National Student Exchange

Information for Incoming NSE Students


Student Account Activation

Fall students, by now, you should have received:

  • An Admission letter that includes your student ID number.
  • A letter from the Admissions office with your user ID and password and directions to activate your account (this is called a portal letter). Please activate your account because I will be using your CSUN email address once school begins to communicate with you, and so will Admissions Office and all other CSUN offices that need to contact you.

Once you activate your account, you can access all the information in your records. You will be able to access the schedule of classes, you can register, you can access financial aid information, etc. THIS IS THE FIRST STEP YOU NEED TO TAKE.

  • If you have applied for housing, you MUST use your student ID number from now on to access your housing information.
  • Finally, you should shortly receive your registration mailer which has your date and time of your registration and direction regarding registering online.

Registration

The schedule of classes and the University catalog are available online. You can register for up to 19 units only. If you try to register for more than 19 units, the system will not allow you to go further. If you see a class listed in the catalog but not in the schedule, it means the course is not offered during the spring semester. A catalog lists all the courses ever offered through the university, whereas, a schedule lists courses that are actually offered during a specific semester.

Classes begin Monday August 25

Once you begin to register, you may find out that the system is not allowing you to register for a course. Please keep the following explanation in mind. Your transcript that was submitted to admissions office will be evaluated by the time you are ready to register. Once a transcript is evaluated, courses which you have taken at your home campus are plugged in to fulfill specific courses at CSUN. Now, every course that you have taken at your home campus does not fulfill the same requirements at CSUN. By this I mean that courses are looked at differently at different campuses. If a specific course at your home campus fulfills a specific section, it does not mean that it would be plugged in the same section on this campus.

You should receive a MAP (My Academic Planner) report from admissions office which shows you where the courses from your home campus have been plugged (MAP is a document showing your academic progress). That would show you what is missing. Once transcripts are evaluated, courses either are equivalent to a CSUN course, or admissions office will just give unit credit for those specific courses (which means they would be only unit credits towards the total units needed to graduate from this campus).

Registration Problems

If you cannot register for a specific class, it is because departments have their restrictions per course or the prerequisite (the issue above) is preventing you from registering for that class. In that case, you do need to get a permission number directly from the professor who would be teaching the class. Professors and in some cases department Chairs are the only individuals who can provide you with a permission number. You use that permission number to register for the class online. If you need to find out who teaches a particular class, please let me know. You can also find out what a professor's email address and information is by going to CSUN's website, click on People Finder. Once you find that out, you can email the professor with a copy to me, explain your situation, and ask for a permission number. I am also emailing you a support letter as well so that you can use it to email the professor or use it after school begins when trying to add a class.

In response to your request, professors contact me directly at times to verify that you have had a certain course at your home campus, and I verify that by reviewing your transcript. Our faculty has been receptive to exchange students in the past. There are, however, departments with extreme restrictions as indicated in the NSE Directory. Those departments include Business and CTVA. Also, please keep in mind that junior and senior level classes cannot be guaranteed for the above reasons (also indicated in the NSE Directory). I do hope you are flexible with your coursework and are prepared to take some other courses if some don't work out. Unfortunately, I do not have control over departmental restrictions or course requirements that may be applicable to certain areas from your home campus' transcript.

If for any reason you believe your class level or major has not been coded correctly in the system, please email Phyllis Gilson at Phyllis.gilson@csun.edu. She should be able to take care of your problem.

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Payment Deadlines

As a supplement to your Registration Mailer, you will see a fee payment schedule. It also gives you information on how you can make payments. All of you have priority registration. Please follow the payment timeline in your registration mailer to avoid being disenrolled. Payment information is also online as you begin the registration process in the form of a disclaimer. Please read it carefully. Just to give you an overview for payments, for those registering up to July 29th, payments are due by July 30th. Those registering between July 30th and August 19th, will have to pay their fees by August 20th. Please keep in mind that the payment schedule accompanies your registration mailer. If your payment is not received by the deadline, the system will disenroll you from your classes.

Important...please follow the following payment directions as they apply to you:

For those of you on plan A (paying host campus' tuition and fees), please follow the deadlines mentioned above. You do need to make your payment as directed. You can make a payment online through your account. Please look at the payment type options which accompanies your Registration Mailer. Please do not miss the deadline as the disenrollment is done automatically through the system and I would not be able to have the courses reinstated.

For those of you on plan B (paying home campus' tuition and fees), you do not pay our tuition and fees. Admissions Office is aware that you are coming here on plan B, and you will not be charged tuition. If for some reason there is a mistake on your record, please let me know immediately so that I can take care of it.

Both Plan A and Plan B students: If you are staying on campus, your charges will appear on your online records. You can make payments online for that as well.

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Arriving at LAX

hose of you who do not have friends or relatives to pick you up at the airport can use a bus service that stops every half hour right outside the baggage claim area. It is called the Van Nuys FlyAway. Make sure that your bus is going to Van Nuys and not Union Station or Westwood. The cost is approximately $3.50 for one-way ticket to the Van Nuys terminal. This is about two miles from campus. From there, you can call a local taxi company, and they will drop you off at your dorm. Taxi fare will cost approximately $12.00. The Housing Department is located in Building 6 on the corner of Lassen and Zelzah - at F10 on campus map. Do not have your cab wait for you while you check in. One student from New York had the driver wait, and he kept his meter running...cab fare was $75.00!

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Orientation

NSE Orientation will take place on Monday, August 25, 2008. Registration for Orientation begins at 12.45pm in in C.R. Johnson Auditorium - Engineering. This is Building JA at D5 on the campus map. NSE Orientation will follow from 1.00pm - 1.50pm.

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Housing

Housing's phone number is (818) 677-2160, and your contact person is Davon Henson at davon.r.henson@csun.edu.

I believe those who applied on time did receive housing. For any questions regarding housing, please contact Davon at the housing office. I do not know when your check-in date and time will be. You do need to check with the housing office. Times and dates are different for every student. I trust housing will notify you of that directly. I do believe they use email to do that so make sure to check your CSUN email address.

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Financial Aid

Plan A students receiving financial aid from CSUN need to contact Armenka Khashmanyan at armenka.khashmanyan@csun.edu for any difficulties or questions.

Those of you who do not have friends or relatives to pick you up at the airport can use a bus service that stops every half hour right outside the baggage claim area. It is called the Van Nuys FlyAway, and it costs approximately $3.50 for one-way ticket to the Van Nuys terminal. This is about two miles from campus. From there, you can call a local taxi company, and they will drop you off at your dorm. Taxi fare will probably run about $12.00. The Housing Department is located in Building 6 on the corner of Lassen and Zelzah. Do not have your cab wait for you while you check in. One student from New York had the driver wait, and he kept his meter running...cab fare was $75.00!

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Visitor Resources

Please view our visitor resources page for information on campus maps, parking, directions to campus, airport options, & local hotels.

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