Enrollment Resources

Here you will find important enrollment information including vocabulary, definitions, and procedures.

Procedures

Removing a Hold

If you have an outstanding bill, never sent in your final transcript when you applied, etc., there may be a hold placed on your account that would prevent you from registering. Check the “holds” section of your Student Center, clicking on the links until you get to the hold details. If you have a hold and do not know who to contact in order to remove it, you may email the Records Team (scirecords@pitt.edu) for more information.

Enrollment Restrictions/Requesting a Permission Code

For all classes offered through SCI:

Obtain approval if required (see “Types of Enrollment Restriction”).
- Note: Neither the instructor nor your advisor are obligated to override the restrictions if it is not appropriate for you to enroll in the class.
Log in to the Permission Number Application System on the SCI courses website with your Pitt ID and password and click “Create Request.”
- If a required item is missing, your request will be denied and you will need to submit another request for a permission code.
No permission codes are issued to override a closed/full class. If a class is full, you must enroll in the class waitlist. To see more information about how waitlists work, please visit the Registrar’s Enrollment website and/or review the Waitlist FAQ.

Type of Enrollment Restriction

The type of enrollment restriction determines what you must submit/attach to the form. The system automatically rejects requests if they lack proof of approval or if the application includes incorrect approvals or inaccurate information.

You will find a map of enrollment restrictions to its required approval on the home screen for the Permission Number Application System.

IMPORTANT NOTES:
The School does NOT waive class limits – if a class is full, students must enroll on the waitlist. The School does not override a student's position on the waitlist.

A permission number cannot override a seat reserve; it will not work in the enrollment system. The system will automatically reject permission number applications submitted to override a seat reserve limit. If you do not meet the requirements for a seat reserve, you should enroll in open seats or onto the waitlist.

In all cases, a delay in enrolling on the waitlist could jeopardize your opportunity to enroll in the class.

Questions?

Student Services Office, 5th Floor IS Building
Email: scirecords@pitt.edu

For classes offered outside of our school (e.g. English Lit, Stats), you must contact the department offering the course. That department will issue its own permission codes. A full listing of Pitt departments is available on the main Pitt website. For Pitt departments our students often deal with, here are some specific instructions:

ECE (Electrical & Computer Engineering) classes: student email the instructor with background. If approval given by the instructor, have the student forwards the approval e-mail and their PeopleSoft ID to the Program Administrator (ECE contacts).
LAW classes: email lawreg@pitt.edu

Add/Drop/Withdrawal/Resign

All related forms can be found on the School Forms page.

Add/Drop

Through the add/drop deadline, you can make adjustments to your schedule without penalty (i.e., these changes do not show up on your transcripts). During this time, you follow the standard procedures for online registration. We encourage you to consult with your academic advisor if there is any doubt about which classes are appropriate.

Late Add/Drop

The Registrar will, in rare cases, accept requests for a late add or drop but only under extenuating circumstances (ex. death in the family, car accident, serious illness). The Office of the Dean will review your request and, if approved, liaise with the Registrar's Office to complete the enrollment processing. If no extenuating circumstances surround a late drop request, proceed to instructions for a monitored withdrawal.

Important notes:

In most cases, a late fee is applied to your student account - the Registrar's Office determines the applicability of the late fee.
Be aware that dropping below full-time status (12 credits for undergraduates, nine credits for graduate students) may jeopardize financial aid, student loans, health insurance, and immigration status.

To petition to add or drop a class after the add/drop period, you must:

Prepare an enrollment worksheet, including all of their information on the form (name, class, PeopleSoft number).
- Provide a permission number if needed for class enrollment.
Prepare a brief explanation of the extenuating circumstances detailing why you could not add the class during the regular add/drop period. Supporting documentation and evidence of your claim must be submitted with this letter.
Students requesting to late-add a capstone course must provide any additional documentation typically required for enrollment in the course. Ex. Learning agreements, internship offer letters, etc.
Obtain written approval from the course instructor to join the class late.
Submit all of these materials via the SCI Policy Waiver Request form.
- Undergraduate students must speak with their advisors to submit the form.
- Graduate students may submit the policy waiver request form linked on the School Forms page.
- Graduate students requesting to both late-add and late-drop a class must submit two separate policy waiver request forms.

Monitored Withdrawal

You may withdraw from courses after the add/drop period and up until the monitored withdrawal deadline. To request a monitored withdrawal, you must complete the appropriate form:

Monitored Withdrawal from SCI classes only - subjects CMPINF, CS, INFSCI, ISSP, LIS, and TELCOM
Monitored Withdrawal from all other classes

Important notes:

You are not notified when the Withdrawal has been processed;
You will receive a copy of the form after the Dean's Office has reviewed it.
You are encouraged to check their term grades five business days after submitting the withdrawal form.
You should not submit duplicate copies of the form.
A "W" appears on your transcript for any course withdrawals. W grades calculate into the "attempted but not earned credits" and may affect your satisfactory academic progress. If you do not make satisfactory academic progress, this may impact your financial aid and academic standing status (probation and dismissal actions).
The monitored withdrawal deadline is published on the University's Academic Calendar. If the deadline has passed, move on to instructions for an "appeal for late withdrawal".

Appeal for Late Withdrawal

After the Monitored Withdrawal deadline has passed, you may appeal to withdraw only for non-academic reasons, i.e., medical or family emergencies. If you are trying to withdraw without extenuating circumstances, your appeal will be denied. Requests must be submitted to the Dean's Office of the school offering the course*, regardless of the student's home school.

*Exception: Appeals for Late Withdrawal must be submitted before the end of the 13th week of the semester. After the 13th week, students can only appeal to withdraw from the entire semester. If appealing to withdraw from the whole term, the student submits all materials to the Dean's Office of their home school.

To appeal for Late Withdrawal from a course through the SCI Dean's Office, you must:

Prepare for an Appeal for Late Withdrawal form.
This form must be completed and signed by the instructor.
The Dean's Office decision and signature fields should remain blank.
Prepare a brief explanation of the extraordinary circumstances that warrant consideration of Withdrawal after the monitored withdrawal deadline.
Gather supporting documentation and evidence of your claim.
Submit all of these materials via the SCI Policy Waiver Request form.
- Undergraduate students in SCI must speak with their advisors to submit the form.
- Undergraduate students in a school other than SCI must contact the SCI Advising Center for assistance submitting the form; your regular advisor won't have access to the SCI Policy Waiver Request form.
- Graduate students may submit the policy waiver request form linked on the School Forms page.

Important notes:

You should not provide your social security number. Instead, provide your PeopleSoft ID and Pitt email account on every page submitted.
You must provide relevant documentation, such as certification forms from a doctor, hospital receipts, an obituary, etc.
The signature of the instructor is required.
A "W" appears on your transcript for any course withdrawals. W grades calculate into the "attempted but not earned credits" and may affect your satisfactory academic progress. If you do not make satisfactory academic progress, this may impact your financial aid and academic standing status (probation and dismissal actions).

Drop all classes for the term (Resignation)

Students wishing to drop all of their classes and leave the semester entirely must review the information found on the Student Payment Center's Resignation webpage immediately. Swift action provides a better opportunity for tuition reimbursement.

If intending to return to studies in a future term, graduate students should consider submitting a Leave of Absence form, located on the School Forms webpage. A declared and approved Leave of Absence benefits students; learn more about leave of absence details in the SCI Catalog under Academic Regulations and Standards for more information.

If you do not intend to return to SCI, we ask that graduate students submit the Graduate Academic Plan (Degree/Specialization) Change Form found on the SCI School Forms webpage. Undergraduate students are encouraged to reach out to the SCI Advising Center.

For all students, your university student account will automatically inactivate after three terms without enrollment. Your University ID and related benefits (i.e., bus privileges) will automatically inactivate in the first term of non-enrollment.

Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education (PCHE)

Cross registration is a program through the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education (PCHE) that provides an opportunity for enriched educational programs by permitting students to attend courses at any of the various participating colleges and universities. Students who are interested in enrolling in a course at a PCHE institution must submit the following materials to the Records Team (scirecords@pitt.edu) by the deadline stated on the University of Pittsburgh Registrar's website:

Typed PCHE Cross-Registration Form
- Only the advisor and student sign the form before submitting it to scirecords@pitt.edu. The Director of Academic Records will sign for the Dean after the form is submitted to the Records Team.
PCHE Cross-Registration Acknowledgment Form
- This form is the student’s and advisor’s acknowledgement of PCHE-related policies, confirms that the student has the pre-requisite knowledge needed to be successful in the course, and allows the advisor to indicate whether or not the PCHE course may be counted toward degree requirements.
- This form does NOT replace departmental procedures for approving an exception to a degree requirement.

Important notes:

Students must be enrolled in a full-time credit load before submitting their PCHE forms for review and processing (a minimum of 12 credits for undergraduate students and 9 credits for graduate students).
Cross-registration is only available for the fall and spring semesters.
Students are eligible to enroll in only one cross-registered course per term.
It is strongly recommended that students do not cross-register in their term of graduation.
No action will be taken until all items have been submitted. Incomplete forms or forms filled out incorrectly will be returned to the student. The Records Team will not chase missing documents; it is the student’s responsibility to complete all steps.
For more information on cross-registration, please visit the University of Pittsburgh Registrar’s website.

Grade Option

According to the University’s Academic Regulations (as found in the University Catalogs), individual schools may elect to offer a course with the following grade options:

LG Letter grade
H/S/U Honors/Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory
S/NC Satisfactory/No-Credit (Formerly the S/N Option)
LG and H/S/U Letter grade and Honors/Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory
LG and S/NC Letter grade and Satisfactory/No-Credit

With the consent of the school and instructor, students may choose to audit a course or complete it with a Satisfactory/No Credit (S/NC) option. Regulations for S/NC credit allowances are governed by the Departments and are subject to the grade options allowed for each particular course (i.e., not all courses may be taken as S/NC). To audit a course, a student must register and pay tuition for the course. The audit grade (N) is not counted toward graduation or the GPA.

All students choose a grading option (letter grade or S/NC) during enrollment from those listed within the University’s student enrollment system. Any decision to change the grading option after a class has been added to the student’s enrollment must be processed (via the Grade Option/Audit form) no later than four weeks after the start of term. This decision may not be changed, nor may a grade of one kind received for a course be changed to a grade of the other kind (e.g., from an S/NC grade to a letter grade). Forms submitted by undergraduate students to the SCI Records Office will be submitted to the Registrar’s Office on the student’s behalf. Forms submitted by graduate students will be handled by SCI Records directly and shared with the student’s advisor and the course instructor.

Because choosing the S/NC grade option may have a negative impact on a student’s academic progress, all students must discuss this with their advisor before submitting the Grade Option/Audit Request form. For details regarding the implications of the S/NC grade option, students should defer to their academic program’s policies.

If the student does not select a grade option for a course when more than one grade option is available, the default option (generally the letter grade option) will automatically apply. The University’s Office of the Registrar does not require submission of a Grade Option/Audit Request form for graduate courses. However, the SCI Records Office does require this documentation for course auditing.

No changes to grade options (S/NC or audit) will be made later than one week after the add/drop period ends.

Important Vocabulary and Notes

Mechanics of enrollment: enrollment restrictions, seat reserves, permission numbers explained

Enrollment Requisites

Restrictions placed on enrollment for a class. Restrictions may include:

Pre-requisite (PREQ): A course or courses that must have been taken and passed in a previous term. In-progress courses will fulfill the prerequisite, however, students who do not receive a satisfactory grade in a pre-requisite class will be automatically removed from the higher-level course after official grade rosters have been posted.
- For example: If you are enrolled in INFSCI 2020 for the fall term, you can enroll in INFSCI 2160 for the spring term before grades are posted. Because INFSCI 2160 requires students to have earned a B+ or better in INFSCI 2020, you will be automatically removed from INFSCI 2160 if your grade for INFSCI 2020 posts lower than a B+.
Co-requisite (CREQ): A course that must be taken during the same term as the course for which you are trying to register or has been taken and passed in a prior term.
PROG: the school in which you are enrolled (USIS – undergraduate and PSIS – graduate)
PLAN: your degree program
SBPLAN: your specialization, track, or pathway
ANTI-REQ*: if you have completed the course listed as an anti-req, you will not be allowed to enroll in this class without approval from your SCI Advisor to bypass the anti-req.

*Course Repeats and Anti-reqs: Typically a student simply enrolls in the exact course again (not to exceed the allowable attempts outlined in the SCI Catalog in order to repeat a course and raise their grade to the required letter. However, some courses recently re-numbered have anti-reqs to prevent students from enrolling in the same class twice under different titles and catalog numbers. For these classes, a student who needs to repeat an old course under its re-numbered catalog number will need to request a permission number via the permission numbers page on the SCI Courses website and attach to the form approval from their SCI Advisor to take the course.

Related enrollment details:

In fall and spring terms, part-time enrollment (undergraduate students: less than 12 credits, graduate students: less than 9 credits) is calculated per credit. If you enroll full-time (undergraduate students: 12 credits or more, graduate students: 9 credits or more), you pay a flat rate. During the summer term, all students are billed per credit. Tuition rates and payment information.
Most student immigration visas require international students to be enrolled as a full-time student to remain in the U.S.
International students must enroll full-time in their first semester of study.
External, non-Pitt transfer credits must be approved by all faculty.

For more information on enrollment, please visit the Registrar’s “Steps to Enrolling” webpage. For information about enrollment tools such as Class Search, My Planner, Search by my Requirements, and the new CX tool, visit the Registrar’s “Student Training” webpage. Undergraduate students are also encouraged to meet with a Peer Advisor to discuss any questions about majors, class selection, and enrollment tools ahead of their advising appointment.

Seat Reserves

Seat reserves are held for specific groups of students (“reserve groups”) each term for a period of time. Reserve groups, the number of seats reserved, and the length of time a seat reserve lasts are all determined by the department offering the course. In all cases where only reserved seats are available, students who are not a part of the Reserve group are advised to enroll in the waitlist. When the seat reserve expires, the auto-enrollment waitlist process will begin; Enrolling in the waitlist is the way to ensure you are queued for a seat. Permission numbers cannot override seat reserves.

Seat Reserve Guidelines

Undergraduate CMPINF classes:
- 0010: some seats reserved until August (Fall) or open enrollment (Spring/Summer)
- 0401: some seats reserved until August (Fall) or open enrollment (Spring/Summer)
Undergraduate CS classes:
- <0400's: some seats reserved until August (Fall) or open enrollment (Spring/Summer)
- 0400's: some seats reserved until August (Fall) or open enrollment (Spring/Summer)
- 1000's: some seats reserved until August (Fall) or open enrollment (Spring/Summer)
Graduate CS classes:
- Most seats reserved until beginning of the Add/Drop period
Graduate ISSP classes:
- All seats reserved until the first day of the Add/Drop period
Graduate INFSCI classes:
- Some seats reserved until five days before the start of term

Waitlists: Please visit the Waitlist FAQ for more information regarding waitlists and how they work.

Permission Number/Code

A number used to override enrollment restrictions (enrollment requisites or class limit). This number is issued by the school or department offering the course.

Resources for different enrollment-related time periods

Academic Calendar: The resource for all deadlines, holidays, etc. as controlled by the Office of the Registrar. View the current academic calendar.
Enrollment Appointment: The day and time when a student can begin enrolling. Once a student’s enrollment appointment begins, adding, dropping, or editing classes can be done until the end of the add/drop period. Students can view their enrollment appointment date and time by logging into the Pitt Portal Student Center. Note, new students do not have an enrollment appointment.
Open Enrollment: The period when all students, continuing and new, may enroll in classes. Happens after all enrollment appointments have concluded. University open enrollment dates are available on the academic calendar.
Add/Drop Period: The typical add/drop period lasts for ten days after the open enrollment ends. Adding/dropping classes after this point requires additional forms and petitions. Please refer to the academic calendar for this semester’s specific deadlines.
Advisement Service Indicator (ADV): Holds that will prevent students from adding, dropping or editing their class schedule until it is removed by the office which placed the hold. Students can view their advisement service indicator by logging into Pitt Portal Student Center.