Approval Codes
- Sara Cook
Overview
Approval (add) codes are a means for an academic department or course instructor to allow a student to register, bypassing registration restrictions on the course. Examples of restrictions a code will bypass are:
Instructor or department approval required prior to registration
Major limitations
Level limitations
Closed or full classes
Course pre-requisites
Prior to enrollment pass one for a given quarter, the Office of the Registrar informs academic departments that approval codes are available via eGrades or STAR. Pass dates can be found here. For courses with required secondary sections, approval codes are made for each secondary section, not for the primary.
Limitations to the number of codes
There are limitations put on the number of codes that may be available for a particular course or section. At the request of Dean of Undergraduate Studies, the following limits are in place.
Until the end of pass two, the number of codes generated will be the larger of 5 codes or 20% of the capacity of the room size for classes in general assignment classrooms. (Please note the capacity is different than the enrollment max).
Classes held in department-controlled classrooms will print the number requested.
After pass 2, the 110% “College Limit” rule goes in to effect. This allows for codes to be created until the number of enrolled students plus the number of unused codes totals 110% of the room capacity. Please note that the formula applies not only to the section, but to the total enrollment and total number of unused codes for all sections in relation the primary room capacity. To summarize, the system will limit creation of codes as follows:
Current enrollment (Registered students)
+ Approval codes not already used
+ New codes you wanted
Total can’t be more than 10% over capacity of the room*
*Please note – Although departments will be able to create approval codes 10% beyond a room’s max capacity, this does not mean that a course should be over enrolled by 10%. The max capacity for every classroom is assigned by the Fire Marshall, and student enrollments are not expected to exceed the official max capacity of any given classroom. It is up to the department and instructor to ensure that a course’s enrollment does not exceed the capacity of the assigned classroom.
If you attempt to order codes beyond the number allowed by the rules above, you will get the message: Approval code request exceeds the College limit. You may contact the Curriculum and Scheduling staff in the Office of the Registrar and they will review the limitations pertaining to your course.
Creating codes in STAR
To create codes in STAR, access the C-update screen. From the update screen, codes can either be created one-at-a-time or created in a batch.
To create one code on-demand, press F6 from the C-update screen for the section. A pop-up window will appear with the code number. Write the number down. This option is meant for use when your plan to issue the code immediately to a student. It will not be available for distribution in eGrades or the Approval Code Extract report in STAR.
To create a batch of several codes, access the C-update screen, change the number of codes (located around the center of the screen) by adding the number of new codes desired to the existing number. In the example below the number 15 would be changed to the new total number of codes desired. To order 10 new codes, change 15 to 25. Again, the system will only allow creation of codes based limitation rules described above.
Viewing/Canceling codes
From the C-update screen in STAR, the codes created for a section can be viewed and, if desired, cancelled. To see the list of codes press F8. It will show the code numbers created and when, the name and perm of the student that used the code and the date used. To cancel a code, enter a “Y” in the cancel field next to the code. Your user ID and the date cancelled will appear.
Troubleshooting
Do not send students to the Office of the Registrar to be issued an approval code. Approval codes are issued by the department or instructor of the course involved. The Office of the Registrar does not issue codes directly to students. The students will be directed back to the department. A code can only be used once, even by the same student. If it’s used, then the class is dropped, then the student attempts to use it again, the code will not work the second time.
If a code is given to more than one student, it will only work for the first student to use it.
If a student complains that the code they were given is invalid or does not work, go to the F8 screen from the C-update screen in STAR and view the listing of codes to see if it has been used, by whom and when. Additionally, verify that the code is for the section (enrollment code) the student is trying to add.
See Also
