2026 Course Information

Course options for the 2026 Winter Session will be announced in the fall. Fill out the request information form to receive an email once classes are available. 

Winter Session course offerings vary every year and include a variety of topics. They often include 1-3 credit, upper and lower- level, Arts and Sciences courses. Below you will find a sample of previous winter courses to give you a sense of what you might expect to take: 

ANTH 1155: Exploring Global Cultural Diversity: Water & Society

ATOC 1050: Weather and the Atmosphere

EDUC 3013: School and Society

ETHN 3314: Violence Against Women and Girls

LING 1000: Language in US Society

ORGN 4040: Individual, Team and Organizational Development

PSCI 3163: American Foreign Policy

APRD 2001: Strategic Thinking in Advertising and Public Relations

CMDP 2100: Approaches to Historical Media Practices

ENGL 3026: Syntax, Citation, Analysis: Writing About Literature

ETHN 3702: African American Sport Experience

MDST 1002: Introduction to Social Media

PACS 3700: Communication and Conflict Management

PSYC 3131: Human Emotion

ARTS 1171: Photography for Non-Majors

EBIO 3180: Global Ecology

ETHN 2536: Survey of Chicana/o History and Culture

IPHY 2420: Introduction to Nutrition

MDST 3002: Digital Culture and Politics

PHIL 2240: Philosophy and Sports

SOCY 3016: Marriage and the Family in the United States 

In general, Winter Session courses are delivered in an online, asynchronous instruction mode. In an asynchronous course, assignments have fixed due dates, but your interactions with course content, other students, and the instructor are flexible. Some Winter Session courses do incorporate more collaborative work and group projects which may require periodic synchronous Zoom meetings or discussions. 

Be sure to consult with your academic advisor to ensure your Winter Session course meets the degree requirements for your specific degree program. 

Credit Load Limit

Given the condensed nature of these courses, you may enroll in a maximum of four credits during Winter Session. We recommend you be in good academic standing. You should plan to spend the same number of hours actively participating online as you would in a traditional, full-semester course. Due to the accelerated time frame, Winter Session courses require a greater time commitment each week. Be prepared to spend approximately 35-45 hours per week on coursework for a three-credit course.

Winter Session courses count as part of your spring semester credit load. For example, if you take 3 credits during Winter Session and 15 credits during the spring semester, you will have a total of 18 credits for the Spring Term. You should keep in mind the credit limit policy per semester when planning your Winter Session and regular spring semester classes. For most students the credit limit is 21 credit hours. Some colleges may have different credit limits.

Below, you can find general guidance for credit overload petitioning by school/college. Please contact your college if you have additional questions about semester credit limits, the 4-credit limit for Winter Session and credit overload petitions.

A&S students who are at their spring credit limit, please refer to the Credit Overload Petition. For additional questions, A&S students can email: aacdean@colorado.edu. 

Things to note:

  • A&S will only allow students to take one Winter Session course. Petitions for any more than that will be denied. 
  • Although waitlisted classes count toward a student's credit limit, students should only submit these petitions if they are fully enrolled for the semester (not waitlisted). The petition will not be considered otherwise. 
  • A&S will notify CE Enrollment Services if/when a student needs to be overridden into a Winter Session class as a result of their petition being approved. 

Engineering students are directed to submit a College of Engineering and Applied Science, Student Petition form for credit overloads. 

Business students should contact their Leeds Academic Advisor in order to get a petition form.

CMCI students running up against the credit limit for spring should email Susan Avila (susan.avila@colorado.edu), the Assistant Director of Advising in CMCI, in order to initiate the petition process.

The normal academic load for an undergraduate student in the College of Music is 15 to 17 credit hours. Enrollment in fewer than 12 credit hours or more than 19 must be approved by the Undergraduate Associate Dean, Matthew Roeder (roeder@colorado.edu). 

School of Education students should contact their staff advisor and refer to the School of Education Student Petition form.

Nondegree students may not petition to go over the 4 credit limit.