St. Olaf Policies

Continuing Education, Part-time, Non-degree seeking students

Category: Registrar/ FERPA
Last updated: 11/21/2025

Statement

Guidelines regarding continuing education students, non- degree seeking students, part time students and high school honors students.

Purpose

Guidelines regarding continuing education students, non- degree seeking students, part time students and high school honors students.

Audience

All members of the St. Olaf community.

Definitions

Non-degree seeking students: Non-degree-seeking students are defined as short-term (one year or less) students who do not plan to graduate from St. Olaf and are usually part-time. 

Continuing education students: Non-degree seeking students who are taking a course and does not fall into any of the other student types.

Part time students: Degree-seeking students who intend to graduate from St. Olaf and who wish to register for fewer than three course credits in a semester must have permission from the Dean of Students Office to be enrolled part-time.

High school honors students: High school honors students are part-time, non-degree seeking students from area high schools who may attend one course per semester of their senior year. Acceptance into the program is required.

Policy

Continuing Education

St. Olaf College permits enrollment on a part-time basis in most regular college classes at a reduced rate of tuition.

Continuing education students must:

• Be non-degree-seeking;
• Register on a space-available basis;
• Register after all degree-seeking students have registered, with approval from the instructor of the course.

Persons wishing to take courses as continuing education students must obtain and complete the appropriate forms prior to attending class. Any questions should be directed to the Registrar’s Office.

Regular degree-seeking students who are registered full- or part-time in the traditional college program are not permitted to take courses at the reduced rate as continuing education students.

Non-degree-seeking Students

Non-degree-seeking students are defined as short-term (one year or less) students who do not plan to graduate from St. Olaf and are usually part-time. High school honor students are one category of non-degree-seeking students; continuing education students are also considered non-degree-seeking students. Anyone not in the categories mentioned above who wishes to register as a non-degree-seeking student must contact the Registrar’s Office for forms.

Non-degree-seeking students register after all degree-seeking students have registered, with approval from the instructors of the courses they wish to take.

Non-degree seeking students (that are degree-seeking elsewhere, other than Carleton College) are not eligible for reduced tuition and pay regular (full) tuition and may enroll full or part-time. Tuition must be paid in full on the first day of classes. Tuition for auditing courses is approximately 20 percent of the normal one-course tuition; this tuition applies to full- or partial-credit courses.

For more information see the Non-degree and Special-degree-seeking student procedures webpage.

Part-time Students

Part-time degree-seeking students who intend to graduate from St. Olaf and who wish to register for fewer than three course credits must have permission from the Dean of Students Office to be enrolled part-time.

High School Honors

High school honors students are part-time students from area high schools who may attend one course per semester of their senior year. Acceptance into the program is required.

Exceptions to This Policy

Policy Implementation

The Registrar’s Office is responsible for maintaining the classification and reporting of student status.

Consequences of Violating this Policy

Related Information

History

The policy and definitions in the current academic catalog supersede previous policy and definitions found in archived catalogs.