Enrollment Requirements for Full-Time and Part-Time Status

Students must enroll in an average of 15 credits for each of their allotted eight semesters unless they have earned advanced placement or other credits before they arrive here, or unless they plan on attending a Summer Session or January Term. A minimum course load consists of 12 credits per semester and a maximum consists of 18. 

Special permission from a student’s advising dean is required to register for fewer than 12 credits or more than 18 credits each semester. Students enrolled in more than 18 credits without the permission of the dean will be removed from the last class(es) added. Permission will not be granted to enroll in more than 21 credits.

Students must enroll in and complete a minimum of 12 credits a semester unless they have been given permission by their advising dean to carry a reduced course load. Students on an approved reduced course load will receive an Academic Warning notice if they fail to complete 12 credits, unless they are in their final semester or are on an approved reduced course load recommended by the Student Disabilities Access Center. 

College of Arts & Sciences students are ordinarily expected to be enrolled as full-time students. However, students may enroll for a semester or two on a part-time basis, with permission from their Advising Dean. Part-time students are limited to a maximum of six credits per semester. Students may not count more than 16 credits taken on a part-time basis toward the degree. College students registered full-time at the University have until the drop deadline at the beginning of the semester to request conversion of their enrollment to part-time status. However, students in their first semester at the University, whether as first-year or transfer students, may not enroll part-time.

Part-time undergraduate students are not eligible for the College of Arts & Sciences Dean’s List. Their satisfactory progress is assessed on an individual basis, but they will receive an academic warning and may be subject to the College’s standard rules regarding academic suspension if their semester GPA falls below 1.8.

In rare cases where special circumstances warrant it, students may petition for permanent part-time status. Ordinarily, students who request this status are required to have completed two years of College undergraduate work at UVA. Interested students should contact their Academic Advising Dean.