Registration Academic Policy

Academic Advising

Academic Advising is an essential process in the university setting. Upon entering Messiah University, students are assigned a faculty academic advisor. Academic advisors are available during their regularly scheduled office hours or by appointment at other times. In addition, a student may communicate with his or her advisor any time by email. A reasonable response time is 2-3 business days. While academic advising assists students in their academic planning, it is ultimately the student's responsibility to meet the academic requirements for graduation. Each student is expected to communicate regularly with his or her advisor to discuss the development and implementation of a plan for academic goals.

Registration

Students admitted to the University formally register for classes using the student information system after consultation with his/her academic advisor. Registration materials, including the schedule of classes, will be made available to current students in March (for fall term), October (for spring term), and January (for summer term). Subsequent to the advising meeting, the advisor releases an Advisor Hold on Registration and the student registers for courses at the appropriate time. Prior to registration, students must ensure their accounts are up to date with Student Financial Services.

Drop/Add/Withdraw (Change in Registration)

• Add: Students add courses to their schedule in Self-Service following the dates on the Dates & Deadlines page. Once a part-of-term begins, registration in a course may be permitted in mitigating circumstances with permission of the instructor, advisor and registrar’s office. Requests must be emailed to the registrar’s office at gradregistrar@messiah.edu.
• Drop: Students can drop a course in Self-Service following dates published on the Dates & Deadlines page and prior to the beginning of the part-of-term.
• Withdraw: Student may withdraw from a course once a part-of-term begins, and requests to withdraw must be emailed to the registrar’s office at gradregistrar@messiah.edu. The date of the email determines the withdrawal date and corresponding refund amount. Students may withdraw from a class through completion of two-thirds of the part-of-term. Courses withdrawn on or after the first day of class and through the completion of two-thirds of the part-of-term will be indicated with a W (withdraw) on the student’s transcript and are not calculated in the grade point average. Approval to add or withdraw from a course once a part-of-term begins results in assessment of a standard processing fee.