Stacked Courses

Definitions 

•    A crosslisted course is a single course with a single set of course learning objectives (CLOs), offered by different departments or programs, and thus identified by different course prefixes and numbers. Taking a crosslisted course under one course prefix and number confers equivalent credit in all versions of the crosslisting, so a student may take only one version of a crosslisted course.

•    Stacked courses are distinct courses that are designed to meet together and to allow students enrolled in each course to attain its distinct CLOs, which represent its specific course level and goals. Taking one course in the stack does not necessarily confer equivalent credit for the other courses in the stack or prohibit students from taking the other courses in the stack unless the courses are designated as antirequisites. In that case, the courses will have a notation in the Catalog that they are not open to students with credit in (NOTSWCI) the other courses in the stack. [APP Note: The CSU refers to these as "dual-listed" courses.] 

Policy

1.    This policy does not address faculty compensation for teaching stacked courses.

2.    Course stacking will now be a designated property of a course that must be declared when a course is proposed or through a course edit. Stacking may be added or removed from a course outside of the normal Catalog cycle if no other changes that are prohibited off-cycle are required at the same time. For example, an antirequisite can only be added as part of the Catalog cycle.

3.    After this policy goes into full effect in Fall 2028, courses not designated as “stacked” cannot meet together. 

4.    Courses may be designated as stacked if:

a.    One of the following conditions is met:

i.    The courses are intended to meet together whenever they are offered in the same term, OR

ii.    The courses must be stacked due to low enrollment, AND  b.    All CLOs for each stacked course can still be achieved by its own students when they meet together.

5.    Course stacking can be added to a course through the following process.

a.    The Course Proposal form will be amended by adding fields that indicate stacking, which courses are in the stack, and justify why the stacking is appropriate.

b.    The justification for stacking must describe how the CLOs of the stacked course can still be achieved if it meets together with the other courses in the stack. For proposals to stack courses of different levels (e.g. lower-division with upper-division, undergraduate with graduate), this justification must be particularly strong and indicate why the courses cannot meet separately.

c.    If a new course is proposed to be stacked with an existing course, a course edit of the existing course must be submitted along with the new course proposal.

d.    The proposal must indicate whether students are prohibited from earning credit in more than one course within the stack.

e.    Stacking is reviewed as any other course element at all levels of curriculum review appropriate for a particular course (e.g. stacking for GE courses is reviewed by the General Education Governance Board, stacking for graduate classes is reviewed by the Academic Senate Graduate Committee).

f.    When reviewing a stacked proposal,

i.    both the positive and negative implications of mixing audiences should be considered and extra scrutiny should be applied to proposals that stack courses at different levels, and   

ii.    relevant Chancellor’s Office (CO) policies on course-stacking should be observed (for example, when stacking graduate courses, the CO policies “Definitions of Graduate Level Instruction” and “Recommendations on the Study of Graduate Education”).

g.    If stacking is rejected by any level of curriculum review, the proposers have the option to either:

i.    remove the stacking so that the proposal may proceed, or

ii.    use the curriculum appeals process to request approval.

6.    A stacked course will have a notation in its Catalog description indicating the other courses with which it may meet.

7.    A course designated as stacked may meet separately at the discretion of the department/unit offering the course. It does not always have to be offered together with other courses in the stack.

8.    If the “stacked” designation is no longer needed, a department/unit should submit a course edit removing the ability to stack the course. This course edit should include a justification for removing the stacking in the “Justification of Need” section. When approved, the “stacked” notation will be removed from its course description and all courses it was stacked with.

9.    Once removed, adding stacking requires another proposal with new approvals.

10.    Departments/units offering stacked courses should periodically assess whether their CLOs are being met. Such assessment should occur, at a minimum, during each program review period.

Implementation of this Policy

•    From Fall 2026 to Summer 2028, all semester courses converted from quarter courses that were stacked in Fall 2024 or later may continue to be stacked; however, no new stacking may be added.

•    The course stacking restrictions in this policy will take effect for the 2028 Catalog review cycle. Beginning in Fall 2028 only courses approved for stacking via this process may be stacked. Departments/units must propose course edits to add stacking as part of their 2028 Catalog proposals if they want to continue stacking any currently stacked courses after Summer 2028. These proposals will be reviewed as part of the usual 2028 Catalog review process.  

 

Source:

Academic Senate Resolution: AS-1018-26 "Resolution on Stacked Courses" (PDF). Approved 28 July 2026.

 

Updated: 8/10/26