• Academics
• Undergraduate Students
• Enrollment

Maximum and Minimum Enrollment Levels

The maximum amount of credit for which an undergraduate student can enroll without special overload approval from the ACES Office of Academic Programs is:

If a student wishes to enroll above the established maximum, he or she must receive written approval from his or her academic advisor. The student then must submit this approval to the ACES Office of Academic Programs as part of the "Request for Enrollment in More Than 18 Hours" form.

On the other hand, U of I Direct will display a warning message if a student is not enrolled in a full course load for the term. Enrollment below the minimum may jeopardize financial aid status, progress toward a degree, or visa status, if an international student. Full-time enrollment for undergraduate students is 12 or more hours. College of ACES undergraduate degree-seeking students are required to be enrolled full-time, unless approval has been received by their advisors and the ACES Academic Programs Office. During the fall and spring semesters, full-time undergraduate students will not be permitted to reduce their credit load below 12 hours after the first day of instruction.

Adding and Dropping Courses

Students may add new courses during the first ten days of instruction of the semester (refer to the Timetable for exact dates.) Students may enroll in up to 18 hours before needing an overload approval (See "Maximum and Minimum Enrollment Levels").

Courses may be dropped without penalty during the first eight weeks of the semester, as long as an advising hold or course control is not in place. Students not falling below 12 hours need only the advisor's approval to drop a course, and they can drop it using U of I Direct. Students dropping below 12 hours (part-time status) will be required to petition for part-time status and obtain permission of the Dean's office for such transactions. Dropping courses required in the student's major field or dropping to part-time status will be allowed only under extenuating circumstances.

Credit / No Credit Grading Option

The credit-no credit grading option is designed to encourage students to explore areas of academic interest that they might otherwise avoid for fear of poor grades. All students considering this option are cautioned that many graduate and professional schools consider applicants whose transcripts bear a significant number of non-grade symbols less favorably than applicants whose transcripts contain none or very few. Likewise, in computing a pre-admission grade-point average, some schools may convert the NC symbol to a failing grade because they do not know whether the actual grade was a D or F.

Credit / no credit courses are not counted toward the grade point average, but are included as part of the total credit hours and are assessed as credit hours.

Instructors are not informed of those students in their classes who are taking work under the credit / no credit option, and they report the usual letter grades at the end of the course. These grades are automatically converted to CR or NC. Grades of C- or better are required to earn credit.

The credit / no credit option is not available on U of I Direct. Should you wish to elect this option, please consult your college office or graduate department.

The credit / no credit grading option is designed to encourage students to take courses in areas that they might avoid because of concern about their overall GPA. Students considering this option should note that many graduate and professional schools prefer applicants who take very few or no ungraded courses to those who use this option frequently. There are several regulations associated with the credit / no credit option:

• The student must be in good academic standing (not on probation).
• The student must earn a minimum grade of a C- to receive credit in the course.
• Full-time students may take a maximum of two courses under the option in any one semester, while part-time students can take only one course credit / no credit per semester.
• A maximum of 18 credit hours earned in this option may be applied toward the degree.
• In general, the option can be used only for courses that are open electives in a given curriculum.

The decision to take a course credit / no credit must be made by the first half of the term, or before completing half the lessons of a correspondence course. The student must file a credit / no credit form with the ACES Office of Academic Programs, after receiving approval from his or her advisor.