Getting Registration Ready
At Loyola University Chicago and within SCPS, students have the option to register for courses at three (3) points throughout the academic year: Fall, Spring, and Summer. Use the following modules to prepare yourself for the open registration period for each of the semesters you are planning on registering for classes!
If you have any advising questions, you can schedule an advising appointment with your Academic Advisor using Navigate (if you are an UNDERGRADUATE student) or Acuity (if you are a GRADUATE student).
Step 1: Understand Your Degree Requirements
When beginning your course registration, it is important to have an understanding of what degree requirements you have to satisfy to earn your degree. By knowing your requirements, you can select courses and a schedule that addresses every one of your requirement areas for graduation. Below is a breakdown the different requirement areas you must satisfy. These requirement areas will also be tracked within your Degree Audit (See Step 5) for your convenience. Please note that the following degree requirements apply to undergraduate degree-seeking students only. If you are a graduate or certificate-seeking student, you will only need to complete your program's specific course requirements.
Degree Requirements:
University Core/IAI General Education Requirements - 30 credit hours (10 courses)*
SCPS School Requirements - 12 credit hours (4 courses)**
Major Required Courses*
Certificate Requirements (if applicable)
Elective Requirements (if applicable)*
To be eligible for your graduation, you must also satisfy the following graduation requirements*:
120 credit hours total - includes coursework taken at LUC, transferred coursework, and/or non-traditional credit
Minimum or consecutive 45 LUC graded credit hours/Total 60 LUC graded credit hours for returning LUC students
Half of your Major required courses completed at LUC
*Only applies to undergraduate degree-seeking students
Step 2: Review the Open Registration Dates & Your Enrollment Appointment
Once you have a clear understanding of your various requirements, you will need to know when registration will open for the semester you're planning on enrolling in. You can look ahead on the Registration Access Schedule to identify when Fall, Spring, and Summer semester enrollments begin. The order of access is based on a student's total earned credit hours, including accepted transfer credit, as recorded in LOCUS. The registration access schedule is tentative and subject to change, so you will want to confirm your access time on LOCUS before you register.
This is known as your Enrollment Appointment - the video below provides you with a guide for identifying your Enrollment Appointment:
Step 3: Do You Have Registration Holds?
Holds are service indicators placed on students' LOCUS accounts when there is an action item or need that requires attention. Some holds serve as reminders, whereas other holds prevent students from registering in the following semester. Before beginning your course enrollment, you must review your LOCUS account to see if you have any registration holds. Below are common holds that you may see on your account:
OTB Hold - Placed by the Bursar's Office when a student has an outstanding tuition balance that must be satisfied; prevents course registration
DAV Hold - Placed by your Advisor when they require you to meet with them to discuss your following semester; prevents course registration
Dean's Probation W/Registration - Placed by the Dean of your school when your GPA falls below Good Standing (2.0); does not prevent registration
LAD Hold - Placed by LUC Dean of Students and is indicative of missing information on LOCUS; does not prevent registration
Verification Form Holds - Relevant to Veteran students, requiring them to verify their financial aid every semester to receive their veteran benefits
If you find that you have one of these holds placed on your LOCUS account, you will want to contact the appropriate office to resolve the hold before you begin to enroll. When you click on your hold on LOCUS, there will be additional information related to the hold, including contact information for the office which placed the hold. Resolving your hold in a timely fashion will ensure that there are no delays in your registration for the following semester. If you have any questions about the holds you see on your LOCUS account, you can reach out to your Academic Advisor for additional information.
Step 4: Review Your Degree Audit
The degree audit that you receive when you first meet with your Academic Advisor is an important tool when creating a graduation plan and when enrolling in classes for any given semester. The degree audit includes various pieces of information, such as a listing of your remaining course requirements; your total credit hours earned; a graduation plan; and more. If you need an updated degree audit, please contact your Academic Advisor and they can provide that for you. Your degree audit can be discussed with your advisor anytime that you meet with them to ensure that you're following your plan.
Below is a video that provides you with an overview of the Degree Audit and how to navigate the document. Please note, if you are a graduate degree or certificate seeking student, your degree audit will look different than the demonstration in th video below.
If you have set a graduation plan with your Academic Advisor, you can use the plan in place to support your enrollment. For example, you and your advisor have already outlined what courses you'll be picking up in Spring so that take the guessing work out for your. All you have left to do is find those courses and register for them! If you don't have a graduation plan
In addition to your degree audit, another tool you can use to support your enrollment will be your Academic Requirements Report, or ARR. The ARR is a resource on LOCUS that serves as your official academic record at Loyola. The ARR tracks the various requirement areas you have left to complete similarly to the degree audit. Since SCPS is continuously adding and reviewing academic programs, your ARR may not always populate. You can learn more about accessing and reading your ARR by viewing the video below:
Step 5: Refer to the SCPS Course Schedules
The SCPS Course Schedules are your one-stop-shop for course enrollment information and graduation planning. You can access the SCPS Course Schedules below:
On the site, you will find PDFs of semester schedules that provide you with course enrollment numbers, meeting dates/time, and structure (i.e. synchronous or asynchronous) within each 8-week session. Once you have accessed the document for the semester you want to enroll in, begin to identify courses you will need to satisfy for your requirements.
For example, the student below is selecting CPST 200 Introduction to Degree Completion as their first course since it needs to be satisfied during a new student's first session with SCPS. They also selected a major required course in CPST 310 Accounting Principles & Applications in the Fall I session. They will be using the course number (4-digit number listed after the section number) when enrolling. They also noted that CPST 200 will be a synchronous course since it meets 3 times during the 8-weeks of the session; CPST 310 is an asynchronous course indicating that there are no live course meetings. Please understand that all classes start with the start of the 8-week session and not when the first meeting date is scheduled for the course. Any required meeting a class has, whether it is a synchronous meeting for an online class or an on-campus meeting, will be clearly listed (for example, see CPST 265 Special Topics: Art History below).
On the site, you will also find Course Rotation Schedules that show the annual rotation of courses within the various majors in SCPS. Using this rotation schedule, you can plan out your future classes. You will find a rotation schedule for all Majors, Core, Certificate, Graduate, and School requirements. We make every attempt to adhere to our rotation schedules so that there is consistency in your planning, but please understand that scheduling is subject to change. Now that you have gathered your enrollment information and have looked ahead to the following semesters, you can proceed to the next step.
Step 6: Register!
If you went through Steps 1-5, you should have:
An understanding of the various degree requirements you have to complete to earn your degree
Identified courses you can register for based on your degree requirements
Located course enrollment information through the Course Schedules
Begun planning what future courses you will complete using the Course Rotation Schedule
Now, it is time for you to register!
Registration is completed using LOCUS. Watch the following video to learn how to register for your courses.
Step 7: Enrollment Follow Ups
Now that you have enrolled in your courses for the semester coming up, there are some follow ups on your end that you may want to do depending on your circumstances.
Financial Aid Office
Follow up with the Financial Aid office is needed when:
You drop/withdraw from a course - this will be important if you drop below 6 credit hours for the semester and are receiving federal financial aid (FAFSA)
You add a course - if you add a course and your total enrollment for the semester is at or above 12 credit hours, your financial aid may need to be adjusted to cover the additional courses
Bursar's Office
Your tuition e-Bill is generates on the 15th of the month and carries a due date of the 5th of the following month. For example, if you enroll in your Fall courses on August 1st, your first e-Bill is going to be generated on August 15th and will carry a due date of September 5th. After you have enrolled you can follow up with the Bursar's office to discuss your e-Bill and any payment options you have for satisfying your e-Bill.
Academic Advisor
You will want to reach out to your Academic Advisor if you need to:
Make changes to your enrollment due to a scheduling conflict (e.g. employment, childcare, etc.)
Verify your enrollment with the Financial Aid office (applicable to veteran students receiving benefits)
Receive permission access to enroll in a course
and more!