Department of Psychological Sciences
Registration FAQ

Each semester the Graduate Coordinator will send you a message alerting you to the start of registration for the following semester. You can also check the Registration Schedule for information about when registration for graduate students begins.

Registration for Spring semester begins on the first Monday in November (November 4, 2024 for Spring 2025).

Registration for Summer and Fall semesters begins on the first Monday in April (April 7, 2025 for Summer and Fall 2025)

If you will have a Graduate Assistantship (GTA, GRA, GA, Practicum placement, off-campus placement) with tuition fellowship for Spring semester or Summer semester, you should register within one week after registration for that semester starts.

If you will have a teaching assistantship (GTA) you should make sure that you are registered within that time frame for all of the courses you will take because Trixie makes GTA assignments based on the course schedule for which you are registered at that time.

If you will have a Graduate Assistantship (GTA, GRA, GA, Practicum placement, off-campus placement) with tuition fellowship for Fall semester, you should register for all of your planned Fall semester courses by June 30. 

To remain eligible for an assistantship (GTA, GRA, GA, Practicum placement, off-campus placement) and the associated tuition fellowship and waiver for a semester, students must register for at least one credit hour for the semester. They must be so registered by the following dates in order for the assistantship appointment for that semester to be processed.

• For assistantship and tuition fellowship for Spring 2025, register by November 11, 2024
• For assistantship and tuition fellowship for Summer 2025, register by April 14
• For assistantship (including teaching assistantship) and tuition fellowship for Fall 2025, register by June 30

If you will have a teaching assistantship (GTA) you should make sure that you are registered within that time frame for all of the courses you will take because Trixie makes GTA assignments based on the course schedule for which you are registered at that time.

HR and Payroll cannot activate an assistantship assignment for a semester in which you are not yet a registered student. If you aren’t registered by the deadline above, Trixie cannot secure your assistantship assignment. If you subsequently register and the department is able to give you a late assistantship assignment, you will likely experience delays and difficulties getting your tuition fellowship credited to your account and you may experience a delay of up to 30 days in receiving your first paycheck for the semester.

Go ahead and register for SOMEthing – e.g., a credit hour of your major professor’s section of PSYC 7990 or PSYC 8990. It is easy to adjust your registration through Add/Drop up until the first day of classes.

You can register for classes and drop classes by logging on to AU Access and following the links to student registration. On the new AU Access interface, if the "My Academics" tab is not obvious when you log on, look to the top left corner of the screen where it says “///AU ACCESS”. To the left of that are three horizontal bars. If you click on the three horizontal bars, the resulting menu window (on the left side of the screen) should give you the “My Academics” option. From there you can follow links to add and drop courses. 

Contact the Registrar's Office (regatau@auburn.edu or 334-844-2544) and explain that you are a continuing student in your PhD program with an expected graduation semester of xxxx and ask why the system is not issuing you a time ticket to register. Copy me on this message. Hopefully they will issue you a time ticket right away so that you can register.

It is possible that they will say that there is something about your record in the system that is preventing issuance of your time ticket. If that is the case, get as much detail as you can from them, then contact the Graduate School staff member who handles students in your part of the alphabet – either Jessica Holley (last names A-I, jlh0002@auburn.edu) or Ibrahim Kareem (last names J-R, ilk0001@auburn.edu) or Sherry Ray (last names S-Z, raysher@auburn.edu). Explain to them what you have learned and ask them to fix it. Copy me on this e-mail as well. Once it is fixed you will likely need to contact the Registrar’s office once more to get a time ticket issued.

It there is a registration hold on your record, neither you nor Psychological Sciences department staff can register you. There should be information on the hold screen that gives you contact information for the office that initiated the hold. Contact them immediately and get the hold cleared as soon as possible so that you can register.

The following scenarios may require you to contact the Graduate Coordinator ("GC"), Thane Bryant (bryangt@auburn.edu), to complete your registration:

1. Variable Credit Courses: if you are registering for a variable credit course (e.g., 7990 Research and Thesis, 8990 Research and Dissertation, 8910 Practicum, 8970), the system will not allow you to specify a number of hours other than 1. Go ahead and register for the one hour and then send the GC an e-mail including the 5-digit CRN of the course and how many hours you want it changed to and he will make the change.
2. Multiple Sections of a Course: if you need to register for more than one section of a multiple section course (e.g., 8970), the system will only allow you to register for one section of it; go ahead and register for one of the sections that you intend to take and then send the GC an e-mail with the course number and 5-digit CRN of the additional section that you want added and the number of credit hours (if it is variable) and he will add it for you.
3. Other Denied Registrations: if the registration system will not let you register for a "PSYC" graduate course because it is full or closed or has a major restriction or prerequisite restriction, send the GC an e-mail with the 5-digit CRN and he will add you to it if he is able to do so.

If you have exhausted all efforts described above to self-register for a PSYC course, send the Graduate Coordinator (Thane Bryant - bryangt@auburn.edu) an e-mail with the course number (e.g., “PSYC 7120”) AND the 5-digit CRN number for the particular section of the course and a description of the error message/code(s) you get when you try to register for the course. If it is a variable credit course, include the number of credit hours you want to register for.

Staff in the Psychological Sciences department can only register you for courses that have the PSYC prefix. If the system will not let you self-register for the course, contact the department that offers the course for information about how to register for it.

Technically, you may register yourself for a course up until the fifth day of classes (second day for Summer terms). After that, the Graduate Coordinator can add PSYC graduate courses for you (with the instructor’s permission) up until the 15th class day (5th class day for Summer semester). After that it is not possible to add anything to your schedule.

You may drop courses online up until Mid-Semester. But remember that there is a $100 fee for each course that you drop after the 5th class day of Fall or Spring Semester (2nd class day of a Summer semester).

Be aware that any credits you drop after the 15th class day (5th class day for Summer semester) will still be counted against your total hours of eligibility for tuition fellowship. For example, if you are registered for 12 credit hours for Summer semester and then drop a 3-credit class after the 5th class day, 12 credit hours of tuition fellowship will be deducted from your balance as a result of your enrollment for the semester, even though you ultimately were registered for only 9 credit hours. Also be aware that the $100 per course drop fee in #11 above is not covered by your tuition fellowship.

In order to have the tuition fellowship you must hold a graduate assistantship of at least a one-third (.33 FTE) appointment with a beginning date no later than the eighth class day of the term (5th class day in summer) and an ending date no earlier than the last day of classes of the same term. The moment you drop all of the coursework on your schedule you will become ineligible to hold your assistantship, which will be terminated. IF YOUR EMPLOYMENT TERMINATES PRIOR TO THE LAST CLASS DAY OF THE SEMESTER, THE TUITION BENEFITS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ASSISTANTSHIP (WAIVER OF IN-STATE AND OUT-OF-STATE TUITION) WILL BE REVOKED AND YOU WILL BECOME LIABLE FOR PAYMENT OF THE FULL AMOUNT.

Graduate students typically must be registered for at least 5 credit hours of coursework that is required for the degree in order to be eligible for financial aid (receiving new loans and/or deferring repayment of existing loans) for that semester. Issues such as student loan grace period and forbearance are beyond the scope of this FAQ.

• For students who have passed the General Doctoral Exam (GDE)(including the oral component): every semester AFTER the semester in which you pass the GDE, the Registrar can co-register you for GRAD 6@@0 Authorized Full Course of Study.
  • GRAD 6@@0 is zero credit hours and certifies you full-time for financial aid purposes (receiving new loans, deferring repayment of previous loans) for that semester.
  • The Registrar will register you for GRAD 6@@0 about two weeks before the start of the semester and only if you are at that time registered for at least one credit hour for that semester.
• For students who have NOT passed the GDE in a previous semester:
  • if you have completed the Master's degree and will not be taking any formal coursework other than Research and Dissertation you may wish to be registered for GRAD 8AA0 Loan Deferment.
    • This registration, when taken in conjunction with one hour of PSYC 8990 Research and Dissertation, certifies you full-time for financial aid while charging you only for one credit hour.
    • Students who are taking credit hours of PSYC 8910 Practicum in addition to 8990 may also use this option.
  • If you have finished all of the requirements on the Master's Plan of Study except for the Thesis and you will not be taking formal coursework other than Research and Thesis, you may wish to register for GRAD 7AA0 Loan Deferment
    • this registration, when taken in conjunction with one hour of PSYC 7990 Research and Thesis, certifies you full-time for financial aid while charging you only for one credit hour.
    • Students who are taking credit hours of PSYC 8910 Practicum in addition to 7990 may also use this option.
• To register for GRAD 8AA0 Loan Deferment or GRAD 7AA0 Loan Deferment:
  • register for yourself for t least one credit hour of PSYC 8990 or PSYC 7990 (your major professor's section).
  • then go to the following page on the Graduate School’s website and scroll down the list and click on “Loan Deferment Form (GRAD 7AA0/GRAD 8AA0)” and follow the directions: Forms Directory