Regular students
Regular students are those who are admitted to pursue a degree program with the assumption that they complete such a program in approximately eight semesters. Regular students normally take no fewer than 12 and no more than 18 academic credits to ensure adequate progress in their degree programs. An average of 15.5 credits per semester is required to complete the 124-credit degree requirements in eight semesters. Regular students are classified according to the number of credits on record as follows:
First-year: 0-26 Junior: 58-89
Sophomore: 27-57 Senior: 90 or more but not graduated
Graduating seniors, who need four or fewer credits to complete their degree requirements at the beginning of their final semester, should contact the Registrar’s Office to request regular student status on a pay-per-credit basis. Students approved for pay-per-credit may then enroll in up to eight credits and pay the per-credit tuition rate (See Charges/Special Tuition). Students may not be concurrently enrolled at another college in order to meet the credit requirements for pay-per-credit status. Full tuition will be charged for students enrolled in more than four credits. All requests for this status must be submitted to the Registrar’s Office by the last day to add classes each semester.
Students who add additional credits after the last day to add classes must stay within four credits to keep their pay-per-credit status. Graduating seniors who drop classes after the deadline for requesting pay-per-credit status will remain at full tuition even if they drop below four credits.
Special students
Special students are regularly admitted students who wish to pursue a degree program but for certain reasons can do so only at the rate of one or two courses per semester. Applications for special student status must be submitted to the Dean of Students prior to the last day to add classes of the semester in which they are requesting this status. Special students may not represent any college organization, participate in intercollegiate athletics, and are not eligible to be pledged to or hold active membership in organized social groups, except by permission of the Dean of Students.
Nondegree-seeking students
Nondegree-seeking students are those who are approved by the Office of Admission to take certain courses at Whitman College but not to pursue a degree or program. Nondegree-seeking students may not represent any college organization, participate in intercollegiate athletics, and are not eligible to be pledged to or hold active membership in organized social groups. If a nondegree-seeking student wishes at any time to become a regular student (i.e., pursue a degree program), they must file all application credentials for consideration by the Admission Committee (see also "Nondegree-seeking students" under Tuition). Nondegree-seeking students generally may not maintain residence in college housing.
Postgraduate students
Postgraduate students are those who hold a bachelor’s degree and are admitted to pursue further academic work.
Auditors
Auditors may refer to community members admitted to Whitman College for the purpose of enrolling in a class for no grade/credit, or to a current Whitman student who is enrolling in a class for no grade/credit.
- Community members work with the Registrar to enroll in a course and are required to pay the Auditor’s Tuition as indicated in the tuition section.
- Whitman students approved by the Registrar’s Office to pay- per-credit are required to pay the Auditor’s Tuition.
- Whitman student who have paid full-time tuition (12 or more credits) are not required to pay the Auditor’s Tuition since Whitman has one charge for full-time student regardless of the number of credits.
Auditors must submit an Auditing Student Application, signed by the instructor of the course, to the Registrar’s Office before mid-semester. The college will keep a permanent record of all audited work, assigning an “AU” grade with no credit being awarded for successful completion of an audited course. The Registrar’s Office will maintain oversight of completion of audited courses and will remove those students who have not met the requirements agreed upon with the instructor of the course before grades are transcripted.