Enrollment

Student load

Fall/spring

Undergraduate

The normal load for full-time undergraduate students is 15 semester hours for each fall or spring term/semester, or 30 hours for the nine-month academic year. Note: For information pertaining to the required semester hours for enrollment verification purposes, refer to “Enrollment Certification” below.

No student who registers for or earns fewer than 9 hours of college work each semester may hold a responsible extracurricular office.

An undergraduate student with a GPA of less than 3.000 may schedule a maximum of 19 semester hours.

An undergraduate student with a GPA of at least 3.000 may enroll for a maximum of 21 hours for the fall or spring term/semester by meeting the following conditions:

1. at least a 3.000 GPA on a minimum 15-hour residence load for the term/semester just completed
2. at least a 3.000 GPA on a minimum 12-hour residence load for the summer term/semester just completed, or
3. at least a 3.000 GPA on all work completed at UNT and a minimum 24 hours of credit in residence.

Graduate

Graduate students may schedule a maximum of 16 hours during any fall or spring term/semester.

Summer

Undergraduate

The normal load for full-time students is 12 hours for the summer term/semester.

During the summer term/semester, a full-time undergraduate student with a GPA of less than 3.000 may select multiple sessions for a maximum of 18 semester hours.

Undergraduate students may schedule a maximum of 4 hours in 3W1 session, a maximum of 9 hours in 8W1 session, a maximum of 8 hours in 5W1 session, a maximum of 7 hours in 5W2 session, and a maximum of 15 hours in 10W session.

Note: For 3W1 (three week one) the normal load for full-time students is 3 hours. Undergraduate students may schedule a maximum of 4 hours in 3W1 session.

Graduate

A full-time graduate student with a GPA of at least 3.000 may select multiple sessions for a maximum of 18 hours.

Constraints apply to graduate course enrollment. Graduate students may schedule a maximum of 4 hours in a three week session (3W1), a maximum of 7 hours in a five week session (5W1, 5W2), a maximum of 9 hours in a ten week session (10W), or a maximum of 9 hours in an eight week session (8W1). At no time during concurrently running summer sessions can graduate students’ enrollment exceed 10 hours. For purposes of fulfilling the graduate residence requirements, a load of 9 semester hours is considered a full load. Graduate students enrolled only in undergraduate courses, for undergraduate credit, may request special consideration of the graduate dean.

Note: For 3W1 (three week one) the normal load for full-time students is 3 hours. Graduate students may schedule a maximum of 4 hours in 3W1 session.

Enrollment certification

Enrollment verification and loan deferments are completed in the Registrar’s Office and are based upon a student’s having registered and paid tuition and fees according to the following criteria. See “Special Conditions for Financial Aid Applicants ” in the Financial Information section of this catalog for loan deferment requirements.

Undergraduate

Full Time: fall, spring or summer term/semester, 12 or more hours.
Three-Quarter Time: fall, spring or summer term/semester, 9 to 11 hours.
Half Time: fall, spring or summer term/semester, 6 to 8 hours.

Graduate

Full Time: fall, spring or summer term/semester, 9 or more hours.
Three-Quarter Time: fall, spring or summer term/semester, 6 to 8 hours.
Half Time: fall, spring or summer term/semester, 5 hours.

Extension courses are considered nontraditional credit and are excluded for certification purposes.

International students also may request International Advising to issue letters of enrollment for the use of foreign governments, embassies, scholarship agencies and banks. International Advising is located on the second floor of Sycamore Hall.

University of North Texas at Dallas

John Ellis Price, PhD, CPA, President

Founded as an off-site campus of the University of North Texas in 2000, the University of North Texas at Dallas is the newest component institution of the UNT System. UNT Dallas, conveniently located at 7300 University Hills Boulevard in Dallas (near the intersection of I-35 and I-20), offers a range of undergraduate and graduate programs. The university also offers certificate programs and courses for career advancement.

Students who enroll at UNT Dallas must meet the same admissions requirements as students who apply to UNT in Denton. Courses of study at UNT Dallas are currently offered under the accreditation of UNT. Until UNT Dallas achieves accreditation separately from UNT, all degrees awarded by UNT Dallas will bear the name of UNT.

Enrollment at UNT Dallas has grown from only 200 students in 2000 to more than 2,300 today. In January 2007, the first building with 75,000 square feet of teaching and office space was completed on a 264-acre tract of land in southern Dallas, the permanent home of the new UNT Dallas. A second, 103,000-square-foot building opened in September 2010.

The new building features state-of-the-art classrooms, staff and faculty offices, a dining area, expanded library space and laboratories for the life sciences. UNT Dallas is staffed with student services professionals to help students with admissions, advising and counseling, financial aid, job placement, registration, disability accommodation and other student services. UNT Dallas also does not charge many of the mandatory fees other universities charge, which keeps the cost of attending UNT Dallas affordable.

UNT Dallas, the first public university in the City of Dallas, will serve as an anchor institution for businesses and residential areas around the campus. The campus, located at the heart of the city’s forward!Dallas plan (a 3,500-acre economic development initiative), will drive economic growth in southern Dallas. A recent economic impact study projected an enrollment of 16,000 students and the addition of 1,300 jobs by 2030. Growth will be aided by public-private partnerships that will benefit students and the community.

For more information about UNT Dallas, call 972-780-3600 or visit the UNT Dallas web site at www.dallas.unt.edu.

Alternative class offerings

In addition to regular daytime classes, UNT offers evening and weekend on-campus and off-campus residence credit courses and courses at the Universities Center at Dallas, as well as other distance education and web-based courses. See “Distance Education (Web-Based and Videoconference) ” in the Campus Resources section of this catalog.

Correspondence courses

Regulations governing correspondence courses

1. A student in residence who wishes to enroll concurrently in correspondence courses at another accredited institution must first secure the written permission of the student’s academic dean at UNT. Failure to obtain advance approval may result in the refusal of the university to accept such work in transfer.
2. Not more than 18 hours of correspondence courses from an accredited institution may be transferred to UNT and used toward a degree program. No more than 30 hours of the total number required for any degree may be earned by a combination of correspondence and extension.
3. A maximum of 6 hours of upper-level correspondence work completed in transfer will be accepted toward a degree program at UNT.
4. Graduate credit is not accepted in transfer through correspondence study.

Auditing

With the written permission of the department chair and the dean of the college or school in which the course is taught, an individual fully eligible to enroll in the university may attend a class as an auditor without receiving college credit. The auditor’s name is not entered on the class roll, and the instructor does not accept any papers, tests or examinations from the auditor.

Attendance as an auditor may not be made the basis of a claim for credit in the course. Auditors pay a fee. Only one audit fee is required per semester regardless of the number of courses audited. Tuition and fee information is available online at essc.unt.edu/saucs.

Permission forms for auditors are not available during the official registration period but may be requested in the offices of the academic deans after classes begin.

A person 65 years of age or older may enroll as an auditor and observer without credit and without payment of a fee, if space is available and if approved by the department chair and the appropriate dean. Such enrollment entitles the person to library privileges, but not to instruction in applied music or physical education, the use of laboratory equipment and supplies, or admission to university-sponsored fine arts events.

Registration

All registration and student-requested schedule changes are conducted via web registration at my.unt.edu. Specific information and instructions as well as dates are found online at www.unt.edu/registrar and at my.unt.edu.

Late registration

Students who are unable to enroll during the official registration periods must pay an additional fee to enroll late. Refer to www.unt.edu/registrar for late registration information.

Concurrent registration

A student in residence who wishes to enroll concurrently at another college must first secure the written permission of the appropriate dean at UNT. Failure to obtain advance approval may result in the refusal of the university to accept such work in transfer.

Students who earn transfer hours from other institutions while attending UNT must submit official transcript to the Registrar’s Office at the end of each term. If the official transcripts are not received, then an academic hold may be placed on the student’s account preventing future registration and receipt of an official UNT transcript

Special provisions for avoiding more than one minimum tuition charge are available for students enrolling concurrently in more than one state-supported institution of higher education. Students planning concurrent enrollment are cautioned to check these provisions prior to enrollment in any state institution.

Enrollment at the Universities Center at Dallas

Students enrolling for upper-division under-graduate courses or graduate courses offered by the partner universities of the Universities Center at Dallas (UCD), a Multi-Institutional Teaching Center (MITC) located in downtown Dallas, may enroll at their home institution for courses offered by the other UCD universities.

Four universities cooperate in offering upper-division undergraduate courses and graduate courses at UCD: Texas A&M University–Commerce, the University of North Texas, UNT Dallas and the University of Texas at Arlington. For details and course offerings, call UCD at 214-915-1900 or visit the UCD web site at www.ucddowntown.org UCD is located at 1901 Main Street in downtown Dallas.

Enrollment at the Collin Higher Education Center

In 2009 the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the Collin Higher Education Center (CHEC), where UNT cooperates with Collin College and other universities in the offering of undergraduate and graduate courses and degrees. Enrollment is open to all UNT students.

The CHEC is located at 3452 Spur 399, McKinney, Texas 75059. For current information about the CHEC, call 972-599-3126, visit the CHEC web site at www.collin.edu/chec/, or call the UNT Office of Admissions at 940-565-2681.

Schedule changes

For information concerning adding or dropping courses, consult the online Schedule of Classes at www.unt.edu/registrar or my.unt.edu.

Class attendance

Regular and punctual class attendance is expected. Although in general students are graded on intellectual effort and performance rather than attendance, absences may lower the student’s grade where class attendance and class participation are deemed essential by the faculty member. In those classes where attendance is considered part of the grade, the instructor should so inform students at the semester’s beginning by a written notice. Any instructor who informs students in writing about the necessity of class attendance may request of the Registrar that a student be dropped from the course with a grade of WF upon the accumulation of the stated number of absences. Instructor drops for non-attendance may be processed up to two weeks prior to the first day of final examinations for fall or spring terms/semesters and equivalent dates for summer sessions. Refer to www.unt.edu/catalog/calendar.htm for specific dates. Departments and similar academic units have authority to establish a department or course attendance policy, so long as the policy is in accord with the above stipulations.

If the instructor-initiated drop action falls within the time the student is eligible to drop with instructor consent and without penalty, the Registrar’s Office notifies the student that a WF will be recorded unless the student initiates the drop procedure, in which case a W will be assigned.

Authorized absences

Absences due to participation in sponsored activities must be approved in advance by the department chair and academic dean. Within three days after the absence, students must obtain authorized absence cards from the Dean of Students for presentation to their instructors. Students with authorized absence cards may make up the work missed when practicable or be given special allowance so that they are not penalized for the absence.

Absence for religious holidays

In accordance with state law, a student absent due to the observance of a religious holiday may take examinations or complete assignments scheduled for the day(s) missed, including those missed for travel, within a reasonable time after the absence. The student should notify the instructor of each class of the date of the anticipated absence as early in the semester as possible.

Only holidays or holy days observed by a religion whose place of worship is exempt from property taxation under Section 11.20 of the Tax Code may be included. A student who is excused under this provision may not be penalized for the absence, but the instructor may respond appropriately if the student fails to complete the assignment or examination.

Students called to active duty

Texas Education Code 54.006 (f ) indicates, “Beginning with the summer semester of 1990, if a student withdraws from an institution of higher education because the student is called to active military service, the institution, at the student’s option, shall: (1) refund the tuition and fees paid by the student for the semester in which the student withdraws; (2) grant a student, who is eligible under the institution’s guidelines, an incomplete grade in all courses by designating ‘withdrawn-military’ on the student’s transcript; or (3) as determined by the instructor, assign an appropriate final grade or credit to a student who has satisfactorily completed a substantial amount of course work and who has demonstrated sufficient mastery of the course material.”

In order to be eligible for options under this law a UNT student must produce a copy of his or her orders. Withdrawal may or may not require that the student talk with each instructor depending on timing in the semester; however, the latter two options do require that the student talk with his or her instructors and come to a decision as to which solution is best for each class given timing and circumstances. A student called to active duty may consider the following options:

1. withdrawal with a full refund of appropriate tuition/fees;
2. incomplete grades with the one-year I (Incomplete) removal time limit starting with the end of active duty; and/or
3. a final grade if the course is essentially over and the course material has been sufficiently mastered (determined by the instructor).

Dropping courses

Students who wish to drop a course before the 12th class day of fall or spring terms/semesters or before the equivalent dates for summer sessions, may do so in the Registrar’s Office or at my.unt.edu. After the 12th class day for fall or spring terms/semesters or the equivalent dates for summer sessions, students must first receive the written consent of the instructor prior to dropping a course. The instructor may withhold consent for students to drop for any reason provided the instructor has informed students in writing at the beginning of the semester. Students applying for financial aid are required to notify Student Financial Aid and Scholarships before dropping any class to learn how it will affect current or future financial aid eligibility.

The grade of W is recorded for any course dropped with the instructor’s consent prior to the end of the sixth week of classes for fall or spring terms/semesters or the equivalent dates for summer sessions. After that time, the student must have a passing grade for the instructor to assign a grade of W for a dropped course; otherwise, the grade WF is recorded.

Instructors may drop students with grades of WF from courses for nonattendance at any time after the completion of the sixth week of classes for fall or spring terms/semesters or the equivalent dates for summer sessions. See “Class Attendance” in this section.

No student may drop any course after the designated day of a given semester’s 10th week for fall or spring terms/semesters or the equivalent dates for summer sessions.

Drop procedures must be completed by 5 p.m. on the deadline dates specified in the online academic calendar (at www.unt.edu/catalog/calendar.htm). After these dates, a student may not drop a course for any reason.

See the online Schedule of Classes at www.unt.edu/registrar for drop procedure and instructions.

Limitation of drops

Students enrolling in higher education for the first time during the fall 2007 academic term or any term subsequent to the fall 2007 term may drop a total of six courses. This total includes any course a transfer student has dropped at another Texas public institution of higher education. This does not apply to courses dropped prior to the census date or to courses dropped with a grade of WF and does not apply if the student withdraws from the term or session.

Certain exceptions may be made to the limit if the student can show good cause for dropping more than that number, including but not limited to a showing of:

• a severe illness or other debilitating condition that affects the student’s ability to satisfactorily complete the course;
• the student’s responsibility for the care of a sick, injured or needy person if the provision of that care affects the student’s ability to satisfactorily complete the course;
• the death of a person who is considered to be a member of the student’s family or who is otherwise considered to have a sufficiently close relationship to the student that the person’s death is considered to be a showing of good cause;
• the active duty service as a member of the Texas National Guard or the armed forces of the United States of either the student or a person who is considered to be a member of the student’s family or who is otherwise considered to have a sufficiently close relationship to the student that the person’s active military service is considered to be a showing of good cause;
• the change of the student’s work schedule that is beyond the control of the student and that affects the student’s ability to satisfactorily complete the course.

Requests for exception to the drop limitation must be made in writing to the student’s academic dean and must occur during the semester that the dropped course was taken.

Withdrawal from UNT

A student may withdraw from UNT at any time prior to two weeks before the first day of final examinations for fall or spring terms/semesters or the equivalent dates for summer sessions by making a request in the Dean of Students Office. For withdrawals processed prior to the end of the sixth week of classes for fall or spring terms/semesters or the equivalent dates for summer sessions, the grade of W is recorded for each course in which a withdrawn student was enrolled. After the sixth week of classes for fall or spring terms/semesters or the equivalent dates for summer sessions, a withdrawn student receives grades of W only for those courses in which there were passing grades at the time of withdrawal; otherwise, the grade WF is recorded.

Students called to active military service during a semester in which they are enrolled may be entitled to a refund of tuition and fees if they withdraw or the student may be entitled to receive a final grade or incomplete grade in courses. Students should contact the Dean of Students Office to determine their options.

Official dates and deadlines for withdrawing are specified in the Academic Calendar at www.unt.edu/catalog/calendar.htm.

To receive a refund for a parking permit, a student must return the parking permit to the Parking Office located in the Highland Parking Garage.

Pre-finals week

So that students can more adequately prepare for their final examinations, special rules apply to the seven calendar days preceding the final week of each fall and spring term/semester.

During pre-finals week, student organizations do not meet; activities requiring student participation such as field trips, athletic events, or performances by dance, drama or music ensembles are not scheduled unless approved in advance by the appropriate dean or the Director of Athletics.

On the Friday of the week immediately preceding final exams (reading day), no classes are held.

Final examinations

Faculty members are expected to administer final examinations at the designated times during the exam week of each long semester and during the specified day of each summer term. Any deviation from the published schedule of final examinations must be approved in advance by the appropriate academic dean.

Students who have as many as three final examinations scheduled on one day may appeal to their academic dean to reschedule one of those examinations on another day during the final examination period.

Commencement exercises

Commencement exercises are held in December, May and August. Diplomas are mailed to candidates approximately eight weeks after graduation has been verified.