Policy 2.1: Registration and Enrollment  

I. Policy Statement

The University of Washington (UW) requires students to maintain continuous registration in order to preserve student status, access services, and make timely progress toward degree completion. This requirement is established by WAC 478-161-015, Registration eligibility, which governs all students, and by UW Student Governance and Policies, Chapter 102: Registration. It operates differently by level: under WAC 478-161-015(3)(a) undergraduate and professional students may take one quarter off, excluding summer, and remain eligible to register, while under WAC 478-161-015(3)(b) graduate students must be registered each quarter, excluding summer, or be officially on leave. The School of Nursing (SoN) follows these University policies and supplements them with program-specific requirements to support progression, clinical placement, and accreditation standards.

Students are expected to:

• Register each quarter according to program timelines and University deadlines.
• Maintain the minimum enrollment required for the student’s program level and enrollment status, as set out in Section II.A.
• Remain in full compliance with health, safety, and onboarding requirements as a condition of registration and progression.
• Resolve any registration holds (compliance, financial, or academic) promptly.
• Obtain all required approvals before registering in independent study or permission-required courses.

Failure to register without an approved leave or reinstatement may result in loss of student status.

II. Process

A. Enrollment Status

B. Registration Timeline

• Registration dates are published on the UW Academic Calendar.
• Students are expected to register during their assigned period to ensure course availability.
• Registration periods. Registration occurs in three periods:
  • Period 1 is for currently registered matriculated students and returning students
  • Period 2, before the quarter begins, is primarily for new students.
  • Period 3 covers the first seven calendar days of the quarter and is for registration changes (SGP 102 §2).
• Clinical courses may require compliance clearance or additional approval before registration.

C. Access to Course Materials and Websites

• Registration is required for access to Canvas course websites and materials. Access is automatically granted once registration is processed.
• Tuition exemption students (UW employees: register Day 3; WA state employees: Day 4; SGP 102 2.D) may be added to Canvas manually by faculty until registration is complete. For technical Canvas access issues, faculty may contact sonhelp@uw.edu. For compliance-related registration blocks, contact the OSAA Compliance Team (nscomply@uw.edu).
• Note, PCE students are not eligible for tuition exemption. They must register prior to Day 1 to access Canvas and avoid late fees.
• Students registering late for other reasons (e.g., missed deadlines, unpaid fees, holds) may not be added manually. They will only gain access once registration is official. A student facing unavoidable late registration may contact course faculty directly by email to request first-week course materials, so that the delay does not put the student behind in coursework.

D. Auditing Courses

• Students must first register, then submit a Registration Transaction Form signed by the instructor to change the course to audit.
• Deadline: end of Week 2.
• Audit enrollment:
  • Allowed only with instructor consent and if space is available.
  • Standard tuition/fees apply.
  • Recorded on transcript without credit/grade.
  • Cannot be changed to credit after Week 2.
  • Auditors may not participate in labs or required discussions.
• Eligibility. A student may not audit a course without having completed the prerequisite. Permission to audit is ordinarily granted for lecture courses only, and an auditor’s registration may be cancelled at the discretion of the instructor.

E. Independent Study Procedures

Conditions of Registration (All Programs)

The following conditions must be met before a student registers for independent study.

• The student and the faculty member must agree in advance on the objectives, deliverables, methods, and number of credits, where one credit represents approximately 30 hours of work per quarter.
• The required independent study form must be completed and signed. Faculty must not release an add code before the signed form is received.
• Summer quarter registration requires additional approval as specified for each program below.
• At the end of the quarter, the student and faculty member must evaluate progress against the stated objectives. That evaluation determines the credit or no-credit grade submitted to the Registrar.

Forms are published on the program advising Forms page.

F. Courses Requiring Permission

Certain courses require add codes or explicit faculty permission. These are indicated in the UW Time Schedule. Students are expected to follow Time Schedule instructions for securing course permission.

Courses added after Period 3 through the third week of the quarter require instructor or departmental approval, as determined by departmental policy. After the third week, the student must have the permission of both the department chair and the instructor, and approval is granted only in very unusual circumstances (SGP 102 5.G).

G. Withdrawal and Former Quarter Drop

Withdrawal (W):

• Students must formally withdraw if unable to continue.
• MyUW may be used until the end of the Unrestricted Drop Period.
• After that, students must use the Adviser-Assisted Drop process.
• Tuition refunds may be available based on timing.
• See the UW Registrar’s Withdrawal Policy.
• See the UW Registrar’s Former Quarter Drop Policy.
• Transcript effect: Courses dropped through the first 14 calendar days of the quarter are not recorded on the University transcript. If all courses are dropped during that period and none are added, a statement of WITHDRAWN with the date is recorded. Courses dropped after the 14th calendar day through the last day of instruction are recorded with a grade of RD (Registrar Drop) (SGP 102 5.D–E).

Former Quarter Drop (FQD):

• Students may petition to change a grade in a past quarter to a Registrar Drop (RD) if extenuating circumstances prevented withdrawal.
• Details are available on the UW Registrar website.
• An approved Former Quarter Drop removes the GPA points and grade awarded for the course from the transcript and annotates the course with an RD (SGP 102 5.F).

H. Priority for Registration in DNP Courses

Registration in DNP courses is prioritized in the following order:

• Current DNP students
  • No permission required
  • Register through standard program process
• Other matriculated SoN graduate students (PhD, MS, Certs)
  • Instructor permission required
  • Instructor emails approval (course, quarter, student) to sontimes@uw.edu
• Non-nursing UW graduate students
  • Instructor permission required; same process as above
• Tuition exemption students
  • Instructor permission required; same process as above

I. Compliance and Registration Holds

• Students with registration holds (compliance, financial, academic) cannot register until holds are cleared.
• Holds related to health and safety (HSIP, CastleBranch, Med Proctor, Exxat, onboarding) must be resolved through the OSAA Compliance Team (nscomply@uw.edu).
• The School of Nursing may place a registration hold if a student is not in full compliance with required health, safety, or onboarding requirements.
• Students should proactively monitor their MyUW accounts and address holds promptly to avoid delays.

III. Roles and Responsibilities Summary

Last updated: September 2026