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Academic Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual
Topical Index: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

K-1: RE-ENROLLMENT AS A DEGREE CANDIDATE

  1. Context and Motivation

    A student’s progress toward an undergraduate degree may be interrupted for a variety of reasons. In order to return to the University as a degree candidate after one of these interruptions, former students must complete a two-stage re-enrollment process (Senate 58-00, 56-00). They must (1) ask permission from the University to re-enroll as a student, and they must (2) ask permission from an enrollment unit – college or DUS – to enroll in an academic program. 

    This document specifies the steps involved in administering the re-enrollment process, and it articulates the principles that frame this administrative work.

  2. Principles and definitions

    The procedures outlined in III below operationalize the Senate re-enrollment policy (provided for in policy sections 54 and 56) in light of the following organizing principles and guiding definitions.

    1. Student support: academic recovery and student success are the primary goals, and the advising relationship is essential to the effective pursuit of these goals
    2. Clarity and communication: enrollment units will establish transparent criteria for re-enrollment, and will share these criteria with stakeholders at all relevant locations
    3. Realistic capacity management: effective policy implementation requires planning for predictable capacity constraints and strategies for increasing capacity to accommodate re-enrolling students.
    4. Academic-geographic coordination: The dispersed-university structure requires cooperation between geographically and administratively distinct units. While the academic college or DUS is the formal unit of enrollment, the campus is often the more appropriate site for operations involving contact with students. For this reason:
      1. Enrollment units offering programs at multiple locations should work with campus authorities to achieve maximum clarity in relation to requirements, workflows, and decision rights.
      2. The goal should be to empower campus authorities to work with full information and system-wide support in guiding students through programs that are governed elsewhere.
      3. The resulting terms of cooperation should be codified and widely shared. At a minimum, unit-specific requirements should be made available on each college or campus website and communicated to other locations as appropriate via the College Contact and Referral Representatives (CCRRs).

    5. Definitions
      1. Enrollment unit: This refers both to the academic colleges and to the Division of Undergraduate Studies.
      2. Dean: Due to the diversity of organizational structures across the system, decision-making authority rests with people in different roles at different geographic and administrative locations. References below to the dean refer to the enrollment unit’s ACUE representative, acting on behalf of their unit’s dean, chancellor, or director
      3. Registrar: The Office of the University Registrar (OUR) functions as the campus registrar for the UP campus, but also has additional system-wide responsibilities. Assuming that the system’s registrars will coordinate among themselves to apportion duties appropriately, this document will typically use the general expression “the registrar” to indicate the points at which one or another of these offices must take action. In cases clearly involving system-wide operations, more precise references to the OUR will appear.

  3. Procedure

    1. Re-enrolling in the University

      1. Any student who wishes to re-enroll as a degree candidate must complete an undergraduate re-enrollment application to the campus of intended re-enrollment.
      2. The application is available at any campus Registrar’s office or on the Web at www.registrar.psu.edu.
      3. The student should submit the completed application as early as possible, and no later than two weeks prior to the start of classes in which the student wants to enroll. Some units may require longer lead times. Students should check with their enrollment unit to make sure they can meet all requirements. Exceptions after this deadline are at the discretion of the unit of enrollment.
      4. Submission of tthe form does not guarantee approval to re-enroll.
      5. Once this first stage of the re-enrollment process is complete, students will take one of the paths discussed in the next section. The steps in this second stage of the process begin after the campus registrar records the re-enrollment request in the student information system.

    2. Re-enrolling in an Academic Program

      NOTE: At one time, students were able to request re-enrollment in of "non-degree conditional" status. That status is no longer available. Students seeking re-enrollment in that status should follow the process for students returning from suspension.

      1. For students in good standing re-enrolling in their previous enrollment unit:
        1. As per Senate policy (58-50), the registrar will immediately approve the student’s re-enrollment in the academic program and will notify the student of this action, unless the student requests enrollment in DUS or in a major with enrollment controls or initiates the process inside the two-week window.
        2. If the student seeks re-enrollment in DUS or a controlled major or initiates the process inside the two-week window, then:
          1. The registrar will forward the request to the relevant enrollment unit for review by the dean or dean’s designee.
          2. The enrollment unit will notify the campus registrar of its decision.
          3. The registrar will record the decision in the student information system and notify the student.

      2. For students in good standing seeking admission to a new enrollment unit:
        • Students may seek to re-enroll in a unit other than the unit of last enrollment. As these requests require a dean’s review, the campus registrar will forward the request to the relevant enrollment unit for review by the dean or dean’s designee.
        1. If the student seeks to change campuses, the unit will weigh the merits of the request against potential violations of the 2+2 principle.
        2. The unit of intended enrollment will consider the student’s academic needs and prospects for success. There should be a strong presumption in favor of granting the request.
        3. The enrollment unit will notify the campus registrar of its decision.
        4. The campus registrar will record the decision in the student information system and notify the student.

      3. For students who left Penn State in academic warning seeking to re-enroll in the original enrollment unit:
        • The campus registrar will immediately approve the request, unless the student requests enrollment in DUS or in a major with enrollment controls or initiates the process inside the two-week window.
        1. In cases of immediate approval:
          1. The registrar will notify the student of this action.
          2. The registrar will place a campus or college registration hold in order to ensure that the proper advising recommendations occur.
          3. The campus registrar or the college will lift the hold after a satisfactory advising encounter has taken place. What counts as a satisfactory advising encounter is up to the enrollment unit, which may specify its own processes for certifying the quality of the encounter.
          4. The author of the advising recommendations will record the recommendations and any other salient information in the advising record system.
        2. If the student seeks re-enrollment in DUS or a controlled major or initiates the process inside the two week window:
          1. The registrar will forward the request to the relevant enrollment unit for review by the dean or dean's designee.
          2. The enrollment unit will notify the campus registrar of its decision.
          3. The registrar will place a campus or college registration hold in order to ensure that the proper advising recommendations occur.
          4. The campus registrar or the college will lift the hold after a satisfactory advising encounter has taken place. What counts as a satisfactory advising encounter is up to the enrollment unit, which may specify its own processes for certifying the quality of the encounter.
          5. The author of the advising recommendations will record the recommendations and any other salient information in the advising record system.

      4. For students who left Penn State in academic warning and seeking admission to a new enrollment unit:
        • The registrar will forward the request to the relevant enrollment unit for review by the dean or dean’s designee.
        1. The enrollment unit will notify the registrar of its decision.
        2. The registrar will record the decision in the student information system and notify the student.
        3. The registrar will place a campus or college registration hold in order to ensure that the proper advising recommendations occur.
        4. The campus registrar or the college will lift the hold after a satisfactory advising encounter has taken place. What counts as a satisfactory advising encounter is up to the enrollment unit, which may specify its own processes for certifying the quality of the encounter.
        5. The author of the advising recommendations will record the recommendations and any other salient information in the advising record system.

      5. For students returning from academic suspension (via AAPP I-1):
        • Units may encourage students to confer with an academic adviser or other unit designee prior to completing the first stage of the re-enrollment process (the application), in order to gauge the appropriateness and viability of their plans for re-enrollment.
        1. After the student completes the first stage of the re-enrollment process the registrar will forward the request to the appropriate enrollment unit for review and decision.
        2. Enrollment units will seek to determine whether the student has addressed the issues that led to the suspension. The mechanism for this evaluation may vary with the needs and capacities of the enrollment unit. Possible mechanisms include but are not limited to the following:
          1. Academic Recovery Plan: Suspended students will have met with an adviser or other designee of the enrollment unit at the time of the initial suspension notice to develop and record a realistic academic recovery plan. In these cases, evaluating the re-enrollment request will mean determining whether the student has met the conditions set out in the plan.
          2. Student statement: If there was no immediate post-suspension meeting, then the enrollment unit may require that the student submit a statement explaining their past difficulties and their current readiness to return and succeed.
        3. The enrollment unit will notify the registrar of its decision.
        4. The registrar will record the decision in the student information system and notify the student.
        5. If the enrollment unit approves the re-enrollment application, then
          1. The student will return to the University as a degree-seeking student in academic warning status, with their former CGPA and an academic warning hold in place.
          2. The student will schedule a meeting with an appropriate adviser to plan a responsible course of study before registration.
          3. The unit will lift the hold after a satisfactory advising encounter has taken place.
        6. If the enrollment unit denies the re-enrollment application, then
          1. An adviser or other unit designee will inform the student of the need to schedule a meeting to consider next steps.

            If, in the judgment of the designee, re-enrollment remains a plausible option for the near future, then the purpose of the meeting will be to develop a revised academic action plan leading to another request for re-enrollment. The applicant must submit a second re-enrollment application.
          2. If the designee determines that re-enrollment is not a plausible near-term option, the purpose of the meeting will be to review other options, such as academic renewal.
  4. Special circumstances

    1. Attendance at another institution
      1. A former Penn State student who has attended another accredited college or university must indicate in the appropriate place on the re-enrollment application that they have attended another institution.
      2. The student must also arrange to have a transcript sent to the Undergraduate Admissions Office (UAO). (The application will prompt them to do this.)
    2. Adult learners
      Special accommodations are extended to adult learners. An adult learner who wants to return to the University after a period of non-enrollment or withdrew from the last enrolled semester must complete the Returning Adult Learner Form if all of the following criteria apply:
      1. The period of non-enrollment has been less than three years, and;
      2. The student is seeking entrance to a major in which they were previously enrolled, and;
      3. The major has been authorized by the academic college to be eligible for this accommodation. Those programs that have been authorized are listed at https://www.registrar.psu.edu/enrollment/returning/reenrollment/reenrollment-major-exceptions-adult-learners.cfm. The OUR will work with the ACUE leadership to ensure that this link remains up to date.

      If an adult learner seeks to re-enroll in a different major, after suspension, or in warning, the normal rules of re-enrollment apply as indicated above.

    3. University and General Education Requirements
      Upon re-enrollment, the University and General Education requirement year corresponds to the most recent admission as a degree candidate (per 82-20 General Requirements). If there is an academic reason for this to be changed, that exception can be determined by the student's enrollment unit at the time of re-enrollment. The following steps should be completed to document and apply this change to the student's record.
      1. The change will be recorded with any other salient information in the advising record system.
      2. The records staff of the enrollment unit will update the student's Program Requirement Term to the term determined to be appropriate.

Senate Policy:  58-50, Conditions for Re-enrollment as a Degree Candidate

Undergraduate Advising

Approved: ACUE (11-16-78)
Revised: ACUE (7-30-97)
Revised: ACUE (8-4-05)
Revised: ACUE (6-4-15); Effective Fall 2016
Revised: Editorial (4-6-17)
Revised: ACUE (10/5/17)
Revised: ACUE (3/1/18)
Revised: ACUE (5/3/18)
Revised: ACUE (12/6/18)
Revised: ACUE (2/7/2019)
Revised: Editorial (5/3/2019)
Revised: ACUE (9/16/22)