Student Success Center

• Log into SSA
• Click the Student Menu
• Select Student Profile Tile
• In the middle of the screen, your advisor will be listed, and you can click their name to send an email.

Contact the Office of Academic Advising at [email protected] or 803-643-6742.

• You can email your academic advisor to schedule a meeting throughout the semester!
• During Advisement Months, which are March and October, your academic advisor may contact you to schedule a meeting to discuss classes for the upcoming semester. Some professors may opt to have a sign-up sheet outside of their office door.

Yes. All students must meet with their academic advisor before being able to register for classes. If you do not meet with your advisor, you will have a hold preventing you from registering.

Open DegreeWorks. Here, you can see what classes you have left to complete for your degree program. Sometimes, there are multiple choices for you to make to fulfill the requirement. Reviewing your degree program requirements can help you decide what classes you would be interested in taking for the semester.

Write down the courses you want to take and bring the list to your advising appointment.

Prepare any questions about the university, resources, etc., that you would like to discuss with your advisor, and be prepared to discuss academic goals.

DegreeWorks is a great resource for keeping track of which classes you have completed and which you have left to complete your degree. You can also track graduation requirements, such as ACE events, Writing Intensive, and non-Western requirements. You can also see your final grades, GPA, completed credit hours, and elective courses you have completed. To access it, follow these steps:

• Log into SSA
• Click the Student Menu
• Select Advisement Planning
• Click Degree Works Audit and Planner

• The Academic Bulletin
• DegreeWorks (For information on finding DegreeWorks, see the FAQ about how to access DegreeWorks).
• Departmental Major Maps

The Academic Bulletins are the official documents of record concerning academic programs and regulations. Each calendar year has a unique bulletin and different bulletins based on your particular course of study. Please speak to your academic advisor if you have questions about the Bulletin.

Advisors may save appointment notes in one of two places: 

DegreeWorks (for information on finding DegreeWorks, see the FAQ about how to access DegreeWorks).

• Once in DegreeWorks, look under your ID number and name. You will see three tabs.
• Click the tab labeled Notes

Navigate

• Download the Navigate Student app and sign in
• On the home screen, you can select the button that says My Docs
• Select Appointment Summaries and click the link attached to your advisor’s name. The appointment summary will appear!

It is a good idea to look through classes before your advising appointment to know what classes you would like to take. You can look at your DegreeWorks worksheet to determine your remaining course options. You can also search course options in Self Service Aiken by following these steps:

1. Log into Self Service Aiken
2. Click the Student Menu
3. Select Registration
4. Select Browse Classes
5. Choose the appropriate term
6. Campus: USCA
7. Subject: The subject area such as “History” or “Computer Science”
8. Course number: make sure to put an “A” in front of the course number. Example: A101 (Leave this area blank if you would like to see all course options in a subject).
9. Click Search

Log into Self Service Aiken

• Click the Student menu
• Select Registration tile
• Select Register for Classes
• Choose the appropriate term

From here, you have several options. You can do one of the following:

• manually search for each class by entering the Campus (USCA), the subject (Ex: Mathematics), course number (A108), and select open sections only.
• search by the CRN number. It is a 5-digit number that is associated with a specific section of a class and can be found in the course description.
• select the “Registration Plan Ahead Shopping Cart” option and add your classes to a schedule plan for the semester. Please note, the Plan Ahead tool does not automatically check for schedule conflicts, prerequisite restrictions, or whether a course is full.

• Log into Self Service Aiken
• Select the Student menu
• Click on the “Registration” tile
• Choose the “Registration Plan Ahead Shopping Cart"
• Select the appropriate term
• Hit the button that says “Create a new Plan”
• Select the appropriate term and “USCA”
• Add courses that you and your advisor discussed by selecting the “Add Course” button. Once all courses are loaded, press done.
• You can customize your schedule choices by adding break times or by editing your options. Note that adding breaks and limiting too many options may affect your ability to find a schedule that meets all your needs.

• Log into SSA
• Click the Student Menu
• Select Student Profile
• Above your picture/photo icon there is a black bar with the Term, your Academic Standing, Overall, Hours, Overall GPA, Registration Notices, and Holds.
• Click the words “Registration Notices.”
• In the drop-down menu, look under Time Ticket to see the time and date you can register for classes. Please see the Academic Calendar for the last day to add or drop classes without record for a specific term.

Textbooks and other materials needed for class can be found on the USCA Bookstore website. If no textbook information is available, this information will be provided by the instructor’s course syllabus.

Please contact your academic advisor about potential alternative course options. If there is still space on the waitlist for a course, you can add yourself to the waitlist for a course in Self Service Aiken by adding the section to your course summary, selecting “Waitlist” from the dropdown menu, and then clicking Submit.

A Student Attribution error occurs when a student tries to register for a class designated for specific student populations. While students may not register for these courses on their own, in certain circumstances, they may be given an override by the academic department offering the course.

A common Student Attribution Error occurs when on-campus students try to register for online Palmetto College Course sections. Only students enrolled in our online degree-completion program may register for these sections on their own. These courses are identified by the letters “PC” in place of a section number. There is an online request form for these specific courses. Filling out the form is not a guarantee, and students should see their advisor for more course options.

• Log into SSA
• Click the Student Menu
• Select Registration tile
• Select Register for Classes
• Choose the Appropriate Term
• In the bottom right corner, you will see a list of your classes, you can click the drop-down box and select “Drop/Delete”.
• Hit submit

Please contact the Registrar's Office as soon as possible. Where do I go if I am having trouble with classes? If you are struggling with your classes, there are many resources you can use!

• USCA offers free tutoring! Once you find the subject and tutor you need, you can find them in the Learning Commons in the Library. Tutors are students vetted by the departments to help other students in those subject areas. See the tutoring information page.
• If you would like online tutoring, we partner with a service called Brainfuse. Students can have six free sessions, which can be found on Blackboard. 
• The Center for Student Achievement provides Academic Coaching.  Academic Coaching is one-on-one assistance with time management, study skills, academic success strategies and more. Contact Shenika Hartley, coordinator, at 803-643-6742 or email: [email protected] 
• Talk to your professor about what you are struggling with. A good time to talk to your professor is during their office hours, which can be found on the class syllabus. If you cannot make their office hours, emailing them to schedule an appointment is also an option.

If you are struggling with your classes, there are many resources you can use!

• USCA offers free tutoring! Once you find the subject and tutor you need, you can find them in the Learning Commons in the Library. Tutors are students vetted by the departments to help other students in those subject areas. See the tutoring information page.
• If you would like online tutoring, we partner with a service called Brainfuse. Students have access to six free Brainfuse tutoring sessions. To access Brainfuse, log on to Blackboard, click on any of your current USCA courses, and then choose “Tools” and “Brainfuse.”
• The Student Success Center provides Academic Coaching.  Academic Coaching is one-on-one assistance with time management, study skills, academic success strategies and more. Contact Shenika Hartley, Program Coordinator, at 803-641-3297 or [email protected]   for more information on Academic Coaching.
• Talk to your professor about what you are struggling with. A good time to talk to your professor is during their office hours, which can be found on the class syllabus. If you cannot make their office hours, emailing them to schedule an appointment is also an option.”

• Log into SSA
• Click the Student Menu
• Select Student Profile Tile
• Above your picture/photo icon there is a black bar with the Term, your Academic Standing, Overall Hours, Overall GPA, Registration Notices, and Holds.

• Log into SSA
• Click the Financial Aid Menu
• Select Award
• Select Award History
• Choose USC Aiken as the campus
• Look under the column marked Fund to see if you have received a scholarship

Please click the following links to learn more about the scholarships:

• Hope
• Life
• Palmetto Fellows

To access your LIFE GPA and credit hours, follow the steps below.

• Log into SSA
• Click the Student menu
• Select Student Profile
• Under your photo, choose the option that says “LIFE GPA”

You can talk to your academic advisor or visit the Office of Career Services.

Complete one of the following forms:

• Declare or Change a Major, Concentration, or Academic Catalog Year
• Declare a Minor or Certificate

This is not an automated process. The online form you complete must go through multiple offices before the change is processed. Please give the systems a few days to be updated. You will receive an email from the advising office with your new academic advisor if it needs to be changed.

All transcripts should be sent to the USCA Admissions office.

After logging into Self Service Aiken:

• Click the Student Menu
• Select Official Record Request
• Select Transcript Request
• Click Access the Parchment Transcript Ordering Site
• Click the option that reads Transcript
• Follow the steps on the site

Before you begin the process, contact the institution you want to enroll in. Make sure that they offer the class you need and that you understand the steps you need to complete to be admitted. Once you have done that,

• Speak with either your Academic Advisor or someone in the Transfer Center (in the Admissions office) to ensure that the class you are wanting to take will transfer back to USCA.
• Complete the Special Enrollment Form. Your Academic Advisor and the Department Chair of your major must sign the form.
• Return the completed form to the Transfer Center, located in Penland 101, or email a copy to the Transfer Center at [email protected]. You should also keep a copy of the form to send to the other institution where you plan to enroll.
• Once you complete the class, send your transcript from that institution to USCA's admissions office.

• Log into SSA
• Click the Student Menu
• Select Student Profile
• Above your picture/photo icon there is a black bar with the Term, your Academic Standing, Overall Hours, Overall GPA, Registration Notices, and Holds
• If next to the word hold the number is showing “0,” you have no holds on your account.
• If there is a number next to the word “hold,” click the hyperlinked word for a drop-down menu to appear with a listing of your holds.

The Grade Forgiveness policy states that every currently enrolled, fully-admitted, degree-seeking undergraduate student earning a "D+", "D", "F", "FN," or "WF" in a USC course may take a total of two (2) undergraduate courses for a second time for Grade Forgiveness. The first and second grades will appear on the USC system's permanent record. Still, only the second grade will be used to compute the University of South Carolina system grade point average.

Steps to the Grade Forgiveness procedure, the complete policy, and the application for Grade Forgiveness can be found on the Office of the Registrar's website.

Yes. If you know who you would like to be advised by, you need to contact them to ask if they are willing to serve as your advisor. If they agree to add you to their caseload, you must email [email protected] a copy of a written agreement from the faculty member (e.g., an email). You can forward the email chain if you and the advisor are emailing. If the conversation was in person, we would still need the written agreement, therefore, you will need to follow up with an email. Once your advisor has been changed, you will be notified.

If you are unsure of who you want to change to, please come to the Office of Academic Advising for guidance.