How to Enroll: Registration Guide

A hold may be placed on your account for academic, financial, health and safety, or administrative activity and progress reasons. 

Some of these holds can prevent enrollment in classes if they are not cleared or addressed before your enrollment appointment. To identify these holds and understand how they affect you, follow the steps below. 

1. Open your Student Center
2. Locate the message box titled Holds & Alerts
   1. If “No Holds” is listed, you have no holds or system messages
   2. If items are listed, click the Details link.
   3. Please Note: not all holds prevent registration. Holds that do prevent registration indicate this in the Details section.
3. Click through the hold listing to see more information on the hold's purpose and how to clear it. 

Your enrollment appointment is the Date and Time in which you will be able to enroll in classes for a future term. To identify your Enrollment Appointment, follow the steps below. 

1. Open your Student Center
2. Locate the message box titled Enrollment Dates
3. Identify the correct Term appointment for the semester you intend to register for, as multiple appointment times may be present.

Adding classes during your Priority Enrollment Appointment 

• Enrolling earlier in the registration period increases your chances of finding open spots in the classes you need or prefer
• Enrolling before the first day of instruction gives you more time to evaluate the class and to decide whether it is a good fit for you
  • Most classes do not require permission numbers until the third week of classes.
• All add/drop decisions must be made by the established add/drop deadline for each term

For more information on how to Add, Drop, Swap classes, update grading options or other items, visit our Student Center User guides and our Gator Scheduler User Guides. 

As you plan your courses for next semester, please keep in mind that taking 30 units a year can speed up your path towards earning a degree, saving you time and money. While many students choose to take 15 units each semester, we recognize this does not work for all students. We encourage you to Think 30 and consider enrolling in winter or summer courses to get ahead in your degree! 

SFSU has developed enrollment tools designed to help you locate classes needed for degree completion and generate schedules that work around your needs. 

Review our video guide to learn how to identify instructional modes and review class notes for important attendance details.  

Plan for Timely Degree Completion 

You can plan your entire academic path to graduation using Degree Planner.  Each time you enter the Degree Planner, the system determines which degree requirements you have met and which are still remaining, and then provides a recommended plan promoting timely graduation.  You can make adjustments to your plan 24/7, including moving classes between terms and selecting your preferred unit load each semester. 

1. Open your Student Center
2. Under the Academics header, click the Degree Planner link
   1. For more information on how to use Degree Planner, visit our Degree Planner guide

Search for classes

• Access the Class Search tool
• Select a term
  Choose the correct term from the Term dropdown.
• Enter search criteria
  In the Class Search section, enter at least two of the following:
  • Session
    • CEL classes: leave blank
    • Spring/Fall: select Academic Regular Session
  • Subject
    Select the course subject
  • Course Number
    • If known: choose is exactly and enter the number
    • For GWAR: choose contains and enter GW
  • Course Career
    Select Undergraduate, Graduate/Post-baccalaureate, or Extended Education (CEL)

1. Log in to your Student Center
2. In the Academics section, click Enroll
3. If prompted, select the correct term and click Continue
4. Add classes to your Shopping Cart:
   1. If you already added classes, skip to the next step
   2. If you know the class number: enter it in the Class Nbr box and press Enter
   3. If you don’t know the class number: click Search and select your class

Enrolling in lecture/lab combined sections

A combined section is a lecture and lab or activity that must be taken concurrently. Enrolling in a lecture section will automatically sign you up for a predetermined lab or activity section. Combined sections will be noted in the course details and will also appear in search results as alternating Lecture and Lab options under a single course header.

To enroll in a combined section, enroll in the lecture section using the same procedure as for enrolling in an individual class.

Note: If students select a lab rather than the lecture section while enrolling, they will see an extra prompt asking them to verify the lecture section.

Once you are done adding classes, review your selected classes and confirm your enrollment to complete the process.

1. Click Proceed to Step 2 of 3
2. Click Finish Enrolling

If you are adding during a registration period in which permission is required, please get in touch with the course instructor or department to request a permission number (conditions to receive a permission number vary for each course, department and college). Once obtained, permission numbers can be entered through the Student Center when adding classes to the shopping cart. 

For questions related to getting a permission number, please contact the course instructor or department. For instructions about using a permission number, view our User Guide.

Using permission numbers after the first day of instruction 

Most courses do not require a permission number for enrollment during the first two weeks of a Fall or Spring semester (For Summer, it's the first three days) 

If seats are available and permission is not specified, you can enroll in the course normally until the start of the third week of the semester.  

Link to Dates and Deadlines 

A limited number of waitlist spots are available for the majority of undergraduate courses and select graduate courses. The waitlist option is available for you to select when enrolling in a course. 

When seats become available in a closed course, a process will automatically enroll the first student on the waitlist as long as all prerequisites for the course are met. If you do not meet the course prerequisites, the process will select the next student on the waitlist who satisfies all course prerequisites. You may be waitlisted for up to 12 units at a time. You cannot be waitlisted and enrolled in the same class.

Waitlist scenarios 

• I want to be on the waitlist for a course that conflicts with another open course in which I want to enroll. If I get into the waitlisted course, I will want to drop the course that presents a time conflict. Enroll in the open course using the "add a class" instructions as usual. Next, select the "swap" option and swap the currently enrolled class with the waitlisted course to successfully swap the courses, should seats become available in the waitlisted course.
• I am currently waitlisted for 11 units but want to change the courses I am waiting for because I cannot be waitlisted for more than 12 units. Drop any or all of the courses for which you are waitlisted using the "drop" function. Select the appropriate course to drop, and proceed with the drop process. Once a waitlisted course is dropped, your position number on the waitlist is forfeited. You can now add your desired waitlist course as long as it will not exceed the maximum waitlist units of 12.
• If you have a Registration Hold, the process will select the next student on the waitlist who satisfies all course prerequisites. You may be waitlisted for up to 12 units at a time. 

View your grading option

1. Log in to your Student Center
2. In the Academics section, open the Other Academic dropdown
3. Select one of the following:
   • Grades (to view your current grading status), or
   • Enrollment: Edit

Change your grading option

1. Log in to your Student Center
2. In the Academics dropdown, select Enrollment: Edit and click Go (double arrow)
3. If prompted, select the correct term and click Continue
4. Select your class from the schedule dropdown
5. Click Proceed to Step 2 of 3
6. Choose a new option from the Grading dropdown
7. Click Next
8. Review your changes and click Finish Editing