This glossary is meant to provide UC Berkeley students with key terms related to registration and enrollment.
Berkeley Academic Guide: The Berkeley Academic Guide is the university’s central catalog, produced by the Office of the Registrar. It allows students, faculty, staff, and the general public to compare programs, find detailed degree requirements, explore classes, and learn more about the unparalleled academic opportunities available at UC Berkeley.
CalCentral: A personalized dashboard that centralizes student data from dozens of campus sources. CalCentral is where you will review, receive messages, and take action on your student billing account, financial aid, enrollment, grades, records, and advising. Use your CalNet authentication to log in to CalCentral.
Cal Student Central (CSC): Cal Student Central is a service-oriented department dedicated to assisting UC Berkeley students and the community to successfully navigate several key departments that affect a student’s career at UC Berkeley.
Cancel for Non-Payment Policy (CNP): A policy intended to encourage students to enroll and pay their tuition and fees on a timely basis. The Cancel for Non-Payment Policy is currently suspended.
Cancellation (of registration): The process of withdrawing from UC Berkeley (dropping all classes) before the first day of instruction for a term. For details, visit Cancellation & Withdrawal.
Class Schedule: The Class Schedule is a robust tool to help you explore UC Berkeley’s curricula and find classes that fit your needs.
Course Catalog: The Course Catalog includes all courses currently approved to be taught at UC Berkeley. Only a subset of courses that appear are offered each semester.
Course Loads: The number of units a student is enrolled in for a given term. There are varying minimum and maximum requirements for course loads. For details about course loads, visit How to Enroll in Classes.
Delegate (access): Allows a student to grant access to certain aspects of their student account in CalCentral. Delegates can be parents, guardians, spouses, or any other person. For details, visit Delegate Access.
Early Drop Deadline (EDD): Some courses have drop deadlines earlier than the general deadline. Early Drop Deadline classes can be dropped only through the Friday of week two of the semester. For details about EDD, visit How to Enroll in Classes.
Enrolled: Being enrolled in a course indicates a student has successfully added all required components (lecture, discussion, lab, etc.) of the class through CalCentral. Enrolled classes appear under the My Semester card in the My Academics tab in CalCentral. Students waitlisted in a class are not considered enrolled. For details, visit Enrollment.
Fee Payment Plan: The Fee Payment Plan (FPP) allows for qualified registration fees to be paid in five monthly installments.
Home Address: A student’s permanent residency address (not a residence hall or campus apartment). For dependent students, this is usually the address of their parents.
Housing: A student’s living arrangement during their enrollment at UC Berkeley. A student’s housing choice while attending the university is not a factor for residency determination (for details, refer to the definition of “Residency” below).
Instructor Drop (from a course): An instructor may drop you from a class if you do not attend every class meeting during the first three weeks of instruction or if you do not meet the prerequisites. For details about courses and dropping courses, visit How to Enroll in Classes.
Local Address: An editable field in a student’s CalCentral account, a student’s local address is the address the student lives at while attending UC Berkeley.
Officially Registered: Students who are officially registered have access to campus services, such as library privileges, the Recreation Sports Facility, University Health Services, etc. To be Officially Registered requires:
- Enrollment in at least one course.
- Payment of at least 20% of tuition and registration fees.
- No holds blocking registration.
For details, visit Registration and Payment.
Readmission: When a formerly registered student who was pursuing a UC Berkeley degree at any point re-enrolls at the university. Students need to be readmitted or approved for re-enrollment. For details, visit Readmission.
Reduced Course Loads: Being enrolled in fewer than the minimum number of units required by your college or school. Reduced course loads must be approved by the dean’s office of your college or school. For details about course loads, visit How to Enroll in Classes.
Requirement Year: Generally, the requirement year is when you were admitted to Berkeley or your major. For details, visit How to Enroll in Classes.
Reserved Seats (in a course): Refers to seats set aside for specific groups of students (e.g., freshmen, departmental majors, transfer students, etc.). If you are not part of that student population, you will not be able to take one of those seats even if there are open spots in the class. Additionally, reserved seats may stay reserved for the entire semester or they may open up. For details, read “Reserved seats in classes and course criteria” at How to Enroll in Classes.
Residency: UC Berkeley classifies each student as either a resident or a nonresident of California for purposes of tuition and fees. Residency for tuition purposes is based on information provided in a student’s Statement of Legal Residence (SLR). Obtaining residency can be challenging for out-of-state students and virtually all nonresident undergraduates with nonresident parents remain nonresidents for the duration of their undergraduate career at UC. Two key factors for determining residency are 1) being continuously physically present in California for more than one year (366 days) immediately prior to the residence determination date (generally the first day of classes) and 2) a documented intent to permanently reside in California (including relinquishing out-of-state ties).
Schedule Planner: A function within CalCentral that allows you to input the courses you intend on taking to see how they would fit together in a weekly schedule. For details, visit Enroll in Courses in CalCentral on the How to Enroll in Classes page.
Statement of Legal Residence (SLR): A form used in determining whether you will be charged resident or nonresident fees. SLR forms are available for each semester in CalCentral. Go to My Academics, Status & Holds, then expand the Residency Section to access the SLR hyperlink. For details and definitions about SLR status, please visit How to Apply for Residency (for Tuition Purposes).
Transcript: An official record of a student’s academic performance at the University of California, Berkeley. Students can print unofficial transcripts in CalCentral. For details, visit Official Transcripts.
Veterans Benefits Unit: A unit located within the Registrar’s Office. Veterans’ Benefits provides veterans and their dependents information and assistance with educational benefits and Cal Vet Fee Waivers. For details, visit Veterans Benefits.
Veterans Services Center: The home base for veterans programs and services related to applying at UC Berkeley, transferring credit, financial aid, counseling, etc. For details, contact the Veterans Services Center.
Waitlisted: A way to be considered for enrollment in a class that is already full. Being on a waitlist for a class does not guarantee that you will be enrolled in a class. For details about “How to be added to a class waitlist” and what to do “If you are on a waitlist for a class,” visit How to Enroll in Classes.
Withdrawal: The process of withdrawing from UC Berkeley (dropping all classes) after the first day of instruction for a term. For details, visit Cancellation & Withdrawal.