FAQs for UT Austin Academic Advisors
How will UT Austin students benefit from UEX courses?
University Extension offers a wide variety of courses from UT Austin’s course inventory in flexible formats. Admission to UT is not required, students can enroll 365 days a year, and credit is recorded on their UT Austin transcript. Most UEX courses are offered online, allowing participation from anywhere in the world. These courses can be a great solution for students facing busy schedules, closed sections with long waitlists, un-met prerequisites, or final degree plan requirements. UT students often take UEX courses to ensure they stay on track for graduation, or to make progress towards their degree while away at an internship, traveling or working a summer job. They also can be of tremendous benefit to those who will be away from campus for a semester or more and want to stay engaged.
Applicability of UEX courses and eligibility to enroll depends on the policies of the student’s home college or school. Learn more.
What are the different types of UEX courses?
UEX offers self-paced and semester-based courses.
Self-paced courses are asynchronous online courses. Students may register and start the coursework at any time and progress through the coursework at their own pace with feedback and grading from the instructor. All courses include online proctored exams. Learn more.
UEX's semester-based courses include face-to-face courses that meet on the UT Austin main campus one or two evenings a week, and online courses. Some online courses require students to log in at a specific time to participate in a lecture or group activities, while others are on-demand and allow students to watch lectures and submit assignments on their own time each week. If an online course has a live meeting requirement, the time will be listed on the course schedule.
How do UEX courses affect GPA, residency or other degree requirements?
UEX course grades are calculated into a student’s cumulative UT GPA. They do not count in the semester GPA, and they do not count toward the student’s in-residence hour calculation for most scholarships. Applicability of UEX courses towards degree requirements depends on the policies of the student’s home college or school.
On a UT Austin transcript, all UEX courses will appear under the header “TEXAS Extended Campus.” Self-paced courses will appear as Correspondence credit, and semester-based courses are listed as Extension credit. If a course was taken for a grade and is part of the Core Curriculum, the transcript will also indicate “Core Curriculum Coursework Undertaken at The University of Texas at Austin.”
Dropped UEX courses do not appear on a UT transcript and do not count toward the student’s Q-drop limit. Dropped semester courses are, however, reported to the Registrar’s Office and to the Office of Financial Aid for enrollment verification requirements and reports. UEX’s drop deadlines for semester-based courses are similar to those on the UT calendar.
Does financial aid apply to UEX courses?
Students Only Enrolled in University Extension: Federal or state subsidized financial aid is not available if you are only taking courses with University Extension.
Students Simultaneously Enrolled at UT Austin: In most cases, University Extension’s semester courses can count toward your full course load certification for financial aid and similar certifications as long as you meet the required minimum enrollment hours (6 for Undergrad and 3 for Graduate)and are maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) for financial aid. Contact Texas One Stop for more information.
Self-paced online courses do not count towards enrollment for financial aid purposes.
What kinds of approvals might UT students need before enrolling in UEX courses?
Students in the following colleges will need approval from their college under concurrent enrollment procedures in order to enroll in a UEX course: Cockrell School of Engineering, College of Fine Arts, Jackson School of Geosciences, Moody College of Communication, and the Graduate School.
Additionally, students will need to obtain approval to enroll in semester-based courses with a specified prerequisite or math and science self-paced courses.
If a student is unsure about the prerequisites for a course, they should contact UEX advising to request approval.
During the summer, if a course is offered in the same modality through UEX and UT, then UT students will need advisor approval in order to register with UEX. Advisors can email uex@austin.utexas.edu to provide this approval.
Can students on dismissal enroll?
Students on dismissal may take UEX self-paced courses. A dismissed student who wishes to enroll in a semester-based course may do so only with approval from their college advising office and a UEX advisor. Enrollment in these classes can help students make progress on their degree plan and potentially improve their GPA. Many UT Austin colleges and schools will recommend UEX courses to students on dismissal to support their appeal to return early, provided they meet certain grade requirements on their coursework.
How do I know if a course fulfills a Flag?
Course-level flags on campus do not automatically apply to UEX courses. UEX courses that have been approved to carry a Flag will have a small, yellow icon included with the course name in the online course lists. Also, one of the search options on UEX's course lists is "Skills & Experience Flags," so you can view just the courses that carry flags. Details about the Flag will be noted in the course description. The Flag credit will automatically appear on the student’s record, but only after completion of the course.
For courses that do not carry a Flag but that appear to meet the requirements, students may submit a petition to Undergraduate Studies to have the course considered for Flag credit. Unless the Flag is noted in the course description, students should not assume a course meets a Flag requirement without first submitting a petition and/or speaking with a Flags Advisor.
Does UEX issue refunds?
Refunds may be issued in some circumstances, but conditions and deadlines may differ from those applied by the UT Registrar. Please refer to UEX’s refund policies and calendar for more information.
Who teaches UEX courses?
UEX courses are taught by UT Austin professors or instructors approved by UT Austin academic departments and colleges. Instructors of classroom and semester-based online courses interact with students regularly and encourage significant student-to-student interaction. Classroom courses may have low faculty-to-student ratios, which allow students significant time to interact with faculty.
In self-paced online courses, students work more independently, but receive feedback from instructors as they progress through the course, and students may ask questions or request additional feedback via email at any time.
How long does it take UEX grades to be posted?
For self-paced courses, it can take up to two weeks after the final exam has been taken for a course grade to appear on the student’s transcript. Semester-based course grades are posted at the same time as residential semester courses.
We strongly encourage students who are taking a course in their graduating semester to be aware of degree audit deadlines.
How can I tell if a student is enrolled in a UEX course?
Advisors can look in the Advisor’s Toolkit under "Course Info/University Extension Courses" for current and past UEX enrollment(s). The display for self-paced courses will show a high-level summary, including when the student enrolled, how many assignments have been completed, the numerical grade average and the course completion date.
If a UEX course disappears from the Advisor’s Toolkit, then the student may have finished or dropped the course, or a deadline may have passed. In these cases, contact UEX Student Services to verify the student’s status.
