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Enrollment Troubleshooting

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If you’re having troubling enrolling in classes, use this guide to help.

If you can’t enroll at all

  • Is enrollment open for your program? Double-check the Academic Calendar. Enrollment typically opens at 12:01am (Pacific Time) on the posted calendar date.
  • Do you have an enrollment hold? On Axess, click into your enrollment hold for details. There’s typically an action you’ll need to take to remove the enrollment hold.
  • Are you on a Leave of Absence? Is your student status discontinued? If so, you won’t be able to enroll. You can find pertinent resources here

If the enrollment tool isn’t working as expected

Here are the basic troubleshooting steps:

Step 1: CRITICAL: Remove any remaining class picks in your enrollment planner or “shopping cart.” Sometimes these class picks can interfere with new enrollment. 

Step 2: CRITICAL: Axess is notoriously cache-sensitive. After clearing your class picks, clear your browser cache, close your browser completely, and retry Axess.

Step 3: Try the other enrollment tool. If steps 1 and 2 didn’t help, remember that you have two enrollment tools: “SimpleEnroll” and “traditional (Axess) enroll.” If SimpleEnroll isn’t working as expected, try “traditional enrollment” (or vice versa). See below for how-to links:

If you can’t enroll in a specific class:

It looks like there should be space in the class. Why won’t the system allow me to enroll?

In a “combined section” class, the overall enrollment cap is fed by multiple sections. When you review the real-time enrollment data for a single section, it may look as if there are spaces available. However, if you try to enroll and the system indicates that the course is full, it’s because those spaces are actually filled by students enrolling in the course’s other “combined section(s).” You may need to add yourself to the waitlist, or choose another class. 

How does the waitlist process work? 

The waitlist process is typically run once every day, and the system will send an email letting you know whether it was able to enroll you. If there was no spot for you, the system will alert you that you have not been enrolled.  

Please note that when the waitlist is between processes, if other students drop the course, it can appear as if there are spaces in the class. However, you may not be able to add to the class roster because the system is waiting to run the waitlist. If there is space available on the waitlist, you may instead add yourself to the waitlist. 

What if I’m on the waitlist but have a time conflict? 

The waitlist process is typically run once every day, and the system will send an email letting you know whether it was able to enroll you. If there was no spot for you, the system will alert you that you have not been enrolled.  

Even if a spot opens up, the system cannot enroll you from the waitlist if you have a time conflict with another course. Despite the auto messaging, there is no way to “override the time conflict.” 

If you have a time conflict, you may drop the time-conflict course, wait to be enrolled from the waitlist if a spot opens up, and then re-enroll in the course you dropped. 

What if I’m on the waitlist but at the max unit limit?

The waitlist process is typically run once every day, and the system will send an email letting you know whether it was able to enroll you. If there was no spot for you, the system will alert you that you have not been enrolled.  

Even if a spot opens up, the system cannot enroll you from the waitlist if this would put you over the max unit limit. 

You may drop another class to reduce your overall credit load, then wait to be enrolled from the waitlist if a spot opens up.

Why doesn’t my permission number work? 

Each permission number pertains to a specific class in a specific quarter, and is valid for only one use. For example, if you enrolled in the course using a valid permission number but then dropped the class, you won’t be able to use that same number to re-enroll. Or, if the permission number pertains to that specific class – but for a prior quarter – it won’t allow you to enroll. Or, if the permission number pertains to a cross-listed class – but not to the class you’re trying to enroll – it won’t work.  

If your permission number is not working, you’ll need to contact the professor/department who gave it to you in order to request a new permission number that is linked to the specific course and valid for this specific term.

I’m an undergraduate student, is there any troubleshooting help specific to my program?

Undergraduate students can reference these troubleshooting tips from Academic Advising.

I’m a dual-degree graduate student, and Axess won’t let me drop a class. How come?

Axess does not allow dual-degree students to drop below the unit minimum in either career, even when enrollment across both careers would still be considered full-time. In order to drop a course, you will need to complete the Multiple Career Enrollment Change request, located in the Student eForms portal. This will tell the Registrar's office which course you'd like to drop and they will manually make the change.

To access the form, log into Axess, then navigate to the Student tab, and hover for megamenu.  Select Student eForms. Then, search for "Multiple Career Enrollment Change." The Registrar’s Office quotes 3-5 business days for processing.

Get help

And, if you need assistance with your enrollment, please reach out to the Student Services Center for assistance. 

We’re best able to help if you attach screenshots of your screen/error message just BEFORE you submit the enrollment request, and just AFTER you have submitted the enrollment request. Please also let us know which browsers you have tried and which platform (Mac/PC) you are using.