Priority registration for the fall 2023 semester ended on April 11. It is important that eligible students register for the upcoming semester to ensure they are retained in the college and get into the classes they need to graduate.
Our academic advising team has been busy conducting outreach to students who have not yet registered for fall.
This spring, there were 849 students eligible to register for the fall semester. This group does not include graduating seniors or incoming freshmen. Of those 849 students, 736, or 86.7% have registered, while 13.3%, or 113 students, have not.
Unregistered students are evenly distributed across class years. The highest number of unregistered students are seniors at 34.
Unsurprisingly, the number of unregistered students tracks with the enrollment in each major. The largest number of unregistered students is in the college’s largest major, advertising and public relations at 45. While the smallest number of unregistered students, 9, is in journalism.
Unregistered students tend to be lower academic performers, indicating they may be at risk of leaving the college. The average GPA for unregistered students is a 2.6, much lower than the average GPA of registered students at 3.3. Additionally, unregistered students attempted fewer credit hours in spring 2022, with an average of 12.8 attempted, than those students who have registered, with an average of 14.3 attempted credit hours.
One primary reason students do not register for upcoming terms is academic holds, which inhibit students from registering for classes. There are several reasons students may have an academic hold:
- Graduation Planning Hold: A hold placed on students who have earned 75 credit hours to force them to visit their academic adviser to ensure they are on track for graduation.
- Health Center Hold: A hold placed on students who have not submitted required vaccination records to the university.
- Probation Hold: A hold placed on low-performing students until they develop an academic recovery plan.
- Student Accounts>$200: A hold placed on students who owe more than $200 on their student account.
- Other: A hold placed for a myriad of miscellaneous reasons.
Sixty-nine percent of current unregistered students have no hold, meaning there is no UNL-imposed barrier to registration for these students. The remaining 30.9% of students have a hold on their student account.
Over the next several weeks, our academic advising team will continue to conduct outreach to students to encourage them to get registered. Our academic advisers will take the lead on students who have no holds. Academic Navigator Sara Troupe will take the lead on students who need assistance navigating the university processes required to have student account holds lifted.