How to Enroll

New Degree-Seeking Students

Incoming first-year and transfer students have the opportunity to begin their academic journey at CU Boulder during Summer Session. It's a great way to lighten the credit load for future semesters or take required courses now to free up your schedule for study abroad or internships later. Summer also lets you acclimate to the campus environment before the rush of fall semester. 

Once you confirm your intent to enroll at CU Boulder as a new first-year or transfer student, you'll receive a CU login name and instructions to activate your IdentiKey. You will not be eligible to register for summer classes until your $200 enrollment deposit has been on file for 24 hours.

If you decide to change your admit term after enrolling in summer classes, contact the Office of Admissions to update your record. If you don't, you won't be able to enroll in the fall semester and you may be assessed a financial penalty. See the Withdrawal section for more information and deadlines.

New students who were admitted for summer must be enrolled in Summer Session classes and complete the online New Student Welcome Experience in order to become eligible to register for fall semester classes.

If you have problems or questions concerning summer registration, contact the Office of the Registrar at registrar@colorado.edu or 303-492-6970.

New Non-Degree Students

If you're interested in enrolling in CU Boulder summer courses without pursuing a degree at the university, you will be able to do so as a non-degree student through Continuing Education.

Please complete the Online Enrollment Application to get started. If you have any questions, contact Continuing Education at 303-492-5148. 

Once your application has been processed for summer, you will receive a welcome email with your student ID and detailed instructions for activating your IdentiKey as well as registration and payment information.

If you're a non-degree student thinking about applying to CU Boulder as a degree-seeking undergraduate student in the future, you may transfer credits taken as a non-degree student on any CU campus; however, applicability of these credits toward degree requirements is established by individual colleges and schools. Consult with a pre-transfer advisor for further information.

If you enroll in summer classes and change your mind, you may be assessed a financial penalty for the classes you withdrew from. See the Withdrawal section or call Continuing Education at 303-492-5148 for more information.

Non-Degree Requisite Approval

If the course you wish to enroll into has requisites in the Registration Restriction area of a course in the CU Boulder Class Search and you believe you satisfy that requisite through non-CU coursework, a Continuing Education academic advisor must manually review your transcripts from other institutions to confirm enrollment eligibility. Outside coursework is not included in your student account, even if you have attached transcripts to your non-degree application.

Undergraduate Course Enrollment

Schedule an appointment with an academic advisor, or email ceadvise@colorado.edu for a transcript review.

If emailing, please include:

  • Your 9-digit student ID # included in your welcome email;
  • The course(s) for which you would like to register, including the section number;
  • The courses on your transcript that you believe fulfill the required requisites.

If prior coursework is approved by an advisor as eligible for a requisite, the advisor will place a class permission for you to self-enroll; or, they will direct you to complete the Course Request Form and attach approval. If you have not had your transcripts manually reviewed and approved, you will receive a requisite error message when enrolling.

Graduate Course Enrollment

Most graduate-level classes are restricted. You must contact the instructor or the department to get permission to enroll. This can often be done via email. To find instructor email addresses, you may search the online directory.

After you receive written permission from the instructor, please submit a Course Request Form and attach the approval email to the form using the 'Browse' button.

There are some exceptions to this process, as some departments prefer to approve their own requisites. A Continuing Education academic advisor can provide more information if your course request needs further approval.

Enrollment Dates

The enrollment date for transfer, international, new first-year, new graduate and non-degree students is Monday, March 10.

Follow the step-by-step instructions on the Office of the Registrar website to search for and enroll in classes.

If you are registering for a lecture class that has a linked recitation and/or lab, the system will prompt you to add that component.

The maximum credit load allowed for most colleges and schools during Summer Session is 16 credit hours. Graduate students in the School of Education may register for no more than 9 credit hours.

When you add a class to your shopping cart, you'll be prompted to select from the available class options. The deadline to change your grade mode varies by session; see the Session Calendars for details.

Independent study and occasionally regular courses are offered on a variable-credit basis. You must designate the number of credit hours you wish to receive for the course at the time of registration. See the CU Boulder catalog for more information about these options.

When a class is full but registration is still open, some departments allow students to join a waitlist to be automatically enrolled in the class if a seat becomes available and the student meets the prerequisites. Placing your name on a waitlist does not guarantee you'll be enrolled in that class.

If you're automatically enrolled from the waitlist, you'll receive an automated email confirmation. If you don’t get enrolled off the waitlist then you’ll lose access to the class when the waitlists are canceled after the add deadline. Students will not be charged for a class until they are enrolled from the waitlist. Visit the Office of the Registrar website for more information.

Waitlist deadlines vary by session; see the Session Calendars for details on the last day to add your name to a waitlist and when the waitlist is canceled.

Special Session Limitations

Summer at CU Boulder is an exceptional time of year! Summer Session classes provide students with a number of flexible options not available the rest of the academic year. However, there are limitations to certain sessions that you need to keep in mind when registering.

Maymester and Augmester

Undergraduate degree-seeking students, new graduate students and non-degree students may enroll in only one Maymester and/or one Augmester class each summer. You may be enrolled in other sessions as long as the course times don't overlap. Maymester and Augmester sessions are designed for experienced college students. Due to that, we do not recommend that High School ACCESS students enroll in these sessions. If you have questions regarding High School ACCESS summer enrollment, contact hsaccess@colorado.edu.

Variable Sessions

Classes in Variable Sessions do not follow a typical session schedule. These classes can meet on any days within Summer Session, so be sure to check the beginning, end and final exam dates before enrolling in a Variable Session class.

Independent Study and Thesis Hours

Any class with a 700- or 800-level section number has controlled enrollment. If you try to register for one of these classes, you will receive an error message. Instead, contact your department administrator or advisor for enrollment instructions.