Registration Holds

Overview

Holds are placed on students’ registrations by a variety of offices with a range of impacts. Typically, students are most impacted by holds by not being able to enroll in courses until the hold is lifted. 

You can view holds when logged in to CalCentral. Click on the registration hold alert for information about why it is there, who placed it, and how to clear it.

Registration holds placed by L&S Advising 

Reading and Composition

To be eligible to have your R&C registration hold removed, you will need to meet with an L&S College Adviser to discuss your plan for completing the requirement.

Due to limited seat capacity in R&C courses on campus, students in their 5th semester or later will may experience difficulty in accessing enrollment in R&C courses. You may need to explore alternate options to complete this requirement, for example, through a UCB Summer Sessions course or through an approved course at a California Community College.

Unapproved Short Study List

This hold may be placed when you are currently enrolled in an unapproved reduced course load (meaning you are enrolled in fewer than 13 units without College permission) and have previously been enrolled below the unit minimum without approval in at least one prior term. 

A habit of taking unapproved reduced course loads can be an indicator that there are unaddressed extenuating factors that are impacting your ability to take a course load of 13 units each semester. There are many cases in which a student may be eligible to take an approved reduced course load each semester. To remove this hold, meet with an L&S College Adviser

Undeclared at 90 units 

In an effort to ensure that all students have a plan to declare their major by the beginning of their junior year, this hold is placed if you have not declared a major by the time you have 90 units in progress or completed. Any transfer units you have earned will be included in this calculation, but high school exam units such as AP or IB will not counted against you. 

Transfers in their first semester will not receive this hold.

INSTRUCTIONS TO REMOVE THE HOLD:

  • If you are eligible to declare your intended major: Declare your major as soon as possible and contact your Undergraduate Major Adviser to release the hold.

  • If you are on track to complete the prerequisites for your major, but not yet eligible to declare: Contact your intended major department. If the Undergraduate Major Adviser believes that you are making good progress to declare the major, they may release the registration hold.

  • If you are not yet able to declare and the Undergraduate Major Adviser has concerns about your progress to declare your intended major: Meet with an Undergraduate Major Adviser to discuss your plan to declare the major and ask them to sign and complete Conditions to Declare and Program Plan forms. Then meet with an L&S College Adviser to review the Conditions to Declare and Program Plan forms and discuss releasing the registration hold. If the L&S College Adviser has concerns about your ability to declare and complete your intended major in your remaining time, you may be asked to bring a Conditions to Declare and Program Plan form from an alternate major department.

  • If you have received this hold due to the fact that you earned a high number of college units before high school graduation, and are not yet eligible to declare a major: please email asklns@berkeley.edu and include your SID in your email. You are still encouraged to meet with an Undergraduate Major Adviser to explore options for your area(s) of interest! 

If you would like support in exploring areas of interest, we encourage you to meet with a Undergraduate Major Adviser or an L&S College Adviser for support. Additional resources such as the Career Counseling Library are also available to help you find the best major for you.