Enrollment

Over-enrollment and dropping:

Consistently, students inflate enrollment numbers by enrolling in more classes than they plan to take.Some students plan on summer until they get their spring grades, then change plans.  Others enroll, get their financial aid projection, then drop everything.  

Please keep this documented trend in mind when setting enrollment caps.  When caps are set too low, many students cannot enroll during Spring Quarter. Then when classes begin and lots of seats open, it’s too late for the students who have made other summer plans.  

Due to the nature of summer enrollment behaviors, we request that “no enrollment limit” can be used whenever possible or higher limits to allow for dropping. No, or high, caps are critical to accommodate students considering summer classes.

Summer Session enrollment requests

If your summer course has prerequisites or restrictions, it can prevent students who have not met them from enrolling.

When a student contacts you requesting permission to enroll:

• If you wish to approve, forward their email to summer@ucsc.edu, noting that you approve their request – we will provide them a permission number and enrollment support.
• If you would like to see their transcripts or proof of prerequisite material before making a decision, please request that directly from the student.
• If you decline their request, please tell them.

We are here to any/all support enrollment issues (serving as Registrar’s role), so feel free to forward student inquiries to summer@ucsc.edu. 

Permission numbers

Our office manages all the permission numbers in summer.  We distribute permission numbers based on each course’s needs and requirements. 

With over 400 classes and lots of issues like prereqs, holds on student accounts, non-UCSC visitors, time conflicts, overriding restrictions, the accuracy of billing, and much more, \we manage the majority of enrollment issues in our office.

If students can’t add a class:

• This often reveals bigger or more complex issues, like time conflicts, unmet prerequisites, financial holds, inactive student status, and/or expired prerequisites.
• They may be ineligible to take a class due to uncompleted prereqs, holds on their account, etc. which requires investigation and collaboration with other offices.
• Prerequisites may have been completed elsewhere. If so, we need to get transcripts and work with advisers to verify them. 

Please forward messages and students to summer@ucsc.edu. Include your approval, if that is part of the issue.

If you or your department would like to manage permission numbers, let us know so we accommodate your request. 

Waitlists

Summer Waitlist Overview

• Waitlists turn on May 1 for all classes and turn off after the add deadline (for each session).
• Over the summer, the waitlist process runs every half hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• As spots open up or course capacity is expanded, students are automatically added into the class according to their waitlist position.
• If students are not automatically being enrolled, it is usually due to a time conflict, unmet prerequisite, having already met the credit max, etc. Please have them email summer@ucsc.edu for support.

How do you give waitlisted students access to your Canvas course?

• When students are enrolled in your course, they appear in People in your Canvas course Canvas automatically. When they drop the course, they disappear automatically. That’s not the case for waitlisted students. You have to add and remove them manually. Follow the procedure hosted here.