Registration
Advising Week
Scheduled once per semester, students are required to meet with their academic adviser to discuss semester and degree planning prior to advance registration. Following this meeting, academic advisers may remove the advance registration hold, permitting students to access advance registration.
Advance Registration
At registration in November for the spring semester and in April for the fall semester, students are required to indicate their intention to return to active academic study by enrolling in courses for the following term. The registration process involves selecting courses, obtaining approval of the faculty adviser and instructors, and enrolling in courses using TCOnline, Trinity’s online registration system. Enrollment in some courses, such as a thesis, teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and independent studies, requires the submission of the properly completed Special Registration Forms to the Registrar’s Office. To make normal progress toward the degree, a student is expected to enroll in and complete an average of nine course credits each academic year. A normal course load for a semester is 4 to 5 course credits. Degree candidates must register for at least 4 course credits each term unless they are admitted to the College as part-time candidates, have the permission of the Academic Affairs Committee, or have an accommodation from the Student Accessibility Resource Center. Students cannot register for courses that meet at the same time. For courses that overlap, students must request permission from both instructors and ask them to submit a Time Conflict Override form available on the Registrar’s website.
Graduate courses may be taken by undergraduates with the written permission of the faculty adviser, the instructor, and the director of graduate studies.
Enrollment in more than 5.75 credits generally results in an additional tuition charge. Some independent courses such as independent studies, teaching assistantships, etc. may be exempt from the tuition surcharge; contact the Student Accounts Office for more information.
Registration outside Trinity
Students who wish to study at a school with which Trinity has a consortial cross-registration agreement, such as the member institutions of the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education, Wesleyan University, or Connecticut College, should make arrangements through the Registrar’s Office.
Auditing
Courses may be audited by degree candidates with permission of the instructor. No examinations or credit are given for audited courses. Audited courses do not appear on student transcripts. Spouses of undergraduate students may audit a course with the permission of the instructor, but are not required to register formally for the course. If spouses should wish to take courses for credit, they should seek admission as special students and will be charged the same rate special students are charged for individual courses.
Check-in
At the beginning of each term all students who intend to study in that term must “check-in” using TCOnline. At check-in, students must update their home address, phone numbers, emergency contacts, and off-campus addresses. Check-in is required of all students and failure to do so by the deadline will result in a late check-in fee of $50.
Add/Drop Period
The Add/Drop Period starts shortly after Advance Registration and runs through the first six class days of the next term. (An add/drop period occurs mid-semester for second and fourth quarter courses.) During this time, students may add courses when space is available or with the permission of the instructor. The add/drop period for the January Term and summer sessions are parallel with those of the fall and spring semesters; deadlines are posted on the academic calendar and on the summer sessions website.
Late Adds and Drops
Students occasionally are granted permission by the Academic Affairs Committee to add or drop a course after the deadline. Permission is granted usually only for requests within a week after the deadline. Late drops are usually only approved when the course was never attended and it can be verified by the instructor. Since the Academic Affairs Committee believes that course withdrawals and the grade of W are not punitive, that option is usually offered instead of Late Drops.
Midterm and Withdrawal Period
Students may withdraw from courses (with a non-punative grade of W) up to and including Mid-term (the day exactly halfway through the term is marked as Mid-term on the academic calendar), except in the case of physical education or other quarter courses, which must be dropped by the Friday of the fourth full week of each quarter. Following the withdrawal deadlines, students who wish to make changes to their enrollment must petition the Academic Affairs Committee for approval. The withdrawal deadlines for the January Term and summer sessions are parallel with those of the fall and spring semesters; deadlines are posted on the academic calendar and on the summer sessions website.
Late Withdrawal
Students occasionally are granted permission by the Academic Affairs Committee to withdraw from a course after the deadline. Permission is granted only for extenuating circumstances, which include, but are not limited to, verified, wholly unusual or unforeseen difficulty of the magnitude of serious illness or death in the immediate family, and when the student cannot complete the course by being granted an incomplete. Students who feel their circumstances warrant late withdrawal should schedule a meeting with the dean of students, who, if the dean concurs, will advise the student on the procedures for petitioning the Academic Affairs Committee. Petitions will not be approved if a student wishes to withdraw from a course simply because the student is not performing well, finds the material too difficult, has undertaken too great a workload (including coursework, co-curricular activities, and employment), etc.