Winter Session FAQ

A variety of undergraduate and graduate courses are offered during Winter Session, but all courses are online.  There are no on-campus courses held during this session.  There are some Study Abroad trips that will be held during Winter Session, but otherwise all courses will be online and accelerated.  You can view all available courses in Pipeline by using the “Advanced Search” feature of “Look Up Classes” and searching by the “Winter Session” part-of-term for Spring 2024. 

Students are limited to one course and 4 credit hours in the Winter Session, unless the course is a lecture and lab co-requisite combination. In those cases students may register for the lecture and lab in Winter Session, provided the total credit hours do not exceed 4 hours. There are no exceptions to this rule.

Yes, since the Winter Session is tied to the Spring semester, you may still only take 18 total credit hours between all parts of term.  Should you want to take more than 18 hours in the Spring semester, please contact your academic advisor to see if you qualify for a course overload.

The university will be closed December 22 through January 1 for the holiday break.  During this time services will be very limited as most offices will be closed.  A list of available services is below:

• Online tutoring services
• ITD Help Desk Hours
• MT One Stop Call Center: Available December 26, 27, 28, and 29 from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm (limited Financial Aid and Business Office questions only, the MT One Stop will be closed all week)

• Walker Library: 

  • Electronic books, articles, and streaming videos available 24/7
  • Ask Us!

Winter Session courses will be marked with a "W" in the section number and will have an attribute in the far right column that indicates it is a “Winter Session Course.”  The dates of the course will also be listed as December 20, 2023 – January 11, 2024.  See screenshot below to easily identify if a course is listed in Winter Session.

 Since the class is an online class and in the Winter Session, the section number includes the letters "DW" to signify it is a Winter Session online course.
You'll also see the dates of the course are from 12/20 to 1/11, and there is an attribute in the far column that says this is a "Winter Session Course."

 Here on your class schedule the Winter Session course is noted by the letter "W"  in the section number and session block, and the course dates are different from other spring classes.

You can register for Winter Session courses at the same time you register for Spring semester courses, starting with Priority Registration.  The last day to add a Winter Session course is the fee payment deadline day for Winter Session.  Anyone who wants to add a Winter Session course after the fee payment deadline must go through the late registration process to do so.

No, since Winter Session is tied to the Spring semester you cannot take a course that in Winter Session that is a prerequisite for a course you take later in the Spring.  The system will not allow that type of registration.

Winter Session course tuition costs will be charged at the regular per credit hour rate as Spring semester courses.  However, students who take more than 12 credit hours between the Winter Session and Spring semester will not have a price break for the Winter Session course normally seen for taking over 12 hours in a semester. Therefore you could pay more than usual if taking over 12 hours in the spring while enrolled in a Winter course. 

The fee payment deadline for Winter Session will be December 19, 2023, at 4:30 pm.  Students enrolled in Winter Session courses must pay for or confirm their entire Spring semester schedule by this deadline.  Failure to do so will result in the student’s entire schedule being deleted for both Winter Session and Spring courses.  Students can pay in person at the Business Office or on Pipeline by 4:30 p.m.

Yes, you can use your estimated Spring financial aid to confirm your Winter Session courses by the fee payment deadline if your estimated aid for the Spring semester is sufficient to cover your Spring semester charges inclusive of your Winter Session charges.  Changes made to your Spring schedule, or failure to attend your Winter Session courses, could impact your estimated Spring financial aid, resulting in a balance owed to the school.  Financial aid refunds will not be available until after the start of full-term Spring classes.  

NOTE: Graduate Assistantships will NOT cover Winter Session courses in Spring 2024.

Please contact the MT One Stop at MTOneStop@mtsu.edu with any questions about paying your balance and/or financial aid for Winter and Spring classes.

No, students only taking a Winter Session course and no other Spring semester courses are not eligible for the Installment Payment Plan.

Yes, the Bursar’s Office will notify you of this option if you have confirmed your registration for the Spring semester, will have a credit balance of at least $100 from authorized aid, and have completed a Federal Title IV Authorization for Miscellaneous Charges.  The bookstore charges will be posted to your student account and paid by financial aid once it is applied to your account just prior to the beginning of when full-term Spring classes begin.

No, since Winter Session is tied to the Spring semester, graduation checkout and degree posting will not occur until May.

Winter Session grades will be viewable in PipelineMT on your transcript at the conclusion of the Winter session, at which point a transcript may be ordered if needed. The course and grade will post under the Spring semester. 

Winter Session courses will count towards the calculation of your spring term academic standing in May.   

The last day for students to register for Winter Sessions courses is the same day as the fee payment deadline for Winter Session.  For students who want to add a Winter Session course after this date, late registration forms will be accepted December 20 – December 21.  Late registration forms must be signed/approved by the instructor and department, then either brought in person to the MT One Stop or emailed to register@mtsu.edu.  Prepayment will be required for the Winter Session course and any courses you are registered for in the Spring Term. View more information on the Late Registration Process.. 

WE WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY LATE REGISTRATION FORMS from December 22 through January 1 while the university and offices are closed. 

Yes, since you'd be taking classes in non-overlapping classes you could use an employee fee waiver in each part of term.  However, you still only receive four (4) fee waivers per year, so using two in Winter and Spring would limit how many could be used in the Fall and Summer semesters. 

Military-connected students using benefits should be aware that if they want the full Spring housing allowance, they must take at least 12 hours (one of which must be considered residential) in the regular Spring semester in addition to any Winter Session courses that they take.  Since VA calculates housing on a daily basis, once a class is complete, that class is no longer included in the current course load.  This is important for those students who take accelerated classes, too.  The day after a class is complete, housing is recalculated based on the number (and the modality) of the courses still being pursued, even if all courses are considered by the university to be part of the same semester.

Students MAY get some housing allowance in the Winter Session, although it MAY be reduced significantly since the classes are all online and there is a maximum of 4 hours that students can take.  See the Daniels Center for details about how Winter Session impacts VA benefits. 

The easiest way to search for Winter Session courses specifically is to use the Advanced Search feature in Pipeline under "Look Up Classes."  You can search by the Winter Session part of term or by the Winter Session attribute. This video explains how to use the Advanced Search feature:

Yes, dual enrollment students could take a Winter Session class at the regular rate for a Dual Enrollment student. However, the Dual Enrollment Grant will NOT cover a Winter Session course. All courses taken in Winter Session must be paid for out of pocket by the fee payment deadline.