Auditing a Course

Owner
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education; Associate Dean for Graduate Education and Outreach and Engagement
Amended Date
Amended

Key Contacts 

If you have questions, please contact CLAS Undergraduate Programs. 

Applicability  

Instructors 

Policy Purpose and Description  

CLAS students may choose to take courses without earning credit for them. This is called “auditing” and requires the approval of the course instructor and the appropriate academic advisor. Audited courses do not meet College requirements and carry no credit toward graduation, but students are still charged for auditing.  

Visit the Registrar's tuition tables for more information about tuition and fees. 

Guidelines

Instructor permission is required for a student to audit a course; in some cases, an audit for a course is not appropriate and the instructor may decide not to allow an auditor to join the course even if there is space in the class. 

Auditors generally are required to attend class and to complete all assignments, projects, and exams as the syllabus indicates for enrolled students in the course. The only difference is the grade for an audit, which is recorded asAudit Successful/Audit Unsuccessful (AUS/AUU). Instructors should carefully review these course expectations with the auditor.   

In some cases, an instructor may decide that reducing some assignments or exams, for example, is appropriate for a particular auditor. These details should be discussed, and the instructor and auditor should put this agreement in writing to ensure that disagreements do not occur about whether or not the auditor has earned a successful completion of the audit. 

Instructors should also keep in mind that a student's particular registration status for a course, such as taking the course as an auditor, is considered private information and should not be shared. 

Definitions  

Staying in the same course with the same instructor and same section but decreasing credit hours to zero is an audit.

Procedure 

Changing to an audit may be possible for some courses in MyUI before a course begins. Once a session begins or once an off-cycle course begins if an hours change to audit (zero) is not possible in MyUI then it can be processed using the email option from your uiowa.edu email address to registrar@uiowa.edu. You will still be assessed tuition for auditing a course. Please be sure you have discussed with the instructor what work you will be responsible for if you are approved for an audit.

Required permissions for hours change - decreasing hours to zero for an audit: Advisor and instructor. 

  • Undergraduates – Collegiate permission is required after last day to add without collegiate approval. The course deadline look-up provides course specific deadlines. 
    • Undergraduates: Degree- and nondegree-seeking students need collegiate approval from the college that the course is offered in. Each course description in MyUI lists the college the course is offered through.
  • Graduate students - Degree- and nondegree-seeking graduate students need collegiate approval from the Graduate College after last day to drop without collegiate approval. The course deadline look-up provides course specific deadlines. 

Forms  

Frequently Asked Questions  

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Related Information 

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