Academic Satisfactory Progress
Students pursuing a baccalaureate degree are expected to make satisfactory progress toward the attainment of that degree and are expected to enter a major and graduate after completion of a reasonable number of credits and quarters. The satisfactory progress policy looks at a student’s total credits, but when counting quarters, only regular academic-year quarters – autumn, winter, and spring – are considered. The courses and credits taken during summer quarters count towards degree requirements and are included in the credit total. Summer quarters are not added to the satisfactory progress quarter total, and thus, do not count against the number of quarters students may complete before the satisfactory progress credit limit is enforced.
NOTE: Individual departments may have additional satisfactory progress requirements. For Financial Aid satisfactory progress information, visit the Satisfactory Academic Progress page.
On this page
- The 105-Credit Rule
- The 210-Credit Rule
- Full-Time Requirements
- Class Attendance
- Registration Tampering and Abuse
The 105-Credit Rule
Undergraduates must declare a major by the time they have completed five (5) academic-year quarters and earned 105 credits or a hold will be placed on their registration until they either declare a major, or meet with an adviser and receive a pre-major extension. The hold is placed on the student record when five (5) or more academic-year quarters and 105 or more credits have been completed. Transfer students who are admitted to the University with 105 or more credits are expected to declare a major before their second quarter at the UW, or obtain an extension from an adviser.
Students will be granted a pre-major extension if their adviser decides the student is pursuing a reasonable goal, and has a good chance of gaining admission to their intended major.
If an adviser feels that a student’s choice of major is unrealistic, they will deny the request for an extension. The student will not be allowed to register for subsequent quarters until a reasonable degree plan is presented. The intent of the rule is not to drop a student from the University but to encourage them to meet with an adviser and plan for an attainable goal.
Students will receive a warning letter from the University as they approach five (5) academic-year quarters and 105 credits, if they have not yet declared a major. Students who complete five (5) academic-year quarters and 105 credits and are still a pre-major will not be able to register for the next quarter. To avoid registration delays, the student should meet with the appropriate adviser at least one quarter before completing five (5) academic-year quarters and 105 credits.
The 210-Credit Rule
The University’s satisfactory progress policy requires students to complete their undergraduate degree programs within 30 credits beyond the minimum required for the degree. Because most degrees require 180 credits, students generally must complete their programs by the time they earn 210 credits. The timing for enforcement of this policy is as follows:
- For a student who first matriculates at the University on a freshman application the satisfactory progress policy is enforced after a student has completed 12 academic-year quarters, not including summer quarters, at the University.
- For a student who first matriculates at UW on a transfer application, the satisfactory progress policy is enforced after the student has completed:
- Twelve (12) quarters at the University if the student enters with less than one year of college work (less than 45 credits transferred from another institution).
- Nine (9) quarters at the University if the student enters the University with more than one year of college work and less than two years (more than 44 and less than 90 credits transferred from another institution).
- Six (6) quarters at the University if the student enters UWS with two or more years of college work (90 or more credits transferred from another institution).
Undergraduates who have completed over 210 credits will be notified by email the third week of the quarter that a block is being placed on their registration due to lack of satisfactory progress. Students ineligible to graduate will be permitted to register for succeeding quarters only if they receive approval from their program after filing a graduation plan.
Students receiving satisfactory progress registration blocks should immediately contact their program adviser to file a graduation application or to initiate a satisfactory progress appeal.
Full-Time Requirements
• Undergraduate or professional students registered for 12 or more credits are considered full-time students.
• Graduate students registered for 10 or more credits are considered full-time students.
It is important to note that differing criteria and standards for full-time enrollment exist for eligibility in certain programs. Consult the Office of Student Financial Aid (OSFA) for its requirements on satisfactory student progress. The tuition schedule does not reflect full-time credit requirements for loan deferments, teaching assistantships or other programs.
Postbaccalaureate Students
Postbaccalaureate students are expected to be either preparing for admission into a degree program, seeking an additional baccalaureate degree, or working toward a certificate.
Class Attendance
- Students who do not attend regularly scheduled class meetings during the first week of the quarter are subject to being dropped at the discretion of the teaching department to allow enrollment space for other students.
- Affected courses should be identified in the Time Schedule and/or posted in program offices.
- Students should not assume that departments will automatically drop them from the course if they do not attend.
- Students who are not attending class should drop the course through the registration system.
- Students who are registered for a course section but do not attend will be assigned a failing grade by the instructor.
- Students may not attend a University course in which they have not been officially registered after the first two weeks of the quarter.
- An instructor may allow students to attend his or her class only if the student’s name appears on the official class list from the Office of the Registrar. A faculty member may attend informally with the approval of the instructor.
Registration Tampering
A student who tampers or attempts to tamper with the registration records of another student, including but not limited to dropping courses and adding courses, may be subject to disciplinary sanctions as defined in the Student Conduct Code (WAC 478-120).
Registration Abuse
The registration system is provided for the sole express purpose for students to register themselves into sections. Any use of the registration system other than for this purpose is considered abuse of the system. Such abuse includes, but is not limited to, buying or selling one’s seat in a class, holding seats for another student, or otherwise registering for a section that one has no intention of taking. Additionally, the creation of any service that enables any of the above behaviors is strictly forbidden and constitutes a violation of this policy.
To help conserve University resources and ensure the registration system is available to all, students are locked out of Web Registration after a specific number of excessive submission attempts and/or transactions are made per day. This threshold is sufficient for students’ regular use and should not interfere with typical use. The use of robots and other automated tools to submit registration requests is expressly forbidden.
A student whose account is locked out for excessive use must wait until the registration system removes the lockout – within 24 hours. Please note that the repeated clicking of the ‘Update Schedule’ button results in requests being sent to the registration system and can result in a user being locked out. The Office of the University Registrar is unable to override a locked account.
System Abuse
Because use of scripts, robots, or other automated queries can adversely impact University network and computing resources and interferes with equal access to registration, such automated querying of registration-related resources is expressly forbidden. Violators may have their access to University network and computing resources terminated and may be subject to action by the University under applicable law, regulation, or policy, including but not limited to, discipline under any applicable University conduct code.