REGISTRATION PROCEDURES

All graduate students register themselves using Self-Service, for required courses and graduate-specific electives, during the open registration for the Spring term. MFA Low-Residency students also register for the Winter term at this time.

• Seek advising with the DGCE Chair of your program.

• Review your progress and program requirements in Self-service. The DGCE Chair of your program, and Nadia Savage of the grad team, nsavage@massart.edu, can assist you in this review. Note the number and type of required electives for your program.

• Detailed instructions from the Registrar for using Self-Service can be found here. Log into Self-service, or paste this URL into your browser: https://mca-ss.colleague.elluciancloud.com/Student/

Confirm you are actually registered for all sections, after you register, by checking your “course/section” status in Self-Service.

• Registered Sections say “Registered” with a green check-mark in the list view, and appear green in the Calendar View of your Plan.
• Planned Courses or Sections say “Planned”, and are not registered. They appear tan, not green in the calendar view of your Plan.
• It is only possible to register for a Section, the instance of a course that is offered this term, that has been added to your plan. Courses do not allow for registration.

It is strongly advised that you register for all courses during the open registration period for Self-Service.
Register and arrange for payment of Tuition and Fees on time, to avoid a $200 late fee. 

CURRENT REGISTRATION DATES FOR BFA COURSES 

• October 27: Review of the Spring elective schedule in Self-service for courses of interest.
  
• November 5: Email faculty to request permission to enroll in BFA or PCE elective courses. This process can take time, so begin asap.

VIEWING ELECTIVE OPTIONS USING SELF-SERVICE

• In Self-Servide, do an Advanced Search selecting the upcoming Spring Term to view electives by department, faculty, or meeting time. Self-Service provides a comprehensive list of graduate and BFA courses from all departments. Whether a course is online or on camps will be included in the listing. Filter for open courses or online courses among other choices, by using the left-hand “Filter Results” selections. To sort search results, use the menu bar selections for Status (open, waitlisted, closed) or Location for online courses, etc. Select from BFA courses numbered 200-499.

REGISTRATION FOR BFA AND PCE ELECTIVES

• All BFA and Continuing Education (PCE) courses require permission of the instructor for graduate student enrollment. 
• Email the instructor to request permission to enroll, and cc Nadia Savage at nsavage@massart.edu on this and related emails.
  Instructor email addresses are available in Self-Service when you “view available sections,” and select “add section to schedule.”
  Include in your emails: your name, MassArt ID, the full section number (for example 3DTD-201-02) and the course title.
• Forward the faculty permission to the registrar at registrar@massart.edu, including all information requested above, and cc Nadia Savage.
• Once they receive the faculty permission, the Graduate Team requests the faculty’s graduate syllabus addendum for the course. As this process takes time, please review courses of interest early.

GRADUATE SYLLABUS ADDENDUM

BFA and PCE courses require a graduate syllabus addendum for graduate student enrollment. If one is not already on file, the Graduate Team contacts the faculty to request it. The graduate syllabus addendum does not require extra work on the part of the faculty or the student. Faculty may select from the following paragraphs:

REGISTER ON TIME

• Students will be notified when Self-Service closes for open registration.
• Register on time and arrange for payment of tuition and fees on time to avoid a $200 late fee.

When starting to consider an independent study, follow these steps:

• Students must first consult with the DGCE Chair of their program (their advisor), if they wish to consider an independent study course as part of their course sequence. 
• Then, as far in advance of the intended term as possible, contact the Grad team at gradprogram@massart.edu with the name and contact information of potential independent study faculty. We will contact the artist/expert with details, before they make a final decision to work with graduate students.
• Note: Students do not discuss payment information with potential faculty.

Independent Studies are designed to provide students with an opportunity to pursue a specific vein of study, which cannot be done in the structure of an established class. Independent Studies are usually designed to earn 3 credits, and the scope of the project and amount of contact between the faculty and student should reflect an appropriate depth of engagement.

Exceptions to the number of credits earned are considered on a case by case basis. Graduate students who are interested in doing an independent study consult with the DGCE Chair of their program, then complete the Independent Study form, which must be accompanied by a Project Proposal and draft of the Syllabus. 

Students should initiate this process, creating a rough draft of the proposal/syllabus once permission has been provided by the faculty with whom the student wishes to study.

Please review the Syllabus Guidelines when creating your draft syllabus. You may also visit the Syllabus Guidelines page for more detailed information abut course syllabi.

Graduate students from all programs may cross-register for MIT courses that are offered during the Spring 2026 term, provided the course is offered for graduate-level credit. Please note that MIT’s Spring registration and semester start dates are later than MassArt’s, and classes generally begin after the end of MassArt’s Add/Drop period. The links below will be updated when available from MIT.

See the following links for further information on Cross-Registration at MIT: 

• MIT Registrar’s Subject/Course Index Page contains full lists of programs/subjects for the current semester. *Look for classes with a “G” indicating graduate credit (a flower icon indicates it is offered in Spring and a leaf icon indicates a course is offered in Fall).

• MIT ACT (Art, Culture and Technology) program website.  

• MIT Media Arts & Sciences (MAS / MIT Media Lab) website.

Instructions for Cross-Registration at MIT:

1. Find a course in the MIT Spring 2026 schedule (when availalbe), email the instructor for permission to enroll in the course, and check with the DGCE Chair of your program that this course fits your program requirements.
2. Complete the MIT cross-registration form: ask the MIT instructor and the DGCE Chair of your program to sign the form. Once the form is completed send the form to Marie Turley, mturley@massart.edu, at the Registrar’s office for her signature.
   
3. Complete the MIT Non-Institution Biographic form.
4. Email the 2 completed forms to the MIT Registrar’s office at records@mit.edu, and copy mturley@massart.edu.