Frequently Asked Questions

Catalogs are mailed in early August and mid-December to all students who have registered for a course within the past two years as well as those who have requested a catalog in that time period. To add your name to our mailing list, please use the online form or call 214-SMU-CAPE (768-2273).

Courses are held year-round, but most are offered in the fall and spring semesters. Most courses are scheduled on evenings during the week, but a few are held during the day and on weekends.

Course confirmation letters serve as campus parking permits for course dates and times. Using this permit, students may park in any All University Parking lot (AUP), most Faculty/Staff lots (F/S) after 5 p.m., Monday – Friday and anytime on Saturday, and any Commuter lots (C). Please note, the first two levels of the Airline Parking Garage are reserved for faculty and staff at all times. Click here for more information about campus parking.

Most classes are held on the main campus of SMU in Dallas and at SMU-in-Plano, the university's extension site. Occasionally, courses meet off campus at locations relevant to the course topics. These locations are detailed in the print and online catalogs, and on student confirmation letters. Specific class meeting locations are relayed to students via course confirmation letters, which are sent by mail or e-mail along with a campus map, once a student has enrolled in a course.

Classroom assignments are sent to registered students within 24 hours of registration by US mail, fax, or email. However, course information is available online to most students.

• I registered online.
  Use the View my Registration Information option to find your course location. You may access your information using your Account ID and your initials. If you have forgotten your Account ID, you may have it emailed to you.

• I registered by phone, fax, mail or in person.
  If you provided an email address, you may request your Account ID be sent to you via email. If you did not provide an email address, you will not be able to access your classroom assignment online. Contact the CAPE office during business hours, Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., at 214-768-2273.

If you have not registered for a course, location information is not available to you. Course locations are not published in the catalog or on the website. Due to limited classroom space on campus, students must register prior to attending a course so that we can be sure that the classroom size is appropriate for the number of enrolled students.

Courses are available to students 18 years of age or older. Due to liability issues, we are unable to offer these courses to students younger than 18 years of age.

Most courses have no prerequisites. Should a course require experience in a certain field or enrollment in a previous class, this will be clearly marked in the printed and online course catalog.

No. All Continuing and Professional Education courses are noncredit.

For most SMU Professional Courses, including the Certificate Program in Financial Planning and Exam Prep courses, attendance is taken and certificates of completion are issued, noting grades and contact hours.

SMU Informal Courses for Adults are noncredit, and as such, attendance is generally not recorded. Exceptions are considered in advance, and on a case-by-case basis. For more information, or to request a record of attendance, please contact our office in advance of your course by calling 214-SMU-CAPE (214-768-2273).

While rare, SMU Continuing and Professional Education reserves the right to cancel a course due to insufficient enrollment. Should SMU cancel a course, a full refund will be granted to enrollees. Every effort is made to notify students of a course cancellation in advance, but often the majority of a course's enrollments are received within a few days of its start date. Therefore, a course that is very close to its minimum enrollment may not be cancelled until one day prior to its start date in an effort to give the course every opportunity to achieve its needed enrollment. Students are encouraged to register early to secure a place in the courses of their choice, and to help ensure the course's success.

Classes may also be cancelled due to inclement weather. For more information on SMU inclement weather policy, please click here.

A student may choose to be added to the waiting list, free of charge, for any course which has already reached its maximum enrollment. If space becomes available in the course, or if a new section of the course is added to the schedule, those on the waiting list will be notified in the order in which they were listed. Students on the waiting list are not obligated to register if/when a space becomes available. We encourage students to add their names to the waiting list for courses they are interested in, since this can be a factor in whether or not new sections of the course are added to the schedule.

No. Course registration and payment must be made prior to attending class. Students may register online 24 hours a day, or by phone (214-768-2273) or in person during business hours (Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.). For a printable course registration form that students can fax to 214-768-1071, click here. Course locations are distributed only to registered, paid students. Students not found on an instructor's roster may be asked to present confirmation of their registration in order to be admitted into the class. Instructors are not permitted to accept registration fees at class meetings.

Click on this link and your Account ID and password will be emailed to you.

Many SMU Professional Courses offer contact hours or CEUs. CPFP courses offer CE for insurance professionals, and several SMU-in-Plano professional seminars are approved for SHRM CE. For information about specific courses and their CE status, please review the course descriptions online. Enrollees may also share a copy of the course description with a professional organization to see if the content qualifies for professional development CEUs.

All SMU Continuing and Professional Education courses are non-credit. SMU Continuing and Professional Education offers transcripts only for the Certificate Program in Financial Planning and Legal Assistant Certificate Program. Students requesting a transcript from the Certificate Program in Financial Planning must email the program director at cpfp@smu.edu. If you wish to request a transcript for the Legal Assistant Certificate Program, please click here.

SMU’s Master of Liberal Studies program, a 36-hour graduate degree plan in the humanities, offers a limited number of spaces in selected classes for Informal Courses students who wish to take the course on a non-degree, or audit, basis. These selected courses meet weekly for about 15 weeks during the fall semester. Enrollment is based on SMU per credit hour auditing fee. Auditors are expected to keep up with the reading and participate in class discussions, but will not be required to produce papers or take quizzes/exams and will not receive a grade or academic credit for completing the course. Perfect for students interested in a more collegiate experience, who wish to delve deeper into a topic, or expand their time on campus.

For more information about auditing an MLS course, call 214-SMU-CAPE. For more information about the MLS program, call 214-768-4273.

If you'd like to propose a course idea or would like to teach a class, please submit a Course Definition Form and an Instructor Application Form via email. DUE TO THE VOLUME OF PROPOSALS RECEIVED, ONLY ELECTRONICALLY SUBMITTED PROPOSALS USING THESE FORMS WILL BE REVIEWED.

• Proposals are accepted year round for Continuing and Professional Education courses. The fall term begins in early September, the winter term begins in late January, and the spring term begins in early March. A modest array of courses is offered in the summer, in June and July.
• Due to the volume of proposals received, only accepted proposals will result in contact from Continuing and Professional Education staff.
• New course development takes approximately 4-6 months; proposed courses will be considered for the next available term, which may be up to a full calendar year after a course idea is submitted.