Non-Degree-Seeking Students

Enrollment Policies

If you are a student (or a prospective transfer student) who is not currently admitted into a degree program on the Urbana-Champaign campus, you are considered a non-degree student, and may register in off-campus, site-based and online course sections as a non-degree student. Note: Non-degree students wishing to enroll in classes, please use Online Registration system.

  • Non-degree students are not permitted to register in more than three off-campus site-based or online courses at any one time. When students submit a course enrollment, they agree to pay tuition and fees to the University according to the payment policies and schedules adopted by the Board of Trustees. In addition, non-degree students do not qualify for student loans or in-school deferments.

Enrollment in Online and Site-based Courses

  • Non-degree students must meet course and/or program prerequisites to enroll in open enrollment site-based and online courses.
  • Cohort-based courses are closed to non-degree students except by approval from the department offering the course section(s). These courses are restricted to students admitted to a specific degree program(s) and/or cohort(s).
  • Students who have been dropped from the University of Illinois for poor scholarship or disciplinary issues must obtain the recommendation of the dean of their college before registering in a course.

Non-degree Status and Degree Requirements

  • Enrollment as a non-degree student does not constitute admission to a degree program on the Urbana-Champaign campus. There are limits to the number of credit hours earned while on non-degree status that can be applied to a degree program. The Graduate College’s policy limits the number of hours that can be petitioned into a graduate program to 12 credit hours; however, individual graduate departments may be more restrictive and only allow fewer credit hours. At the undergraduate level, individual academic departments determine the number of credit hours that can be petitioned into a degree program.
  • It is the student’s responsibility to contact the department of interest to determine how many hours earned on non-degree status may be applied to a particular program of study. Non-degree students should also determine in advance the likelihood that a particular course will be accepted into the program and whether a minimum grade needs to be earned. Non-degree students seeking to apply University of Illinois credit to a degree at another institution are responsible for checking with that other institution to determine whether credit will be accepted in transfer and applied to specific degree requirements.
  • Non-degree students must apply for admission to be considered for degree status:

Note: Credit earned on non-degree status is not applicable to a degree except after admission and by successful petition for application of such credit to the degree. The petition form should only be submitted after the student is admitted to the degree program. For graduate programs, the formal petition must be submitted to the Graduate College. For undergraduate programs, the petition must be submitted to the student’s academic department.


High School Students

High school students (any persons 15 years of age or older who have never attended a collegiate institution) are eligible to enroll in self-paced and semester-based online courses to earn (depending on their institution) college credit, advanced high school credit, or both. In order to do so, however they must meet the following requirements and provide the necessary documents:

• Written permission from high school guidance counselor or administrator
• Written permission from legal parent/guardian
• Copy of official high school transcript

Registration as an Auditor

Permission to enroll in an off-campus site-based or online course section as an auditor must be granted by the instructor and/or academic department. A Change of Status form must be submitted when an enrolled student wants to request a change from credit status to audit status or from audit to credit status. Students on “dropped” status are not eligible to audit classes.

Late Registration

Individual colleges determine the latest date on which their students may register. A late registration fine of $15 (amount subject to change) is charged to students registering after 5:00 PM on the first day of instruction. The late registration fine may be waived upon petition. The late registration fine is not covered by scholarships or other tuition and fee waivers. Students registering only for courses that begin in the middle of the semester are not registering late, provided their registration is completed before the beginning of such courses.

Registration Restrictions

A student’s eligibility to enroll in course sections is subject to holds that may be imposed by the individual’s college of enrollment or an administrative office. Registration restrictions imposed by the colleges and academic departments determine which course sections a student is eligible to enroll in. Conditions for course enrollment are generally stated in the course descriptions in our online catalog. Academic units can cancel a course offering or section for legitimate educational reasons, for example, when minimum enrollment numbers have not been met. Academic units can also terminate a continuing non-degree student’s enrollment authorization at any time prior to the beginning of a term.