New Riverbat Orientation
& Advising

Students who have more than 12 credit hours are ready to register.  If you are trying to enroll in courses to transfer back to your institution or are transferring to ACC, please see below:

Visit austincc.edu/register for registration steps or contact our online advising team for assistance at advising@austincc.edu.

Chat with an online advisor here: austincc.edu/onlineadvising.

WATCH THE HOW TO REGISTER VIDEO

Students who have fewer than 12 credit hours should attend New Student Orientation. You can get advising support through in-person or virtual orientation. If you do not receive advising support, you will have a hold on your account and will be unable to register. 

SIGN UP FOR IN-PERSON OR VIRTUAL ORIENTATION

Financial aid can help you pay for your tuition, books, and living expenses. Financial aid includes grants (money you don’t repay), scholarships (money you don’t repay), work-study (part-time employment), and loans (money you repay). To see how financial aid can support you visit austincc.edu/finaid or to apply for scholarships visit austincc.edu/scholarships. If you are an undocumented student with Texas residency status, you may complete the Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TASFA) and apply for scholarships.

Don’t miss out! Use our priority dates below to ensure your aid is ready before your tuition is due. If you miss the priority date, don’t worry. ACC processes financial aid year-round.

Financial Aid Priority Dates: Fall – April 1 | Spring – October 15 | Summer – March 1

Scholarship Priority Dates: Fall – May 1 | Spring – October 1

Visit austincc.edu/pay to learn about tuition deadlines, how to make a payment, and interest-free payment plans.

Create a Payment Plan

ACC has payment plans available, allowing you to stretch your tuition payments over two installments in the

summer and three installments in the fall and spring.

Same Day Pay

“Same Day Pay” begins on the deadline listed for each semester registration. If you miss your payment

deadline, you will be dropped from your classes and will need to re-register.

• First-time college students

• Transfer students with fewer than 12 credit hours

If you are a transfer student with more than 12 credit hours, contact our colleagues in Online Advising for questions about course selection. 

Our goal for orientation is to help students learn three important things:

1. Make a plan for your first semester courses.

2. Register for courses. If registration is open and space is available, you will register for at least one course during New Student Orientation.

3. Understand your options for how to pay for your courses.

Using these objectives as a framework, we'll guide you through some important ACC resources and make sure you have the tools you need to make good first steps at ACC. 

Please be sure to be on time for orientation and plan to stay for the full 90 minutes. If you arrive late or leave early, you will miss important information, and you may have to reschedule for a later session. 

For all sessions, be sure to have your ACC email address set up and ready to go. Check it the day of your group advising session, as you will receive an email from an Orientation Advisor containing information about course recommendations, Program Maps, and other important topics. 

We use Zoom for virtual sessions. Once you have signed up to attend a virtual session, be sure that you are using a device that can accommodate Zoom. It’s helpful to check your speakers and mic prior to the start time to ensure that you will be able to listen and participate. Also, make sure that your screen name shows up as the name you used to sign up for orientation so that we can take attendance. 

We strongly recommend that students use a laptop or desktop computer so that they can participate in the Zoom call and follow along with presenters as we show you how to register. Please plan to be in a quiet place where you can focus on orientation. Plan to have your camera on and be engaged for the full 90 minutes.

For all sessions, be sure to have your ACC email address set up and ready to go. Check it the day of your group advising session, as you will receive an email from an Orientation Advisor containing information about course recommendations, Program Maps, and other important topics. 

We host in-person sessions at various campuses. Give yourself time to arrive at campus and find a seat prior to orientation. We conduct orientation in facilities with computer labs, so you will have an ACC computer that you can use during orientation, though you are welcome to bring your own device if you prefer. 

Students with 12 or more hours of transfer credit are eligible to register for the courses of their choice upon completion of the orientation module. If you have further questions about which courses to take, we encourage you to reach out to our colleagues in Online Advising. During operating hours, advisors are available to assist via live chat, or you can email them at advising@austincc.edu for scheduling. 

Send us an email at orientation@austincc.edu using your ACC email address. Make sure to include your ACCeID in all communication. Please let us know the specific name of the new program of study you'd like. We'll take care of it. If you aren't sure of the name of the new program, you can review a list of program maps here. 

In general, if you haven’t previously registered for classes, you won’t have an assigned advisor yet. For new students the orientation team is your first point of contact for questions about how to select classes and register for your first semester at ACC. Once your classes have begun you will be assigned and be eligible to meet with an Academic Guidance team member for more detailed conversations about future semesters and long-term academic plans. 

Payment deadlines vary by semester. You can check a list of them here. 

We sometimes get some complex questions that are challenging to answer within the context of orientation. Our goal is to get you started off right in your first semester, but you have resources to help! 

You’ll be assigned an Academic Guidance team member after your first day of class, so for many questions that can be answered after you register for first semester courses, you can also wait until you get assigned to an advisor and reach out to that person. 

After you've completed orientation, you can also contact Online Advising.

Registration Station can help you build a schedule if you know what courses you need to take. You can show them your advising notes and they can help you create a schedule. 

• Check the course dates in Self Service and make sure that you are registering for the appropriate semester. You can filter for the semester of your choice to avoid seeing courses from past or future terms. 

• Check the Academic Calendar for registration dates for each semester. Make sure that registration is open for the semester of your choice.

You may see 0 seats available in Self-Service. If this is the case, check to see if there is a Waiting List. 

• If a waiting list exists, you can add yourself to that list. If you are on a waiting list, check your ACC email every day. If you become eligible to add the course, you will receive time-sensitive information there. 

• If there is no waiting list, you should keep checking Self-Service on a regular basis. We also recommend registering for a different section at an alternate date, time, or campus if available. 

If the course is reserved for a specific group of students, you can check the Requisites Section and the Additional Information Section of the course description in Self-Service. Here are a few common things you might see: 

• The course may be reserved for High School Programs Students. These courses are generally located on a high school campus. They are noted by an "!" in a yellow triangle next to the section number in Self-Service. They may also list a local high school as the meeting location. Choose another section. 

• The course may be a paired course for students completing developmental course requirements. You can find this information in the Requisites section of the course listing in Self-Service.

  • If you were looking for a paired course, add both courses to your plan and then register for both to the same time. 

  • If you were not looking for a paired course, you will need to choose another section. 

• The course may be reserved for students from a special group like BRASS or Ascender. Check the Additional information section of the course listing in Self-Service for contact information to learn more about these programs and request to be added to the course if you think it might be a good fit for you. You might get so much more than course credit from the experience! 

The course may require something called a granted petition. You can find this in the Additional Information Section. This means that you need to talk to the department that sponsors the course (for example, the Math Department for a Math course) and ask for permission to add the course. If this is the case, the contact information to request permission to register will be found in the Additional Information section of the course listing in Self-Service. 

Some holds prevent students from registering for courses. The most common of these holds are connected to high school or college transcripts. You can check your holds in Self-Service or MyACC and determine if a hold is barring you from registering for courses.