Your student status can determine many things including, but not limited to:
- the number of courses you can register for at one time
- your eligibility for admission and financial aid
- your steps for dropping a course
Contact your adviser or program representative with questions about how your student status impacts you.
Adult learners:
- may be 24 years of age or older; or a veteran of the armed services; or returning to school after four or more years of employment, homemaking, or other activity; or a person who assumes multiple adult roles such as parent, spouse/partner, employee, and student.
have been officially accepted by the Undergraduate Admissions Office into any Penn State degree program at the bachelor's or associate degree level. (All World Campus bachelor's and associate degree programs, with the exception of political science, are adult learner degree programs.)
Degree students:
- have been officially accepted by the Undergraduate Admissions Office into a Penn State traditional degree program at a Penn State location other than World Campus
If you are on official leave of absence from the University, you may still enroll in a World Campus course and continue to be enrolled as a degree student.
Provisional students:
- hold a high school diploma or its equivalent
- seek to pursue a degree program
- do not meet the criteria required for admission to Penn State as a degree student
Nondegree conditional students:
- have been dropped from degree or provisional status by Penn State because of unsatisfactory scholarship
Nondegree regular students:
- have been taking courses
- have not been formally accepted into a Penn State degree program
This includes degree students from other universities taking World Campus courses and World Campus undergraduate certificate program students
Graduate degree students:
- have been officially admitted to the Penn State Graduate School and have been accepted by a Penn State academic department into a graduate degree program
Graduate nondegree students:
- hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution
- may take graduate-level courses
- are not actively pursuing a degree (Please note: For many World Campus graduate degree programs, students may apply a limited number of credits earned as a graduate nondgree student to fulfill the requirements of the program. Please check with your adviser to learn more.)
This includes students enrolled in World Campus postbaccalaureate certificate programs and courses.