NRES Online M.S. Blog

Summer is speeding by, and the fall semester will soon be upon us. If you are thinking of taking courses in the NRES Online M.S. program this fall, it's time to start thinking about registration and your progress in the program. Find the resources you need in this post. Please read it carefully for important advice about how to progress smoothly through your degree program.

If you are thinking of taking courses in the NRES Online M.S. program this fall, it's time to start thinking about registration and your progress in the program. Here are some resources to assist you with that:

• Find out what courses are being offered in the program this fall: http://nres.illinois.edu/current_online/courses. Be sure that you are enrolling in online courses (it should have an XM section code).
• Review the degree requirements: http://nres.illinois.edu/current_online/degree_requirements. If you need assistance interpreting the requirements or thinking through the best options for you, contact the NRES Program Director, Dr. Tim Ellsworth (ellswort@illinois.edu) to ask questions or request a telephone advising appointment. Piper Hodson (phodson@illinois.edu), NRES Student Services Coordinator, can also assist you with questions about the requirements.
• Review the number of hours you have earned so far (https://apps.uillinois.edu/selfservice).
  
  + If you are a degree-seeking student who has completed 16 hours toward your degree, your Online Committee Appointment Form is now due in Student Services (this form is available at http://nres.illinois.edu/current_online under the "Forms" heading).
  
  + If you are a non-degree student, remember that you need to be admitted into the program before you have completed more than 12 hours of credit, and the admission process often takes a couple of months from application to final admission. The application deadline for spring admission is November 15th (the deadline for fall admission has already passed). Application information is at http://nres.illinois.edu/future_online/apply.
• Register for courses:
  
  + For admitted students https://apps.uillinois.edu/selfservice. If you have a registration time ticket that doesn’t make sense (i.e. August 28^th), it generally means that the system missed you as an admitted graduate student when it assigned them last spring. You will need to contact Registration Services (registration@illinois.edu or 217-333-6565) and tell them that you are an admitted student in the NRES Online MS program and that you need a corrected time ticket. If you have a hold on your account, please call NRES Student Services for assistance in interpreting it and finding out how to resolve it.
  
  + For non-degree seeking students https://www-s.continuinged.uiuc.edu/ServiceCenter/NonDegreeRegistration/Login/Login.cfm. 
•  Before the first day of classes, make sure that your registration is correct, and make any necessary changes before the relevant add/drop deadlines (http://registrar.illinois.edu/registration/deadlines_FALL2010.html).
• Please note: there are very strict rules for getting a refund for dropped courses. If you are dropping a course, be sure you very carefully read the refund policies (http://www.continuinged.uiuc.edu/oce-sites/outreach/policies-cancel.cfm) as soon as you begin thinking about dropping and again before you make your final decision. According to the Academic Outreach refund policy, “Students who drop a course prior to the tenth day of instruction [which is September 3^rd in Fall 2010] receive a full (100%) refund of the tuition and fees. Thereafter, no refund is allowed.”
• Is it time to petition non-degree or transfer coursework? You can petition to count your non-degree credit toward your degree as soon as you receive the notice of admission from the Graduate College. If you are requesting to transfer credit taken at another institution, you must wait until you have earned 8 hours as a degree-seeking student. The policies regarding non-degree and transfer credit are found at http://www.grad.illinois.edu/gradhandbook/chapterIII/section03. You make both of these requests via the Graduate petition, the process for which is described at http://grad.illinois.edu/gsas/petition_instruct.cfm (non-degree is request 11; transfer is request 13). Please contact NRES Student Services for assistance with this process.

As always, Karen Claus and Piper Hodson in NRES Student Services is here to assist you with your academic progress. You can reach us at (217) 333-5824 or nres-ssc@illinois.edu. If you have questions about specific courses, accessing Elluminate, or other logistical issues, Heather Miller, Academic Outreach Program Director, can assist you. Contact her at (217) 265-6568 or hmiller1@illinois.edu.

Other vital resources:

·         NRES Current Online Students web page: http://nres.illinois.edu/current_online

·         NRES Future Online Students web page: http://nres.illinois.edu/future_online

·         Academic Outreach’s Student Academic Resource Tool: http://www.ao.uiuc.edu/support/start/nres/

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