Key Notes

• Academic Year reporting starts with Fall and ends with Summer.
• Fiscal Year reporting starts with Summer and ends with Winter.

Refer to UNBC Undergraduate Calendar – Regulation 4 for details on student status.

Students may become inactivated in SGASTDN for the following reasons (all levels):

• Required to Withdraw
• Completion of a Bachelor's or Graduate Degree

For undergraduate only:

• No semester registration within the last three consecutive semesters 

For graduate students only:

• Failing to maintain continuous registration
• Approved to withdraw with permission
• Approved Leave of Absence

An admissible applicant is one who meets UNBC’s admission requirements for the program indicated on their application. The implications of admissibility vary by program type and admission status:

General Entry Programs (Undergraduate)

• Admissible: Applicant meets general admission requirements for the program.
• Registration Eligibility: May be eligible to register depending on admission status.
• Admission Statuses:
• Conditional Admission: Applicant currently meets all requirements; pending final documentation.
• Clear Admission: All conditions have been met.
• Provisional Admission: Applicant is missing a prerequisite; admission is granted with conditions.
• Provisional Cleared: Conditions have been met; status updated to clear.

Graduate & Professional Programs

• Admissible: Applicant meets program-specific requirements.
• Next Steps: Application is forwarded to the program for further review.
• Admission Decision: Made by the program; may result in an offer or a decline.
• Registration Eligibility: Not eligible to register until an offer is made and accepted.

Competitive Entry Programs

• Admissible: Applicant meets program requirements.
• Admission Status: May receive conditional admission if not missing prerequisites.
• Assessment: Application is assessed by the Admissions Office, not the programs.

International Applicants

• Admissible: Meets requirements for general, graduate/professional, or competitive entry programs.
• Residency Status: Applicants with residency status N or M must pay the international admissions deposit before receiving admission letters.

An applicant who receives a positive admission decision code is considered admissible and is eligible to:

• Register for courses
• Access university services

As part of this process, a general student record is created in the student information system.

Declined Admission / Admit No Show

• An applicant is considered to have declined admission if they formally reject their offer of admission to UNBC.
• Alternatively, if an applicant has a positive admission decision but does not register for courses by the Add/Drop deadline, their status is updated to Admit No Show.

Deferred Admission

A deferred admission occurs when an applicant has been admitted for a specific semester, but chooses to postpone their admission to a future semester.

• This action generates a new application record with a new positive admission decision code.
• The deferred application reflects the updated semester of intended registration.

Admit No Shows (Related to Deferred Admission)

Admit No Shows refer to cases where a student may register for a different semester than originally admitted.

• In such cases, an Admissions Officer creates a new application record to reflect the semester the student intends to register for.
• This process results in a deferred application record, aligning the student’s registration with their actual semester of attendance.

An application is considered refused (or denied) when the applicant has not been offered admission to UNBC. This may occur for several reasons, including but not limited to:

• The applicant does not meet the admission requirements for the program.
• The application was incomplete or submitted past the deadline.

Drop:

• Occurs within the Add/Drop period.
• The course is removed from the student’s schedule.
• Does not appear on the student’s transcript.

Withdrawal:

• Occurs within the official withdrawal period.
• The course remains on the transcript with a withdrawal notation.
• In extenuating circumstances (e.g., compassionate withdrawal), a student may request a late withdrawal outside the standard period.

See: UNBC Semester Dates – Undergraduate Calendar and UNBC Semester Dates – Graduate Calendar

UNBC Semester Terminology: Seasonal vs. Monthly Naming

Current Usage (Post-2004/05):

Academic Calendars and transcripts now refer to semesters by month:

• September Semester (formerly Fall)
• January Semester (formerly Winter)
• May Semester (formerly Summer)

This change aligns with how semesters are structured in the academic calendar:

• September to December
• January to April
• May to August

However, note the institutional research uses seasonal names for external reporting.  

• Fall = September
• Winter = January
• Summer = May

Seasonal definitions allow flexibility for start and end date variances, which is useful for longitudinal data comparisons and external benchmarking.

Full-time status in IR reporting is determined using either a 60% or 80% course load threshold, depending on the data requestor.

• 60% definition (used internally):
  • Undergraduate: ≥9 credits or in a co-op work term
  • Graduate: ≥6 credits
  • PhD: always full-time
• 80% definition (used externally):
  • Undergraduate: ≥12 credits or in a co-op work term
  • Graduate: ≥6 credits or enrolled in designated high-load activities (e.g., thesis, comprehensive exam)
  • PhD: always full-time

A student is considered graduated when the university has officially recorded that they’ve completed all the requirements for their credential and the credential has been awarded.

• The student’s program is marked as “Awarded”
• The student’s degree status is one of the following:
  • Awarded Degree
  • Completed All Requirements
  • Graduation Approved
  • University Approved
  • Or similar statuses that indicate the student has finished their program

Once this is confirmed, the student’s status is no longer active, and they are considered inactivated in the system, unless they are registered in a different program.

Note: the term "completers" may also be used instead of "graduated."

A leaver is a student who has no further registration records at UNBC and has not received a credential from UNBC—i.e., they are not a completer. Leavers are monitored with a three-term grace period, during which their future enrollment status is unknown. If they do not return after this period, they are confirmed as leavers.

The term leaver refers to any student who leaves the institution after enrollment, regardless of whether they graduated, transferred, or left for other reasons.

Note: a leaver may become a stop out if they re-enroll after an extended absence.

In IR reporting, student entry is categorized in three ways:

• New to UNBC: First term the student has any registration record at UNBC, including dropped or withdrawn courses.
• New to Level: First term the student is registered at their current academic level (e.g., undergraduate, graduate, PhD).
• New to Program: First term the student is registered in their current program, defined by a combination of level, major, and degree, grouped by department.

An applicant is considered accepted if:

• They have an application with a positive admission decision code, and
• They have an active registration record for the same application term, where:
  • The program information in the student record
  • Matches the program information in the application record

An applicant is considered offered when they have been formally admitted to the university. This status typically requires the applicant to take further action, such as:

• Accepting the offer, and/or
• Paying a deposit

Who Receives Offers of Admission?

• Competitive Entry Programs
• Professional Programs
• Graduate Programs
• International Applicants (including those applying to general entry programs)

A student is considered part-time if their enrolled credit load falls below the full-time threshold. In IR reporting, this typically means:

• Undergraduate:
  • Fewer than 9 credits (60% definition)
  • Or fewer than 12 credits (80% definition), depending on reporting context
• Graduate:
  • Fewer than 6 credits, or not enrolled in designated high-load activities
  • PhD students are always considered full-time and are not classified as part-time.

A student is considered to be registered if they have active registration for the term in question.

Note that registration reports typically exclude the following programs: Northern Medical Programs, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy.  

A Requirement to Withdraw is a university-initiated action that removes an active student’s ability to enroll in future semesters. After the current semester concludes, the student’s record may be inactivated.

• Students may be eligible to return and register at a later date.
• An appeal process is available for students who wish to challenge the Requirement to Withdraw decision.

Requirement to Withdraws are typically specific to an academic standing that is assigned to undergraduate students.  More information  can be found in Regulation 48: Conditions of Academic Standing

At the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), a semester is defined as a division of the academic year during which courses are taken. Each semester at UNBC is four months long.

UNBC's academic year runs from September 1 to August 31, and is typically divided into three main semesters:

• September Semester: September to December
• January Semester: January to April
• May Semester: May to August

The language for semester or term may vary depending on audiences.  Semesters and intercessions should be used in reference to the Academic Calendars and enrolment reports, whereas functional users may use terms.

An applicant may meet all admission requirements for a program, but cannot be offered admission due to limited program capacity.

This status is most commonly applied to graduate programs, as applications are reviewed in batches following a set deadline, and all qualified applicants are considered together.

Only a limited number of seats are available, and not all qualified applicants can be accommodated.

A student is considered a stop out if they have more than three consecutive terms without active registration record prior to returning.  

Note that any "leaver" has the potential to become a "Stop Out" when they reenroll.

In IR reporting, a returning student is one who has previously registered at UNBC and has returned after a break in enrollment or a change in program. This status may be identified in three ways:

• The student has a past registration record, regardless of credit load.
• The student has re-enrolled in a program they previously left or changed.
• The student is coded as "Returning" in administrative systems, though this may later update to "Continuing" after end-of-term processing.

A course waitlist is a queue of students who wish to enroll in a course that has reached its maximum enrollment capacity.

• Students on the waitlist are not officially registered in the course.
• If a spot becomes available (e.g., a registered student drops the course), students are moved into the course in the order they were waitlisted.

There are two codes used to track waitlists; one is WL (if completed by the Office of the Registrar), and the other is WZ (if a student waitlists themselves). 

An applicant is considered qualified for admission (they meet all program requirements) but there are not enough available spots in the incoming class to offer admission immediately.

• The applicant is admissible, but placed on a waitlist.
• If a spot becomes available, a seat will be offered to the applicant.