FAQ

No. SFU NOW courses are regular undergraduate courses from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology, offered on evenings and weekends at SFU Vancouver and SFU Surrey.

If you take only SFU NOW courses, you will earn the same Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree as full-time SFU students.  If you use SFU NOW courses to supplement another degree at SFU, you will complete the degree for which you applied.

Yes. Depending on your degree, you can take some of our courses as electives. Your undergraduate advisor will give you a personalized answer.

No. You can enrol in as many or as few courses as you like. If you take at least one SFU NOW course every three semesters (once a year), you will maintain your SFU NOW student status and privileges.

As an SFU NOW student, you get priority enrolment in SFU NOW courses for the first three weeks of the enrolment period. You will have to wait until your own enrolment date arrives, but SFU NOW courses will be reserved for you for the first three weeks of enrolment. During this time, only SFU NOW students can enrol in SFU NOW courses. If there are still seats available after the three-week period, enrolment will be opened to all SFU students, and SFU NOW students will no longer have priority.

Yes. SFU NOW students may take individual courses for which they meet the course and program pre-requisites. Online courses are also available through the Centre for Online and Distance Education (CODE).

If you are too busy to meet with an advisor in person, you can always get advisor help via email, phone, or, in some cases, online Live Help. Advisors are here to help you navigate the university, plan your courses, choose a major, or deal with academic difficulties.  If you’re ever in doubt, contact your advisor.  If you don’t know who your advisor is, contact the SFU NOW office, and we will help you get in contact with the right person.

To earn your Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree, complete 120 credits consisting of both lower- and upper-division courses. The specific courses you need to take will depend on which major and/or minor you are pursuing. If you decide to pursue an undergraduate honours degree, you must complete 132 credits. For more information on what courses are required for your major and/or minor, look at the SFU Calendar.

No. As an SFU NOW student, you are eligible to enrol in any SFU undergraduate course, including online or daytime courses.

For each course, you can expect to spend three hours per week in class, as well as any time you spend working in the library or the computing lab. SFU NOW courses are scheduled with your busy life in mind: classes run for three or four hours (depending on the course) and start at 5:30 pm on weeknights, and 9:30 am or 12:30 pm on weekends.

Your SFU NOW classmates will be a mix of full-time undergraduates and working students like you. Currently, SFU NOW students make up about 30 percent of total enrolment in the program. As SFU NOW grows, we expect this number to increase.