Registration Information

As a student, you are responsible for knowing regulations that govern registration, add/drop, withdrawal deadlines and other procedures and regulations that may be issued on a semester basis.

You must be registered in order to attend class. The schedule of classes maybe be found through URSA or at www.unco.edu/sched.

Registration Assistance

• When to Register

  Graduate Students are eligible to register on the first day of the pre-registration schedule. Graduate students do not require a PIN to register. Please check the Pre-Registration Schedule for dates. 

  Registration for current undergraduate students occurs according to the pre-registration schedule. The schedule for undergraduate students is based on "earned credit hours"; this does not include hours in which you are currently registered.

  If you are a new incoming freshman, you are required to attend a Freshman Orientation. During that time, you will be advised and allowed to register for classes.

  If you are a new incoming transfer student, you are encouraged to attend a Transfer Orientation to assist you with registration. Otherwise, you may contact the major department directly to be advised and receive your PIN number. You will then register based on the pre-registration schedule according to the number of credit hours that have been transferred at the point in time in which registration occurs.

  Non-degree seeking, Aims Coop, High School Concurrent, and senior citizen students register after current students are allowed to register. Please see pre-registration schedule for specific dates.

• PIN Information

  Graduate students do not require a PIN.

  Undergraduate students require a new alternate PIN each semester with the exception of:

  • Nursing majors
  • Junior and Senior Business Majors (exceptions: CIS and Software Engineering majors)

  To obtain your alternate PIN, please schedule an advising appointment with your advisor at least two weeks prior to your registration date.

  • If your major is undeclared or you are in a Learning Community, please make an appointment with Major Exploration and Academic Probation at 970-351-1391.
  • Your alternate PIN is needed for initial registration only.
  • If you misplace your PIN number, please contact your advisor.
  • Summer registration does not require an alternate PIN number.
• How to Register
  • Log into URSA
  • Go to the Student Tab/Registrar for Classes;
  • Click on "Register, Add or Drop Classes" link;
  • Choose appropriate term, enter PIN number if required;
  • If you know the CRN number of the course you want to take, enter it in the Enter CRNs tab. If not, you may search for the course using the Find Classes tab;
  • When finished, click Accept/Submit.

  For more detailed instructions, visit our Registration Assistance page

  Check out the new Banner 9 Self-Service Registration Module

• Canvas

  Access your online/Canvas course at https://canvas.unco.edu

  Note: you will not be able to access your course until the first day of class and if you have registered for the class within the past 24 hours you may need to wait for the system to update and grant you access.

  • Username: The first 8 characters (everything before the @ symbol) of your UNC generated BearMail address.
  • Password: The same password you use to access Ursa and your BearMail account
  • The e-mail address that is used by Canvas will be your university-generated BearMail address.

  Technical Help for Canvas

  • Quick Start Guide for Students
  • For technical support. visit the Canvas support page or call, 970-351-4357 (HELP)
• Auditing

  When you audit a course, there is no need to complete assignments or exams, but you are expected to attend class. If you do not attend class you may be removed from the roster. If you successfully complete the class, you will be given a grade of "NC" (no credit). Tuition and fees are charged for audited courses and the course is not eligible for the COF stipend.

  If you are registered for a course that you would like to audit, you must contact the Registrar's Office before the add deadline to change your registration status to an audit. You may not change the status for any course, including audit courses, after the add deadline for a given term.

  For visiting students, please contact the Office of the Registrar at 970-351-2231.

  For more information on audit, visit the University of Northern Colorado course catalog. 

• Holds

  To determine if you have any holds that would prevent registration:

  • Login to URSA
  • Click on "Student Tab"
  • Under Register for Classes, click on "Registration Status" link
  • When prompted, select the semester you are inquiring about from the drop down menu
    You will see a message in regards to Holds on your account. If you are given a message that you have a Hold on your account, go to the bottom of the page and click on "View Holds" to see a detailed list of your Holds.
  • To have the release released, you must contact the department that placed the hold.
• Course Overrides

  Instructors are the only ones who may give you permission to enter closed or restricted classes. Contact the instructor of the class prior to registering and ask them to release you in to the course. Once they have done the release on URSA, you will need to register yourself by going to the Student Tab of URSA, Add/Drop courses and enter the CRN directly into the worksheet.

• Course Load and Overloads
  • Course Loads

    The normal undergraduate course load is 15 credit hours for Fall and Spring semesters. Additional tuition charges apply for 16 credits and over.

    For financial aid and enrollment verification purposes:

    Full time for undergraduate students for all semesters is 12 or more credit hours; half-time is 6-11 and less-than-half-time is 5 credit hours or less.

    Full time for graduate students for all semesters is 9 or more credit hours; half-time is 5-8 and less-than-half-time is 4 credit hours or less.

    Course Load Limits

    Fall and Spring Semester; 18 UG, 17 GR

    Summer Semester; 15 UG, 12 GR

    Interim: 4 UG/GR*

    *Overloads are not permitted for Interim Term. For Fall, Spring and Summer, see Course Overload below. 

  • Course Overloads

    Undergraduate Students

    An overload for undergraduates is more than 18 credit hours for Fall and Spring semesters and more than 15 credit hours for the Summer semester. The Interim term has a 4 credit hour limit; no overload will be permitted. Overload limitations apply to work completed in both on-campus and off-campus programs. Additional tuition charges may apply.

    • If you have a UNC GPA of 3.0 or higher, you may overload up to 21 credit hours without advisor approval. Sign and submit the Undergraduate Credit Overload Permit to the Office of the Registrar, 3002 Carter Hall or fax to 970-351-1870.
    • If you:
      • have a UNC GPA lower than 3.0 or;
      • you are a new student to UNC and do not have a UNC GPA established yet or;
      • you are requesting more than 21 credits for Fall or Spring semester or 18 credits for Summer semester or: 
      • you are a Business student or a student enrolled in student teaching regardless of GPA.
      • Then, you may overload only with the signature of your academic advisor and the School Director or Chair. The signed Undergraduate Credit Overload Permit must be submitted to the Office of the Registrar, 3002 Carter Hall or fax to 970-351-1870.
    • Upon approval and Office of the Registrar processing, students are responsible for schedule changes.

    ---

     Graduate Students

    An overload for graduate students is more than 17 credit hours for Fall and Spring semesters and 12 credit hours for the Summer semester. The Interim term has a 4 credit hour limit; no overload will be permitted. Overload limitations apply to work completed in both on-campus and off-campus programs. Additional tuition charges may apply.

    • The signed Graduate Credit Overload Permit must be submitted to the Office of the Registrar, 3002 Carter Hall or faxed to 970-351-1870.
    • If you are a graduate student with a GPA lower than 3.0, you may not petition for an overload.
    • Upon approval and Office of the Registrar processing, students are responsible for schedule changes.
• Course Designations

  Subject. Each course is assigned a subject code that identifies the discipline, field or program offering the course. For example, course numbers in Audiology and Speech-Language Sciences are preceded by ASLS; course numbers in Mathematics are preceded by MATH; and courses in Visual Arts are preceded by ART.

  Numbers. Four groups are identified by course numbers, generally to indicate the difficulty of a course and its location on a continuum of study that leads to general mastery of the content and methodology of a discipline:

  • Basic skills - 001-099 are not counted in cumulative credits, total credits toward graduation, GPA, nor for financial aid purposes.
  • Lower division - 100-199 range are 1st-year (freshmen) courses and 200-299 are 2nd-year (sophomore) courses.
  • Upper division - 300-399 are 3rd-year (junior) courses and 400-499 are 4th-year (senior) courses.
  • Graduate level - 500-699 are Master’s courses and those numbered 700 or higher are Doctoral/Specialist courses.
  • Juniors and seniors with a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher are permitted to take 500-level courses.
  • Undergraduates may be permitted to take courses with numbers 600-699 if they have applied to and have been accepted into a Master’s level program at UNC. 600-699 courses may not be counted towards an undergraduate degree.
  • Undergraduates are not permitted to take courses with numbers 700-799.

  Note: Applicability of coursework to a higher degree as an undergraduate student: please refer to specific details on the Petition to Count Toward the Next Highest Degree.

  Undergraduate students may not count courses numbered 600-799 toward undergraduate degree programs. Graduate students may not count courses numbered 100-499 toward graduate degree programs; courses numbered 700-799 may be taken for specialist or doctoral credit only.

  Courses at the university are sequentially numbered. Courses numbered 100-499 are for undergraduate credit. Courses numbered 500-599 may count as undergraduate or graduate credit. If a course numbered 500-599 is not counting toward the correct level, you may contact the Office of the Registrar to request that it be changed. A course numbered 500-599 counting as undergraduate credit cannot be counted toward a graduate degree; a course numbered 500-599 counting as graduate credit cannot be counted toward an undergraduate degree. Undergraduate students seeking to apply 500-599 courses to their graduate degree must contact the Graduate School. Courses numbered 600-799 are for graduate credit only.

  Occasionally, courses that do not appear in the Catalog may appear in the Schedule of Classes. These course number end in "98" and are considered experimental. For example, an experimental course in Geology might be GEOL 398. Courses ending in "98" cannot be used to meet Liberal Arts Core requirements.

• Student Classification

  Student Classification is based on earned credit hours.

  0-29 hours - Freshman

  30-59 hours - Sophomore

  60 - 89 hours - Junior

  90 and above - Senior