Course Designations
Subject. Each course is assigned a subject code that identifies the discipline, field or program offering the course. For example, course numbers in Audiology and Speech-Language Sciences are preceded by ASLS; course numbers in Mathematics are preceded by MATH; and courses in Visual Arts are preceded by ART.
Numbers. Four groups are identified by course numbers, generally to indicate the difficulty of a course and its location on a continuum of study that leads to general mastery of the content and methodology of a discipline:
- Basic skills - 001-099 are not counted in cumulative credits, total credits toward graduation, GPA, nor for financial aid purposes.
- Lower division - 100-199 range are 1st-year (freshmen) courses and 200-299 are 2nd-year (sophomore) courses.
- Upper division - 300-399 are 3rd-year (junior) courses and 400-499 are 4th-year (senior) courses.
- Graduate level - 500-699 are Master’s courses and those numbered 700 or higher are Doctoral/Specialist courses.
- Juniors and seniors with a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher are permitted to take 500-level courses.
- Undergraduates may be permitted to take courses with numbers 600-699 if they have applied to and have been accepted into a Master’s level program at UNC. 600-699 courses may not be counted towards and undergraduate degree.
- Undergraduates are not permitted to take courses with numbers 700-799.
Note: Applicability of coursework to a higher degree as an undergraduate student: please refer to specific details on the petition to count toward the next highest degree http://www.unco.edu/grad/forms/pdfs/PetitiontoCountWorkTowardHigherDegree.pdf
Undergraduate students may not count courses numbered 600-799 toward undergraduate degree programs.
Graduate students may not count courses numbered 100-499 toward graduate degree programs; courses numbered 700-799 may be taken for specialist or doctoral credit only.
Courses at the university are sequentially numbered. Courses numbered 100-499 are for undergraduate credit. Courses numbered 500-599 may count as undergraduate or graduate credit. If a course numbered 500-599 is not counting toward the correct level, the student may contact the Office of the Registrar to request that it be changed. A course numbered 500-599 counting as undergraduate credit cannot be counted toward a graduate degree; a course numbered 500-599 counting as graduate credit cannot be counted toward an undergraduate degree. Undergraduate students seeking to apply 500-599 courses to their graduate degree must contact the Graduate School. Courses numbered 600-799 are for graduate credit only.
Occasionally, courses that do not appear in the Catalog may appear in the Schedule of Classes(www.unco.edu/sched/). These course number end in "98" and are considered experimental. For example, an experimental course in Geology might be GEOL 398. Courses ending in "98" cannot be used to meet Liberal Arts Core requirements.