Summer Session is an excellent time for students who stopped taking courses for academic or personal reasons to resume their studies at CU Boulder.  

Students in Good Academic Standing

  • If you're an undergraduate student who registered for classes within the last two semesters, you may enroll in classes directly through CU Boulder Class Search. 
  • If you're a graduate student who received a grade in one or more classes in the most recent semester (spring), or you have applied for an official leave of absence to remain an active student, you may enroll in classes without reapplying to your program.
  • If you're an undergraduate student who last registered for classes more than two semesters ago, you must complete the Application for Readmission at least two weeks before the start date of your intended summer session and pay a $200 deposit. To submit the readmit application, please visit the Readmit Students page on the Admissions website. If accepted, you'll receive information about enrolling.
  • If you're a graduate student who last received a grade prior to the most recent semester (spring) and have not applied for an official leave of absence, you must reapply to your program. 

Students on Academic Suspension

Undergraduate students who are on academic suspension, or are conditionally enrolled, may use summer classes to raise their GPAs.

  • If it's been less than 12 months since you last enrolled, complete the online Course Request Form through Continuing Education.
  • If you’ve been away from CU Boulder for more than 12 months, you must complete the Readmission Form through Continuing Education and include the summer classes in which you'd like to enroll.

If you're on academic suspension from the graduate business program, the Graduate School or the Law School, you may not register for summer classes in that same college or school. Consult your advisor for options.

If you are eligible to have the hold removed once your summer coursework is completed, contact your dean’s office.

Former Nondegree or Guest Students

If less than 12 months has passed since you last enrolled as a nondegree student at CU Boulder, you may need to term-activate yourself before you can enroll in classes. To do so:

  1. Log in to Buff Portal.
  2. On the term activation card, click "Term-activate yourself."
  3. Complete your preregistration items (if necessary).
  4. On the enrollment dates page, open the main menu and click "Term Information."
  5. Click "Activate new term for enrollment."
  6. Find your nondegree program, tick the checkbox to select that row, then click "Continue."
  7. Select the correct term from the drop-down, then click "Continue." 

If more than 12 months has passed since you were last enrolled as a nondegree student, you must submit an enrollment application through the Division of Continuing Education. See the How to Apply section for more information.

If you have problems or questions concerning online registration, contact Continuing Education at ceregistration@colorado.edu or 303-492-5148.

Enrollment Dates

Enrollment for returning or readmitted and nondegree students is Monday, March 6.

If you're registering for a lecture class that has a required 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. 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.

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

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 nondegree 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. Once your enrollment dates start, they may update your permissions to allow you to enroll in the class.