{{unreferenced, date=November 2008
Cross-registration in United States
higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after compl ...
is a system allowing students at one
university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
,
college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
, or
faculty within a university to take individual
course
Course may refer to:
Directions or navigation
* Course (navigation), the path of travel
* Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...
s for
credit at another institution or faculty, typically in the same region.
Cross-registration gives students access to a wider variety of subject matter at a certain logistical cost: travel time, inconsistent academic calendars, etc. It is governed by the home institution's regulations, which typically require that a similar course not be offered by the home institution, that the student not take too many outside courses, that certain basic types of courses be taken at the home institution, etc.
Among institutions, cross-registration is governed by agreements – bilateral or regional (often consortia). Money may or may not flow between the institutions to compensate for the difference between inbound and outbound cross-registrants. Cross-registration allows universities in a region to focus on their area of specialization at the cost of not having direct control of their students' academic experience.
Academic administration