All students must register on the dates announced and pay the succeeding semester fee bills as due. Failure to pay by the payment deadlines may result in sanctions, including but not limited to cancellation of courses and removal from residence halls. Before registering, students must consult their academic advisors.
Students may take courses at any campus: Avery Point, Hartford, Stamford, Storrs, and Waterbury. However, students must be registered for the majority of their credits at their home campus. The home campus is the campus to which the student was admitted unless an authorized campus change has taken place.
Placement Testing
Depending on the student’s preparation and course of study, some schools and colleges require entering students to take tests in mathematics, foreign languages and English.
Full-Time and Part-Time Registration
Full-time students register for at least 12 credits and continue to carry at least 12 credits through the end of the semester or the summer term.
Courses with restricted credits (see Credit Restrictions) have all credits counted in computing the Semester Credit Load, but only unrestricted credits count toward the degree. Unresolved marks from a previous semester and/or courses currently being audited are not counted in computing the Semester Credit Load.
Part-time students are those enrolled for fewer than 12 credits. Enrolling for fewer than 12 credits requires the written approval of the student’s academic dean. Part-time students must obtain permission from the Dean of Students or designee to participate in any extra-curricular activity involving intercollegiate competition. Students considering taking fewer than 12 credits should consult their advisor and read carefully the rules governing scholastic probation and dismissal, financial aid and housing. They also should ask if their part-time status will affect their social security, their insurance and related matters.
Maximum Number of Credits Students May Take Per Semester
To register for more than the maximum credits listed below, the student must obtain permission from the student’s advisor and academic dean
- Engineering, Fine Arts, and Pharmacy: 19 (21 if fifth semester or above and earned 2.6 SGPA or above the previous semester)
- All other schools and colleges: 17 (18 if earned 2.6 SGPA or above the previous semester or taking National Defense courses)
For various reasons, including academic standing, students’ allowed credit totals may be restricted to 13 or 14 credits.
In all schools and colleges, except Engineering, Fine Arts, and Pharmacy, a first-year student or sophomore in the Honors Program who has, or will have, earned a minimum of 18 credits at the time of enrollment and has met the minimum excess credit requirement for the University may register for or be enrolled in a maximum of 19 credits. Honors juniors and seniors who have earned a grade point average of at least 3.0 for the last semester for which grades are available, may enroll in up to 21 credits.
A form for obtaining permission to take more than the maximum number of credits is available from the Registrar’s online Forms page.
For five or six-week Summer Session, the maximum is 8 credits. For three-week terms, the maximum is 4 credits. For the Summer Divergent Early, Summer Divergent Late, and Summer Spanning sessions, the maximum is 12 credits.
Undergraduate Schedule Revision Regulations
Registration information can be found on the website of the Office of the Registrar. Within the following regulations, students may revise their course schedules on days and at hours specified by the Office of the Registrar. Though classes may be scheduled on weekends, these are not factored into the following regulations.
Students must consult with their academic advisor prior to adding or dropping courses. After the second week of classes, any and all adjustments to the student’s schedule must be filed with the Registrar. See tables about adding and dropping courses for further clarification.
If a particular course requires consent, a student must obtain that consent before adding the course.
Students may add courses during the first ten days of classes without special permissions. In exceptional cases only, a student may add courses after the tenth day of classes with the consent of the student’s advisor, the course instructor, and the head of the department or program offering the course. After the fourth week, the permission of the student’s academic dean or dean’s designee is also required for adding classes.
Students may drop courses before the end of the tenth day of classes. When a student drops a course during the first two weeks of classes, the Registrar does not place the course on the student’s record. After the tenth day of classes and through the eleventh week a student may drop one course for any reason with permission from the student’s advisor. When a student drops a course after the second week, the Registrar places the course on the student’s record with a ‘W’ (for withdrawal). No student is permitted to drop a course after the eleventh week of classes or to drop more than one course after the first ten days of classes unless on the recommendation of the advisor, an exception is made by the dean or designee of the school or college in which the student is enrolled. Exceptions are made only for extenuating circumstances beyond the student’s control. Poor academic performance is not considered a sufficient reason for dropping a course after the eleventh week. Exceptions to transcript notations can be made only by the Provost or designee.
A student who withdraws from a full-year course at the close of the first semester shall receive credit for the work of the first semester if the student has passed the course, unless it is announced in the catalog that the course must be taken in its entirety, in which case the credit shall be withheld until the course is completed.
Students at the University’s regional campuses are subject to all regulations governing adding and dropping courses except that course instructors act for the department heads and the regional campus director or designee acts for the dean.
For courses of fewer than 14 weeks duration, the add/drop periods will be adjusted and determined by the Registrar.
Course seats are non-transferable. Students cannot transfer/sell their course seat(s) to any other student.
Adding Courses
| Semester Period | Add |
|---|---|
| First and second weeks of classes | Registration |
| Third and fourth weeks of classes | Advisor, Instructor and Department Head offering the course |
| After the fourth week | All of the above and the Dean |
Dropping Courses
| Semester Period | Single Drop | Two or More Drops |
|---|---|---|
| First and second weeks of classes | Registration with NO ‘W’ grade* | |
| Third through eleventh weeks of classes | Advisor with ‘W’ grade | Advisor and Dean with ‘W’ grade |
| After the eleventh week | DEAN (Exceptions made only for extenuating circumstances) | |
* Students should be made aware of the rules of their individual schools and colleges for using the Registration System.
Section Changes
Section changes require the same authorization as other add/drop transactions.
Registration in Courses Labeled “Credits and Hours by Arrangement”
The student and the instructor agree on the number of credits the student expects to earn and the student enters the number of credits when registering. If the number of credits a student expects to earn changes during the semester, the instructor must report the change to the Office of the Registrar as soon as possible, by email or memo.
Auditing Courses without Credit
Students wanting to have the fact that they were exposed to the material in a course recorded on their academic record, but not receive either credit or a grade, may choose to audit a course. The student may participate in the course as the instructor permits. In place of a grade, the record will show ‘AU.’
All students planning to audit a course must get an a Course Audit Form, complete it, and file it with the Registrar. To complete the card, they must consult their advisor and get the instructor’s consent. Students changing a course from credit to audit after the second week of classes receive both ‘W’ (for Withdrawal) and ‘AU’ marks on their academic records. No student is permitted to change a course from credit to audit after the eleventh week of classes unless the dean makes an exception. Exceptions are made only for extenuating circumstances beyond the student’s control. The instructor may disenroll a student not meeting the auditing criteria set forth by the instructor.
Part-time students must pay the same fee to audit a course as they would pay if they took the course for credit.
Failure to Register
Students must enroll in a course to attend the class. Instructors with unenrolled students in a class should tell the students they should add the course to attend. Unenrolled students will earn no credit for courses or parts of courses completed. Students who have paid their fees may register late with the permission of the student’s advisor, instructors, department heads of the departments offering the courses and the student’s academic dean.
Improper Registration
Students who discover they are not eligible for a course in which they have enrolled, should consult their advisor and drop the course as soon as possible. Upon recommendation of an advisor, instructor, department head or dean, the Registrar may remove students from courses for which students are not eligible to enroll.
Denial of Space for Non-Attendance
A student who is enrolled in, but does not attend any classes or laboratory meetings during the first ten days of classes may be denied a place in the course. Such non-attendance, or non-attendance later in the semester, does not constitute withdrawal; the student must officially drop the course by regular procedures or risk being assigned a failing grade.