The Attestation Process is a way for students in or wanting to be in Professional Licensure Programs to inform UNC Charlotte of the U.S. state, district, or territory in which they plan to seek employment in their profession after graduation and update their Future Professional Licensure Location (or PL Address for short) in University records. This notice is necessary because it allows UNC Charlotte to offer a Professional Licensure Program to a student who currently lives in a State where the program does not meet licensure requirements if the school obtains an attestation from the student about the specific State to which they intend to move, so long as the program satisfies the educational requirements for licensure in that State.
The University uses the PL Address for two purposes:
- To determine students’ eligibility to initially enroll in Professional Licensure Programs.
- To inform students about changes to educational requirements for licensure that could adversely affect their ability to be licensed and/or employed in their chosen profession in the state they intend to practice.
Reasons to Change a Student’s Future Professional Licensure Location
A student wants to enroll in a Professional Licensure Program but does not have a Future Professional Licensure Location designated in Banner.
UNC Charlotte uses the Future Professional Licensure Location (aka PL Address) to determine the student’s eligibility to enroll in Professional Licensure Programs. (The University can only enroll a student in a Professional Licensure Program if that program satisfies the educational prerequisites for licensure in the student’s state.) University systems automatically collect a PL Address for students who enter Professional Licensure Programs as part of their admission to the University (e.g., Mechanical Engineering, pre-Nursing) but do not need to do so for students being admitted to non-Professional Licensure Programs (e.g., English, Undecided). Whenever these students want to change majors into or add a second major in a Professional Licensure Program, they need to have a Future Professional Licensure Location recorded so that the program can determine their eligibility to enroll in that program.
A student in a Professional Licensure Program has a Future Professional Licensure Location recorded in Banner, but it is not the state in which the student intends to be licensed and/or employed in their chosen profession.
Plans change. Students who are already enrolled in a Professional Licensure Program may want to update their Future Professional Licensure Location if it no longer represents where they plan to practice their profession upon graduation. The benefit? Charlotte’s Professional Licensure Programs keep students informed about the licensure landscape. If a student’s PL state changes licensure requirements in a way that could negatively impact the student’s post-graduation employment plans, the University will notify the student so that student can begin considering options. Please note: Once a student has initially enrolled in a Professional Licensure Program, neither changes in state requirements nor changes to a student’s plans have a bearing on a student’s ability to continue in that program.
How to Change a Student’s Future Professional Licensure Location
Once they are admitted to the University and have begun taking classes, students can ask the Registrar’s Office to set or change their Future Professional Licensure Location address by using the Future Professional Licensure Location Attestation link on the Forms page of the Registrar’s website.
Limitations
The Attestation Process records a student’s professional intentions as the student currently understands them. The process cannot be used to circumvent program eligibility rules. A student from a State where a program does not meet the licensure requirements should not attest to a different State in order to be allowed to enroll in the program. A PL Address should only change when a student’s plans have genuinely changed or when the currently recorded Future Professional Licensure Location does not reflect the student’s true intent.