Cross-registration

Cross-registration in United States higher education

Higher education

Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...

 is a system allowing students at one university

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

, college

Liberal arts college

A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional...

, or faculty within a university to take individual course

Course (education)

The very broad dictionary meaning of the word course is the act or action of moving in a path from point to point . There are multiple meanings for this word, some of which include: general line of orientation, a mode of action, part of a meal, a mode of action, and many more. This article focuses...

s for credit

Credit (education)

A course credit is a unit that gives weighting to the value, level or time requirements of an academic course taken at a school or other educational institution.- United States :...

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.