the application record. If they previously confirmed or paid a deposit, then also add the Admit/Confirm decision and, if applicable, the decision reason that aligns with the deposit amount originally paid.

Decision Codes for Declining Students

• When an admitted student indicates that they will not enroll, mark that update by adding an Admit/Decline decision to the application record in Slate. This will push to Banner automatically.

• Be sure to select the appropriate Decision Reason to accompany the decision. All students who have already confirmed must have a reason associated with their Admit/Decline decision in order for Banner to properly update. Marking an Admit/Confirm student with an Admit/Decline decision and no Decision Reason will leave an active learner record in Banner that can cause reporting and functional issues later.

Tracking Registration Statuses with Admit/Register Decision

• The Admit/Register decision is automatically added by Slate to active applications for admission that have Admit/Confirm listed as the most recent decision.

• This decision code is not sent to Banner but rather reflects the receipt of Banner data that indicate the student is registered in at least one credit hour in the academic term of that application.

• The addition of this decision code will be blocked in the following scenarios:

  • The application’s most recent decision is not Admit/Confirm. Applications with a most recent decision of Admit, Deposit Pending, Admit/Decline, or Admit/Defer will be excluded by default.

  • Banner data indicate the student is registered in zero hours in the term of their application.

  • The application period is inactive.

  • The academic term on the application has already begun.

• The following scenarios do not have automated solutions and will be identified through a series of discrepancy checks made by the Graduate Admission team in Enrollment Management, who will reach out to you if any of your students show up in these checks.

  • Students who were previously registered but drop all their courses.

    • Solution: add an Admit/Decline decision with the appropriate Decision Reason, depending on what you know about the situation. See chart above.

  • Active admits who are registered in courses but not marked as Admit/Confirm in Slate.

    • Solution: add an Admit/Confirm decision with the appropriate Decision Reason. Within a few minutes, Slate will automatically add the Admit/Register decision.

  • Declines who are registered in courses in Banner.

    • Solution: delete Admit/Decline decision from both Slate and Banner records OR have courses dropped from student’s Banner record, depending on what the student’s intent is at that point.

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