An audit student is one who formally registers in and attends a course but neither participates in any assessments nor receives any academic credit.
Aside from assessments, audit students are permitted to participate normally in the classroom experience; they are allowed and encouraged to engage fully in class discussions.
Although audit students are not allowed to write examinations and may not be graded in any way, they are still required to pay the regular tuition fees for the course(s) they audit. While audited courses do not confer academic credit, they do appear on students' transcripts.
Some courses, including lab courses, cannot be audited. This decision is made at the departmental level in accordance with internal protocols. When a department makes Calendar submissions to the Office of the Registrar, it will indicate which courses cannot be audited.
As a general rule, only courses with sufficient classroom space and excess enrolment capacity can be audited. Moreover, audit students are generally not exempt from normal prerequisites. Audit students must be admitted to the University if they are not already actively enrolled.
Students interested in auditing courses must apply to the Office of the Registrar, which will determine their eligibility in consultation with the relevant faculty. Prospective students who are not currently enrolled at the University can apply for admission in advance, before registration for auditing individual courses begins. Requests for auditing graduate courses require the approval of the Office of Graduate Studies and Research.
Mainstream (credited) students are given priority access to all auditable courses. Registration for auditing opens with the commencement of the semester and, in the case that room is still available, closes after the tenth day of classes. During the Intersession and Summer session, registration closes after the fifth day of class.
Students actively registered in a course who wish to change their status to auditing, thereby forfeiting their eligibility to participate in assessments and compete for academic credit, can do so until the tenth day of classes in the Fall and Winter Terms and until the fifth day of classes in the Intersession and Summer sessions.