Your student status affects whether you can register for classes.
-
You must be admitted and active before you get a registration time.
- If you stop taking classes for a given number of terms, you will become inactive. See the student status definitions section below to determine the number of terms you can be away from OSU before becoming an inactive student.
- Your student status determines whether your OSU Network ID (ONID) remains active.
Important timelines
-
On Day 1 of a term, students at risk of becoming inactive get an email reminding them to register for classes.
-
If not registered by the end of Week 2, they will be moved to inactive status early in Week 3.
If you become inactive
- Undergraduate and postbaccalaureate students must apply for readmission through the Office of the Registrar to resume taking classes. Graduate and professional students must reapply through Admissions or their professional college.
- After readmission, you must register for classes in your readmit term or you’ll become inactive again.
Important notes
- Dropping all courses before the drop deadline means that the student is not enrolled for the term.
- Summers are excluded from term counts regarding student status.
- Degree Partnership Program (DPP) students are protected for 8 regular terms (excluding summers).
Student status definitions
Active/continuing student
Person admitted to OSU who has been granted access to a new student onboarding program, registered for a course, or is admitted under a Degree Partnership Program (DPP). Students remain active/continuing students until they become inactive students.
Inactive student
Student who is not on an approved leave of absence (e.g., Undergraduate Planned Educational Leave Program (PELP) or Graduate Leave) and has not registered for an OSU course within a given number of terms per their academic level:
- Undergraduate and INTO OSU students, within four terms excluding summers
- DPP students, within eight terms excluding summers;
- Graduate and professional students, not registered for current term, excluding summers
- New or readmit students who do not register for a class in their admit term
Inactive students remain inactive until readmitted or apply for admission to OSU at another level.
Example scenarios
Inactivation email timing for non-DPP students
You start in Fall 2025 and take classes for two terms. If you do not register for classes in Spring 2026 or after, you will receive an email on the first day of Spring 2027. This is because it will be your fourth term without enrollment (not counting summers). The email will remind you to register, or you will be moved to inactive status. If you still do not register, you will become inactive a few weeks later and will need to be readmitted before you can take classes again.
Inactivation email timing for DPP students
You start the Degree Partnership Program (DPP) at OSU in Fall 2023 and plan to take classes at the community college for several terms before enrolling in classes at OSU. On the first day of Winter 2026, which is your eighth term without enrollment (not counting summers), you receive an email reminding you to register for classes or your status will become inactive. If you do not register, you will become inactive a few weeks later and will need to be readmitted before you can take classes again.
Example scenario visuals
Course withdrawals, shown as Ws on the academic record, count as enrollment.
|
Fall 2024 |
Winter 2025 |
Spring 2025 |
Summer 2025 |
Fall 2025 |
Winter 2026 |
Spring 2026 |
Summer 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Enrollment |
Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
Not applicable-summer is excluded |
No Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
|
Inactive status is added |
Course withdrawals, shown as Ws on the academic record, count as enrollment.
|
Fall 2023 |
Winter 2024 |
Spring 2024 |
Summer 2024 |
Fall 2024 |
Winter 2025 |
Spring 2025 |
Summer 2025 |
Fall 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
No Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
Not applicable-summer is excluded |
No Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
Not applicable-summer is excluded |
No Enrollment |
|
Winter 2026 |
Spring 2026 |
|||||||
|
Inactive status is added |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Course withdrawals, shown as Ws on the academic record, count as enrollment.
|
Summer 2023 |
Fall 2023 |
Winter 2024 |
Spring 2024 |
Summer 2024 |
Fall 2024 |
Winter 2025 |
Spring 2025 |
Summer 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
Enrollment |
|
Fall 2025 |
Winter 2026 |
Spring 2026 |
Summer 2026 |
Fall 2026 |
Winter 2027 |
Spring 2027 |
Summer 2027 |
Fall 2027 |
|
No Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
No Enrollment |
No Enrollment by the end of term Inactive status is added for the next term. |
Inactive status is added |
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Students must be registered for, or have enrollment in, a term to be considered enrolled for that term; adding and dropping before the drop deadline will not protect a student from going to inactive status. If a student has W marks on their transcript/enrollment for a given term, they will be considered enrolled for that term.
Undergraduate, postbacc, INTO, and non-degree students are notified at the start of their fourth term of non-registration; if they are not registered for, or do not have enrollment in the fourth term, they are considered to be not enrolled for four terms - excluding summers - and go to inactive status.
No. Once a student is inactivated in Week 3, they are not able to register for a 5B part of term course later in that fourth term.
Students are readmitted for a specific term and must be registered for, or have enrollment in, the readmit term to remain active. A readmitted student who is not registered for, or does not have enrollment in, the readmit term by Week 3 moves to inactive status again.
No, DPP students are protected for a full 8 terms, excluding summers, from the start of their DPP attribute, regardless of whether or not they take OSU courses during that time.