Class Permissions
Class Permissions are a feature of PAWS that allow students to enroll themselves in classes when they would be otherwise unable due to the class being closed, missing prerequisites, required consent, or career restrictions. The benefit of Class Permissions is that they allow students to enroll themselves via PAWS, rather than using a paper Registration Change Form. This can save time for the instructor or department granting the permission, as well as the student who would otherwise need to get signatures on the paper form and deliver it to the Registrar’s Office for processing. Each of the overrides is described below.
- Closed Class: If there are no available seats in a class section, a Class Permission can be granted with an override to allow students to enroll regardless of the established capacity.
- Class Requisite: If a student does not meet an enforced pre-requisite or co-requisite for a class section, a Class Permission can be granted with an override to allow students to enroll regardless of the missing requisite.
- Consent Required: If a class section is set-up to require instructor or department consent to enroll, a Class Permission can be granted with an override to allow students the necessary consent to enroll.
- Career Restriction: If a class section is set-up to only allow students in a certain career (i.e., undergraduate or graduate) to enroll, a Class Permission can be granted with an override to allow students in an otherwise restricted career to enroll.
IMPORTANT: The Permission Time Period override should not be used (except by select off-campus programs). This override grants access to students to enroll beyond the established add deadline. Students enrolling after the add deadline currently need to use a Registration Change Form (PDF) that is signed by their instructor AND school/college advising office for undergraduate students or Office of Graduate Education for graduate students, and submitted to the Registrar’s Office in Mellencamp 274 for processing. Some classes also require additional departmental approval beyond the instructor signature to enroll.
The Registrar’s Office actively monitors enrollments that take place after the add deadline as a result of the Permission Time Period override being activated. Students who are allowed to enroll without following the appropriate process for late adds will be administratively dropped from those classes. Departments and/or administrative users that consistently issue permissions with the Permission Time Period override turned on that result in enrollments after the add deadline will have their access to issue class permissions revoked. See step #7 in “Using Class Permissions” below for instructions on turning off specific overrides.
Within the Class Permissions page in PAWS, access may be further restricted based upon subject area. Most department staff only have access to Class Permissions related to the classes offered by their academic units.
IMPORTANT: According to academic policy, permission to override closed classes, missing class requisites, and class consent is under the authority of the academic department or program offering the class. Academic advisors only should assign Class Permissions with the approval and understanding of the academic department or program.
For questions or requests related to accessing Class Permissions, contact the Registrar’s Office via our Contact Form.
Every class in PAWS is automatically set-up to have either Student-Specific Permissions or Permission Numbers, never both for the same section. For multi-part classes, the permission is granted for the enrollment section (typically lectures), which then carries forward to apply to the related sections (typically discussions and labs).
Student-Specific Permissions and Permission Numbers provide the same class overrides. The difference is that a Student-Specific Permission is linked to a particular student in PAWS, and therefore only can be used by that student. A Permission Number, on the other hand, can be used by any student. In addition, a Permission Number needs to be entered into the enrollment transaction by the student, whereas the Student-Specific Permission allows the student to enroll using the overrides without any additional steps in the enrollment process.
Student-Specific Permissions are the default form of class permissions in PAWS due to the lack of additional steps required for the student during enrollment. It is also more secure, since the permission is tied directly to the student in PAWS, and provides a clear audit trail.
The links below will take you to step-by-step instructions on issuing class permissions:
Granting Student-Specific Permissions (for department schedule builders and advisors)
Granting Cross-Career Permissions (for department schedule builders and advisors)
How to Generate Permission Numbers (for department schedule builders)
Issuing Class Permission Numbers (for department schedule builders and advisors)
Scenario #1: Multiple sections of a class are being reserved for select students via consent to enroll. The students are allowed to pick from any of the reserved sections.
In this situation, the select students should be put on student-specific permission lists for each of the sections being reserved. The only override that is necessary is Consent Required, unless the students also do not meet any enforced requisites for the class or are not in the required career for the class (i.e., undergraduate or graduate). The Closed Class override should be turned off for the students to avoid over-enrolling any of the sections. The Permission Time Period override always should be turned off.
Scenario #2: Select students are being given permission to enroll above the capacity in a particular section, but only if they are otherwise eligible to enroll in the section (i.e., meet requisites, etc.).
In this situation, the select students should be put on a student-specific permission list for the section. The only override that is necessary is Closed Class. The Requisites Not Met and Career Restriction overrides should be turned off for the students in order to ensure the students are eligible to enroll in the section. The Permission Time Period override always should be turned off.
Scenario #3: Transfer students are being granted permission to enroll in classes for which they do not meet the enforced requisites based on missing transfer work in PAWS.
In this situation, the students should be put on a student-specific permission list for the section. The only override that is necessary is Requisites Not Met. The Closed Class override should be turned off for the students to avoid giving them permission to over-enroll a section. The Permission Time Period override always should be turned off.
Scenario #4: Students do not meet the enforced requisites for a class, and the class is full, but they are granted permission to be added to the waitlist for the class.
In this situation, the students should be put on a student-specific permission list for the section. The only override that is necessary is Requisites Not Met. The Closed Class override should be turned off, otherwise the student will enroll directly into the class rather than onto the waitlist. The Permission Time Period override always should be turned off.
Scenario #5: Permission numbers are being printed out to give to an instructor to distribute to select students.
In this situation, all of the permission numbers that are given to the instructor should be marked as Issued on the Class Permission page in PAWS (step #5 above). It is highly recommended that the class section is set-up to require consent to enroll, at this point, and the enrollment capacity should be kept at its regular intended level rather than dropping it to zero. That way, the permission numbers only need to include the Consent Required override, and the instructor is not required to track how many students are issued a permission relative to the current enrollment in the class or investigate whether a student is otherwise eligible to enroll in a class. Turning off the Closed Class override will avoid over-enrolling the section, and turning off the Requisites Not Met and Career Restriction overrides will avoid issuing a permission to a student who is not otherwise eligible for the section. The Permission Time Period override always should be turned off.