Semester-based courses

• are offered each semester—spring, summer, and fall
• start at specific times and can vary in length
• offer more structure than self-paced courses
• have regular assignments and deadlines to help you stay on track, but don’t require that you show up at a particular place and time, except for proctored examinations

Note that policies and the registration process for these courses depend on the type of student you are, so you will first need to determine which student category you fit into.

Student Categories or Student Types

• Degree-seeking students: These are graduate and undergraduate students who have already been accepted into a degree program offered by the University of Illinois' Urbana-Champaign campus.
• Nondegree students: These are students who are not currently admitted into a degree program on the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois. University of Illinois students at the Chicago and Springfield campuses are considered nondegree students.
• Noncredit students: These students enroll in noncredit courses for their own personal or professional enrichment. They do not have to be admitted to a degree program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

We also have transfer students; in general, these students are treated as degree-seeking students, as they have usually been newly accepted in a degree program on this campus and are transferring from another institution to complete a degree. Potential transfer students (those who have not yet been accepted into a degree program, but are considering a transfer) should consider themselves nondegree students until they are accepted (at which point, they will become degree-seeking students).