Exploratory Advising

The Student Hub is your one-stop shop for student resources.  From accessing your email, to registering for classes, to learning about upcoming events, you can find it all here!

• Use Navigate Student to schedule appointments with academic advisors, success coaches, and more.
• Receive mobile push notifications specific to your campus “path”.
• Check out the major and career exploration tools for students who are exploring program options.
• You’ll receive announcements about campus events, clubs, and ways to get involved.
• Work with ITS if you need assistance with your MSU Denver login information. You do need to have an MSU Denver Net ID and password to access Navigate Student.

Access Navigate Student from a desktop computer or download the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

You may start hearing from an academic advisor about a new feature in Navigate called Academic Planner. It’s sometimes also called AP or Next Gen Academic Planner, or simply Planner. Academic Planner is an interactive tool that allows for the creation of semester-by-semester course plans in a shared (and retrievable) online space. Academic Planner doesn’t replace your Degree Progress Report (DPR) or any guides you receive from your academic department. You’ll still use your DPR to see your progress toward completing degree requirements. Think of Academic Planner as a tool to outline and organize a path to graduation.

Be on the lookout for any messages about Academic Planner from your academic advisor, too. Ask them about it at your next appointment!

The Degree Progress Report, also called a DPR, is an online tool that helps you and your advisor see degree requirements for your currently declared program, and how you are meeting them. It includes information about classes you have taken at MSU Denver and classes transferred in, as well as classes you registered for next semester. It doesn’t tell you what order to take the classes in, but academic departments have guides, and people, to help you plan!

Review your DPR before you meet with an advisor and prepare questions to ask during your appointment.

Utilize ITS to view self-help trouble shooting guides, and to file a support ticket if needed.

Check out this helpful article about how to set up your student email to push to your phone!

We use a lot of slang, jargon, and abbreviations in higher education. The College of Letters, Arts and Sciences put together definitions of some of the most used terms heard around campus.

View the definitions here.

• Check your MSU email at least once per day, and include your name and your 900/901# in your emails
• Meet with your Academic Advisor at least once each semester to create/review your academic plan

• Attend and participate in your classes, and become familiar with MSU Denver’s mandatory participation policy
• Strive to get a 2.0 GPA or higher
• View all of MSU Denver’s academic policies in the Academic Catalog

• Develop a system for keeping track of important dates & deadlines
  • Examples of where you will find this information are your class syllabus (provided by your professor at the start of the term) and the university calendar
• The Tutoring Center offers General Academic Skills Tutoring for help with skills including note taking, organization, and time management

The university policy is that a degree-seeking student must declare a major before completion of 45 credits (transfer students with more than 45 credits must declare a major before registering for a second semester).

You do not have to wait until this deadline, and are encouraged to declare a major as soon as you have chosen a program.

In order to declare your major, you will need to meet with the academic advisor for that major.  A list of academic advisors by major is available here (scroll down a little bit and then click “Download the Advising Contact Sheet”). 

During this meeting, you will learn more about your chosen major and discuss your next steps.  You also fill out a Declaration of Major form with the academic advisor. 

Note: Some majors may be selective with who can declare (I.e Social Work, Music, Nursing, Art, and Education). Please refer to MSU Denver University catalog for course descriptions and a full list of major requirements.  

Check out our Major Exploration Guides!

Each of these guides group majors into broader interest categories, making it easier to explore related areas of study.

Suggestions for general studies courses and other exploratory courses are also included.  Taking exploratory courses is a great way to experience the field of study and help you explore the different academic majors available at MSU Denver.

Check out our career exploration website to learn about different careers, organized by major.

Our Major and Career Exploration guide is also a great resource!

• If you are experiencing something that is preventing you from performing in your course(s), you may consider withdrawing from one or more of your courses in order to maintain your GPA.
• A “W” grade has no designated GPA and will not count in your overall GPA.

The information below is meant to provide an overview of potential impacts to your financial aid.

Please refer to the Office of Financial Aid’s “What if I Withdraw” page and “Satisfactory Academic Progress” page for complete information.

• If you are using financial aid, your aid will be billed back to your account if you withdraw from all courses prior to completing at least 60% of the semester.
• SAP Appeals: if you withdraw from all courses, you may need to complete a SAP Appeal upon your return. You will explain what happened that caused you to withdrawal and then for the semester you return, why you will not have the same challenge(s).
• No Aid: if you have reached 180 attempted credits or have 60 more attempted credits than completed credits, you may not be eligible for aid for future semesters.
• You may be able to submit a SAP Appeal if your degree plan shows that it is possible for you to graduate within two semesters.  If this appeal is approved, you may be eligible for additional funding.
• If you have a balance of $2,000 or more due on your account, you will be unable to register for a subsequent semester.
• If you owe money, you can work with the Office of the Bursar to set up a payment plan to avoid going to collections.

The guidelines below apply to full-semester courses in fall and spring.

• 100% refund on dropped courses (6 days into the semester)
• 50% refund on dropped courses – Census Date (10th class day of the semester)
• Withdrawal Deadline – last day to withdraw from courses without a refund

Students who reduce their course load after the 50% drop deadline/census date will receive a “W” notation for each course they have withdrawn and will be assessed full tuition and fees.

For your drop/refund or Withdrawal dates log onto your Student Hub account and look at My Class Schedule under Course Info.

• If you are re-enrolling within three semesters of withdrawing, then you can register for courses just as you would for any previous semester.
• If you are re-enrolling later than three semesters after withdrawing, you will go Inactive and need to reapply to MSU Denver. Once you re-apply, you will be accepted and then can register for your courses.