Senior Guest auditor – Frequently asked questions

Please view section 36.27(2)(e), Wisconsin Statutes 2005, for specific information on how bona fide Wisconsin state residency is determined.

No. Being an alum is not a requirement to become a Senior Guest auditor.  The only requirement is to be a Wisconsin resident as determined by the Office of the Registrar and age 60 or older before the beginning of the term.

No, you do not need to have a post-secondary degree to be admitted as a Senior Guest auditor. Senior guests are not required to have taken prerequisite courses.

To be eligible to audit courses cost-free, you must be a Wisconsin resident who is 60 or older before the start of the term. Those 59 or younger at the beginning of the term can apply as a Guest auditor and pay audit tuition. For more information, see our Guest auditor webpage.

Wisconsin residents aged 59 or younger with a disability and receiving SSI and/or SSDI may qualify to audit courses free of charge. See our Guest auditor webpage and select “Guest auditing for individuals with disabilities” for more information.

Learn how to audit classes.

If you are having issues filling out the application, please review our application tips. If you are having problems logging into the application as a new or existing applicant, please contact our office at seniorauditor@dcs.wisc.edu or 608-263-6960 for further assistance.

Your Senior Guest auditor status will remain active as long as you complete the entire enrollment process each fall and spring semester. Returning auditors who did not enroll in the most recent term must reapply. If you have applied using this application before, your user ID will be the email address you used when applying, not your NetID and password.  Make sure to select “Create New Application” after you log in.

Auditing is available only for lecture courses with the instructor’s approval and if space is available.

Courses NOT available for auditing

• Conversational language courses, including American Sign Language (ASL)
• Studio and performing arts including music
• Writing, math, computer, and lab courses
• Independent study and directed study
• Seminar, research, and colloquial courses
• First Year Interest Groups (FIGs)
• Honors-only courses

History courses as a Senior Guest auditor

Some online courses are auditable, although they are typically not conducive to passive learning. Permission to audit is not a given, and you will still need the instructor’s permission to audit. Admitted Senior Guest auditors will need to request permission via the permission-to-enroll request instructions.

It may be possible to audit a graduate level course but you will need to check with the specific academic department. The Department of History does not allow auditing of graduate courses. Please remember that auditing any class is contingent upon instructor consent or department policy.

This depends on the instructor. It’s important to have a conversation with the instructor about how much they would like you to participate. Some instructors might be comfortable if you participate in discussions, but this is the exception and not the rule. Thank you for clarifying instructors’ preferences prior to auditing a class and respecting their decision.

You will find the building and room number for your class within the Course Search and Enroll tool. If you are using a smartphone or tablet, class locations are not visible within Course Search and Enroll. Class locations are visible only on a laptop or desktop computer.

Noncredit courses offered through UW–Madison’s Division of Continuing Studies (DCS) are not available to audit. If you have questions regarding noncredit courses offered through DCS, please contact the program assistant for the specific course.

Courses taken as a Guest auditor do not carry degree credit but will be noted on your permanent transcript as audits (AU). Audited courses are graded Satisfactory (S) if attendance is regular. A grade of No report (NR) is given for nonattendance. Prior to enrolling, discuss with the instructor the standard for earning an “S” in the course.

For in-person courses, if you do not receive an email response to your permission request before the start of the term you may attend the first day of class. Let the professor know you did not hear back about your request and tell them what date your request was sent. You will still need to wait for a response, but if your request is approved you can enroll in the course.

For online courses, if it is less than a week before classes start and you still have not received a response to your request, please sit tight until you hear from our office or the department. Our office will follow up with instructors and departments about any outstanding requests 4 to 5 days before classes begin, and you will be contacted either way regarding your request.

We ask for your patience as we work through the over 1000 requests we receive each term.

It may be possible to audit a course even if its official status is full, wait-listed, or closed.  If there is space available after all credit students have seats, the professor may give permission to audit.

Not necessarily, although sometimes this is the case. Even if there is still space after all the degree/credit students have taken their seats, the decision to let you audit a class is ultimately up to the instructor of the course. Creating a learning environment that is productive for the objectives of degree-seeking students isn’t always about physical space. The instructor of a course could have seats available in their classroom and still not grant you permission to audit.

Thank you for respecting the instructor’s decision on auditing their class.

If you are an admitted auditor who has received permission to enroll and it is on or after your enrollment date and time, you should be able to enroll in your course. If you are still receiving an error message while trying to enroll, here are additional troubleshooting tips:

• You may have selected the wrong course when trying to enroll. Remove the course from your cart and use the 5-digit course number found in your permission email. Add the 5-digit course number using the “Add by class number” feature found on the left-hand side of Course Search and Enroll.
• Your permission to enroll may have expired. Permissions typically expire by the second Friday of the term. Contact our office to find out if your permission has expired, and if it has, we will contact the course department to have it extended.

If these options aren’t working, you can contact the Help Desk at help@doit.wisc.edu or 608-264-4357.

Auditors do not have to take a class in the summer term to maintain their student status.  However, if you skip a spring or fall term, you will need to reapply for the following term you would like to audit.

You are not obligated to audit a course, even if you received permission. If you enrolled in the course, you can drop/withdraw from the course following these instructions. Please let the instructor know if you do not plan on continuing with the course.

Keep in mind that if you are not enrolled in at least one course for a fall or spring semester, you will have to reapply to become an auditor for the next semester you wish to attend.

Your NetID is usually some combination of your first and last name. For example: bbadger. You will use your NetID to log in to your MyUW portal along with the password you entered when you activated your NetID.

Your Campus ID is a 10-digit number that starts with “9.” You probably remember a time when your Social Security number was used as an ID number. The Campus ID number was developed many years ago to take the place of the Social Security number. Your campus ID number can be found on your Wiscard.

Visit the IT Help Desk webpage for assistance. Our office is unable to assist with NetID/password recovery.

No. You will keep the same NetID and email. Once you have applied to become an auditor, you will see student-related tiles in your MyUW portal, such as Course Search and Enroll, Student Center, Academic Navigator, etc.

Obtaining a Wiscard is not necessary if you already have a valid, current faculty, staff or an emeritus ID.  However, your student ID and employee ID numbers are different. Please make sure to use your student campus ID number when completing your permission-to-enroll form or for anything academically related.

Instructions on initially setting up Duo MFA, as well as how to reactivate it, are detailed on this UW–Madison Information Technology webpage.

Log in to your MyUW portal and look for the “Email” tile. Open the tile and your @wisc.edu email will be there.

Yes, but please read “Forwarding of email” on the registrar’s website before doing so. Here are instructions for forwarding your @wisc.edu email.

Canvas is a cloud-based digital learning management system. Instructors may use Canvas in their courses to deliver additional course content to students. As a Senior Guest auditor you can access Canvas so you don’t miss any important class content.

Find the Canvas tile in your MyUW portal. This is where you will find any courses you are enrolled for.

There is a Canvas training course to help you become familiar with logging in and using the platform.

If you recently enrolled in your course, it could take up to four hours to see your course in Canvas.  If you do not see your course after 24 hours, please contact the instructor of the course or IT support at 608-264-4357 or  learnuwsupport@doit.wisc.edu.

Auditors have access to campus libraries and computer labs. Because they do not pay segregated fees, auditors do not have access to a free bus pass, University Health Services, recreational facilities, discounted tickets for campus sporting or arts events, and any other service/event that is covered or subsidized by segregated fees.

It is possible to purchase a Community Membership to use campus recreational facilities.

Yes. Here is information about accessing libraries.

Student bus passes and student tickets to athletic events are only available to credit or degree students. It is possible to purchase a Community Membership to use campus recreational facilities.

The best resource for finding parking or campus bus routes is the UW–Madison Transportation Services webpage.

Real-time, interactive parking map

Free Campus bus routes

If you require accommodations for a disability, see Reasonable Accommodations and Guest Auditor/Senior Guest Auditor Students.

The only potential fees associated with auditing would be for a lab. If the course you plan on auditing has a lab associated with it, you may be automatically charged the lab fee. Contact the course department to discuss waiving the lab fee.

Typically, labs are not open for auditing, so this should not be an issue for most auditors.

If you receive an eBill notification or you see an eBill in your student center and don’t think you owe any tuition or fees, please contact us at seniorauditor@dcs.wisc.edu or 608-263-6960.

You are not required to buy textbooks or supplies, although you may if you wish.

Some courses have Digital Course Materials (eTexts) for an additional cost. Senior Guest auditors will be automatically opted out of these materials. There is not an option to opt in, however you may independently obtain the materials in an alternative version.

Please see our faculty and staff information about Senior Guest auditing.