Letter of Permission Process
There are a few steps that must be completed to take a course on a Letter of Permission (LOP). Please read carefully to make sure you don't miss anything important. To maintain your current status as a Western student, you must have approval from our office before you can register for a course at any other institution. It will take up to 4 weeks to process your LOP request, in addition to the time it may take for department approval (if required).
Step 1: Figure out your timeline and plan ahead
Contact the host university where you plan to take the course and collect the following information:
- Application deadline and registration procedures
- Deadline to pay tuition fees
- ADD/DROP deadlines
- Do they require a transcript from Western? If so, you can order one through the Office of the Registrar
- A course description (If your course is at a university outside of Canada, please refer to Special Instructions for the requirements to approve international courses.)
Once you have the required information, you can request your letter of permission. Starting from the deadline to submit your application to the host university, count backward by 4 weeks, and that is when you should be starting this process.
Example: The application deadline at UBC for both summer terms is March 15, so you would start this process mid-February.
Step 2: Complete and submit the letter of permission request form
The form can be downloaded from Your Resource Kit.
Fill in all areas except "Exact Western Equivalent", "Substitute for Western Course" and "Dept Approval". If the course is a "Principal (P)", then you will need department approval. If the course is "Optional (O)", submit it to our office first and we will let you know if it requires department approval.
Submit the form with the required documentation through our Help Portal.
Check your Student Center a few weeks after submitting your request to see if it has been approved. At that time, you will need to pay the fees that have been applied to your tuition account. It is the student's responsibility to ensure that all fees are paid. Any student who does not pay the fee by the due date listed will be subject to financial and academic penalties.
Step 3: Apply to the host university and register in your course
Register in the approved course at the host university and make arrangements with them to pay your tuition fees.
Step 4: Transfer your credit(s) to Western
Once you have completed the course, order a transcript from the host institution to be sent to Western's Office of the Registrar. Due to current circumstances, there are 2 options for sending transcripts electronically. Please review these options on the Registrar's LOP information page. It is your responsibility to make sure Western receives a transcript. If a transcript is not received in time, the course will be recorded as a failure on your academic record.
