Troubleshooting registration

About the “Troubleshoot” button

While registering in courses, you may see the “Troubleshoot” button. This button will appear in place of the “Register” button if you are not eligible to register in a course or course activity. Use this button to find out why you cannot register.

If you can’t register and don’t see the “Troubleshoot” button

If your registration appointment is not open, you will not be able to register for courses or see the “Troubleshoot” button. You can still add courses to your saved schedule.

Once your registration appointment is open, you will see a “Register” or “Troubleshoot” button, depending on your eligibility to take the course section.

Troubleshooting your registration

  1. To find out more about why you are unable to register in a course, click the white “Troubleshoot” button on the “View Course Section” page for a course you want to register in.
  2. You will be brought to a page titled “Troubleshoot Registration.” Review all sections of this page to understand why you are unable to register for the course. There may be more than one reason.

Review the sections below to learn about the possible reasons you may not be able to register for a course.

Academic Period

  • Check the “Academic Period” section to make sure it shows the correct session and term you are registering for. For example, if you are registering for a course beginning in January 2025, the Academic Period should display “2024-25 Winter Term 2”.
  • Make sure the Academic Period also matches your campus. For Okanagan Campus, the session and term should be followed by “(UBC-O)”.

Academic Record & Active Record

The “Academic Record” section should match your primary program of study, and must be listed as “Active”. If your Academic Record is not listed as “Active”, you will not be able to register in the course.

Course & Course Section

Both the course and course section must be offered at the Okanagan Campus in order for you to register. If the course code is followed by “_O”, it means that the course is offered on the Okanagan campus. For example, PSYC_O 271, or PSYC_O 271-100.

Enrollment Window

Make sure the “Enrollment Window” section says “Yes”. This means you are trying to register within the allowable time period.

You will not be able to register if you see “No” next to “Enrollment Window”.

Maximum Credits, Enrolled Credits and Additional Credits From This Course Section

Compare these sections to ensure you are not trying to register in more than your maximum allowable credits for the academic period.

  1. First, review your maximum allowable credit.
  2. Second, add the credits for your currently enrolled classes to the credits for the class you are trying to register in.
  3. Make sure these two values add up to equal or less than the “Maximum Credits” value.

For example, in the scenario below:

Maximum Credits = 15

Enrolled Credits = 12

Additional Credits From This Course Section = 4

In this example, the student is trying to register in 16 credits, which exceeds the maximum allowable credits by 1. This student would not be able to register in the course.

Holds

The “Holds” section indicates whether you have a hold on your account blocking you from registering for courses.

For example, you may have a hold if you have an outstanding tuition balance from a previous academic period, or if your faculty would like to meet with you prior to registration.

If you see the number 0 next to the “Holds” section, this means you do not have any holds on your account. If you see a numerical value of 1 or higher, this means you have a hold on your academic record. Learn how to resolve a hold on your academic record.

Course & Course Section

Scroll down the “Troubleshoot Registration” page to view the “Course” and “Course Section” tables. These display course and course section information. Each table has three columns:
“Restriction”, “Can Register”, and “Details”.

Restriction

This column shows the requirements that need to be satisfied for you to register in the course section. Restrictions you might see include:

  • Eligible: Relates to whether you are eligible for a course based on eligibility rules (that is, pre-requisites, co-requisites, and other restrictions at the Senate level.
  • No duplicate registration: If you are currently registered in a course, you cannot register for the course again.
  • Has published, Visible sections: A course must have officially published sections before you can register for it.
  • Can register for co-requisite: Note: this field will always display “Yes” in Workday. To review co-requisites for a course, you should go to the Academic Calendar.
  • Can repeat: If you have enrolled in this course before, this field outlines whether you can take it again.
  • Access to Enrolment: Typically, Enrolment Access is set at Campus Level (Vancouver or Okanagan) and/or Academic Level (Graduate or Undergraduate). Students must meet these rules to register for a course.
  • Has capacity: If the course does not have seats available, then you will not be able to register into this course section.
  • No Time Conflict Exists: If you have already registered into a course section that occurs at the same time as this course section, then you will not be able to register.

Can Register

This column indicates whether you can register based on the restriction requirements.

  • “No” means that you are unable to register in the course because you do not meet the restrictions.
  • “Yes” means that you can register in the course.

Details

This column provides further details about why you aren’t passing a restriction requirement, if applicable.

How to Resolve Registration Issues

You may be able to resolve some issues on your own, and you may need to speak to an advisor for some situations.

Issue Restriction Display To Resolve
Your Registration Appointment is closed. N/A N/A Click the number on the registration appointment section to view details of your registration appointment.
You try to register for a course on the other campus. N/A N/A Check the course code to verify that the course is for the correct campus. To take courses on another campus, please refer to the Cross Campus Registration eligibility and contact an advisor.
You are an undergraduate student trying to register for a graduate level course. Eligible No You will not be able to self-register in graduate courses. To take graduate courses, contact an advisor.
You have not taken the required pre-requisites or co-requisites for the course. Eligible No Take all the required pre-requisites or co-requisites before enrolling in the course. To check which are required, review the course section in the Academic Calendar.
The course section overlaps with and belongs to the same course as another course section you’re already enrolled in. No Time Conflicts Exists No Decide which course section you want to enroll in and choose one.
The course section has no capacity (e.g. the course section is full or is closed). Has Capacity No Select another course section or register in the course waitlist (if there is one).
You are already enrolled in the course section and are registering in the same section again. No Duplicate Registrations No If you wish to remain in the current course section, no further action is required. Otherwise, register in a different course section.
You’ve reached maximum retake limit for the course but want to retake the course again. Can Repeat No You will not be able to self-register in the course unless you contact an advisor.