REGISTRATION CATEGORIES AND MAINTAINING ACTIVE STATUS

New Graduate Students

Students must register for the semester they are admitted. The graduate program coordinator will contact new students over the summer to set up their UMN online credentials (x500 username and password) and ID number. New graduate students must first be advised by the DGS before registering. This will take place during orientation. Once UMN ID and online credentials are assigned, students can obtain a UMN identity card (U-Card), in room G-22 Coffman Memorial Union. This should be done before the semester begins.

Current and Previously Enrolled Students

Consult the Graduate School Catalog and the UMN Class Schedule on OneStop for registration information (See these links: Registration and Readmission and One Stop: Special Registration Categories for Graduate and Professional Students). Students register online using their UMN username and password.

Graduate students must be enrolled to maintain their active status. Students who have not registered every year must apply to the Graduate School for readmission, with the understanding that such admission is not guaranteed. Refer to the Graduate School website or call the Graduate School at 612-625-3014 for more details.

REGISTRATION TIPS

Students are able to view course offerings for future semesters weeks in advance of being able to register. Each student is assigned, each semester, to a “registration appointment” in the registration system. This appointment provides you with the date and time that the system will allow you to begin registering and is set based on progression – so graduate students are normally able to enroll at the very start of the registration process. Students can view information on how to see their registration appointments here.  Some courses or registration categories may require a course permission number to enable you to register. This number allows you to override registration restrictions for the courses. Course permission numbers can be obtained from the instructor; permission numbers for the registration categories (e.g. GRAD 4999) can be obtained from the department administrator in consultation with the DGS.

Students will be unable to register if they have any holds on their record. A hold may be imposed on your student account if you are financially indebted to the University (e.g., for unpaid tuition, fees, fines, or delinquent health service payments) or for disciplinary or scholastic reasons. You will usually be notified of an existing or impending hold by the department or office authorizing the hold. If you have a hold on your account, please view it using the instructions found on this page and contact the hold issuer to have the matter resolved before registration.

MAINTAINING ACTIVE STATUS FOR STUDENTS RECEIVING SUMMER FELLOWSHIPS

Federal law requires that graduate students who receive university fellowships in the summer must be enrolled in classes. The college has developed an asynchronous, 1 credit, online course, CLA 8000, for this purpose.  The university charges tuition for the course, even though graduate students' funding packages do not include summer tuition. Before registering for the course, be certain to consult with the department administrator and DGS about whether you are required to register and, if so, how the tuition costs will be paid. 

MAINTAINING ACTIVE STATUS FOR STUDENTS BEYOND COURSEWORK

Maintaining active status is critical and is required in order to participate in the University community as a graduate student. Proper registration is required for taking examinations, submitting milestone forms, or filing for graduation as well as maintaining access to the UMN Libraries. Students who fail to register every fall and spring term are considered to have withdrawn; their student records are deactivated. Those who wish to resume graduate work must request readmission (and if readmitted, must register) to reactivate their status.

Once finished with coursework, students will maintain active status by taking what remains of their 24 required Doctoral Thesis Credits (ARTH 8888). What is outlined below relates to those who either do not have enough thesis credits left to maintain active status or those who are totally finished and advanced to candidacy.

Confer with your adviser and/or DGS to determine what you should register for each term. You should consider the following questions in addition to any criteria outlined by your adviser and/or DGS:

• Do you have outstanding course credits or thesis credits that must be taken to complete graduate program and/or University degree requirements?

• Do you have to be registered part-time or full-time to meet any internal/external registration requirements in addition to the registration requirement (for example, obtaining financial aid; holding an assistantship; maintaining legal visa status; deferring loans)?

• What number of credits (and what type of credits) will meet the requirements of any internal/external requirements, departments or agencies?

After thesis credits are taken, students will most likely use one of these two common registration categories:

GRAD 8444 Advanced Doctoral Status (most common)

8444 is a one-credit registration option for eligible doctoral students who must certify full-time status to be in compliance with requirements of the University and/or external agencies (e.g., employment as a graduate assistant; loan deferment). 8444 requires a tuition payment. Students eligible for 8444 can be employed in one of the low-tuition/low-fringe job classes. Students still under funding will take 8444 as will students on external fellowships who are receiving health insurance through the department and/or an scholarship or travel award.

GRAD 999 Graduate School Active Status (for advanced graduate students beyond funding and receiving no UMN monies)

999 is a zero-credit, zero-fee, non-graded registration option - will be an option for those graduate students who must register solely to meet the registration requirement. Students should check with their department office for eligibility. Please note: students who must maintain full-time status to hold an assistantship, defer loans and/or receive financial aid cannot use GRAD 999 to meet registration requirements. 999 is used primarily by students who are beyond funding who no longer are required to hold full-time status.

If you have completed all coursework and thesis credit requirements, and you do not have to be registered to meet any requirement other than the basic registration requirement itself to maintain active status, you may wish to confer with your adviser/DGS about GRAD 999 registration to save money. Please note, students cannot receive any department funds, like travel money, if registered for 999.

GRD 4999 Summer Graduate School Active Status

4999 is a zero-credit, zero-fee registration option that enables graduate students to receive scholarship/travel money disbursements in the summer only.

It is used primarily by students who are beyond funding who no longer are required to hold full-time status but who receive scholarship money (e.g. travel funding from an endowed fund) from the department or another source since the UMN PeopleSoft system cannot pay financial aid when there is no enrollment. If you are ABD and taking 999 during the year and are awarded travel funding, check with the department administrator on whether you must register for this to receive it. This will not be visible normally as an option and will require a permission number.

If required by exceptional circumstances (e.g. to take an externally funded pre-dissertation fellowship before candidacy), the department will advise you to use this less common category (rare):

GRAD 8666

8666 (Pre-Doctoral Thesis Credits) is a registration option for graduate students who must be registered for a specific number of credits (usually to be in compliance with requirements of the University and/or external agencies such as employment as a graduate assistant, loan deferment, etc.), and for whom neither coursework registration nor the other special registration categories are an option.

If your student status has been discontinued, you will be required to apply for readmission. If your request for readmission is approved you will be required to register the term for which you are readmitted and every subsequent fall and spring term until you complete all degree requirements and graduate.

For general information about registering, please visit OneStop.

For information on special registration categories for graduate students, please visit https://onestop.umn.edu/academics/special-registration-categories-graduate-and-professional-students

For questions about how the registration requirement will impact you, please contact the Graduate Student Services and Progress Office at gssp@umn.edu or 612-625-3490.

"CHANGE OF MAJOR" (APPLYING TO ARTH FROM ANOTHER UMN GRAD PROGRAM)

In such circumstances as when a graduate student from another UMN program applies and is accepted into the PhD program, such students may change their major to the field of Art History with the online Change of Status Application. Call the Graduate School at 612-625-8060 or visit the Graduate School Change of Status information page for additional information. Although they do not apply through the online application system, the Change of Status Application and all application materials that are required for outside applicants (i.e. transcripts, three letters of recommendation, application form, GRE scores, statement of purpose, and a writing sample) required by the Department must be submitted by the application deadline. If accepted into the program, registration as an Art History major may begin as early as the following semester.