Skip to content
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

Configuring New vs. Add Registration Statuses (Ellucian Colleague / Ethos API)

Overview

If your college uses Ellucian Colleague and connects to DualEnroll through the Ethos API, Colleague may require you to send a different registration status depending on when a student registers:

  • A "New" status (often "N") for registrations submitted during the regular registration period
  • An "Add" status (often "A") for registrations submitted during the late/add period

Following Ellucian's Q4 2025 Colleague update, the registration status field is now strictly enforced. If DualEnroll sends the wrong code for the time of year, Colleague will reject the registration. You may see errors such as "Status N not allowed", "Status A not allowed", or "Capacity exceeded due to add authorization...".

To solve this, DualEnroll now supports date-based status selection. Once you configure a few settings, DualEnroll will automatically choose the correct status (New or Add) for each registration based on the date.

Who Needs This

You need to configure this feature if all of the following are true:

  • Your college uses Ellucian Colleague as its SIS
  • DualEnroll registers your students via the Ethos API
  • Your Colleague setup uses two different registration statuses — one for the regular registration period and a different one for the add period

If your college uses only one registration status for all student registrations, no configuration change is needed. DualEnroll will continue to work exactly as it does today.

This feature is completely opt-in. Nothing changes for your college until you actively configure the new settings described below.

Before You Begin

To complete the setup you will need:

  • Your college's New registration status GUID — the unique identifier Colleague uses for "New" registrations
  • Your college's Add registration status GUID — the unique identifier Colleague uses for "Add" registrations
  • The Add period start and end dates for each active academic term

Your Registrar's office or Colleague/SIS administrator is the best source for all three. The status GUIDs come from the section-registration-statuses endpoint in your Ethos configuration; your SIS administrator can look these up for you. The Add period dates match the same dates your SIS uses to switch between New and Add; they are often published publicly on your academic calendar as the "Add deadline" or "Late registration period."

Step 1: Confirm Your Current Add Status Configuration

In DualEnroll, open the Ethos API option defaults for your college and locate section-registration-statuses-add.

Verify that the value configured there is the GUID for your Add (A) registration status. Many colleges have historically used this field for whichever status they happened to use year-round; if yours currently holds a New (N) status GUID instead of an Add GUID, update it now to hold the Add GUID.

This is important: the existing field is about to take on its correct, more specific role. It must hold the Add status GUID going forward.

Step 2: Add the New Registration Status

Add a new Ethos API option default for your college named section-registration-statuses-new. Set its value to the GUID for your New (N) registration status.

Once this option is saved, DualEnroll recognizes your college as opted in to date-based status selection. From this point on, status selection for your registrations works as follows:

  • During the Add period (see Step 3) → DualEnroll sends the Add status
  • All other times → DualEnroll sends the New status

Step 3: Set the Add Period Dates on Each Term

The Add period dates tell DualEnroll when to use the Add status instead of the New status. They are set directly on each academic term.

To set them:

  1. Navigate to the academic term in DualEnroll
  2. Click Edit
  3. Locate the two new fields: ADD PERIOD START and ADD PERIOD END
  4. Enter the first day and last day of your Add period for that term, matching the dates your SIS enforces
  5. Save

Repeat this for every active academic term. Add period dates are term-specific and are not carried over from term to term. Going forward, remember to set them each time you create a new academic term.

The Add period date fields appear only on college academic terms — not on high school terms. Registration status selection always uses the college term associated with the course section.

How DualEnroll Decides Which Status to Send

Once steps 1–3 are complete, every registration DualEnroll submits through the Ethos API uses the following rule:

If today's date falls between ADD PERIOD START and ADD PERIOD END on the registration's term, use the Add status. Otherwise, use the New status.

That is the entire logic. There is no other date or field involved. "Otherwise" includes all of these cases — and in each of them, DualEnroll sends the New status:

  • Before the Add period starts
  • After the Add period ends
  • If you have not set Add period dates on that term

This means that if your college does not currently have a formal Add period, you can simply leave the ADD PERIOD dates blank — DualEnroll will send the New status for every registration until you do set them.

What This Feature Does Not Affect

To avoid surprises, here is what this feature does not change:

  • Drops and withdrawals. These continue to use your existing drop and withdraw registration status codes. No date logic is applied to them.
  • Other term dates. Any other custom dates you have configured on a term (for example, dates used to control when a workflow step activates) are completely unrelated and continue to work exactly as before.
  • The term's overall start and end dates. Those dates are not used to pick a registration status.
  • Colleges that don't opt in. If you do not add the section-registration-statuses-new option, nothing changes — the existing single-status behavior continues.

Configuration Checklist

  1. ☐ Confirm with your SIS administrator whether your Colleague setup requires different N and A statuses
  2. ☐ Obtain the New status GUID and the Add status GUID from your SIS administrator
  3. ☐ In DualEnroll, verify section-registration-statuses-add holds the Add GUID (update it if it currently holds the New GUID)
  4. ☐ In DualEnroll, add section-registration-statuses-new with the New GUID
  5. ☐ On each active academic term, set ADD PERIOD START and ADD PERIOD END to match your SIS's enforced Add period
  6. ☐ Going forward, set ADD PERIOD START and ADD PERIOD END whenever you create a new academic term

Troubleshooting

Registrations are still failing with "Status N not allowed" or "Status A not allowed"

Work through the checklist above. The most common causes are:

  • The section-registration-statuses-new option has not yet been configured, so DualEnroll is still sending a single status for all registrations
  • The GUID saved in section-registration-statuses-add or section-registration-statuses-new is swapped (the New GUID is in the Add field, or vice versa)
  • The Add period dates in DualEnroll do not match the dates your SIS actually enforces

Today is in the Add period but DualEnroll is sending the New status

Check that both Ethos API options are configured, and that the ADD PERIOD START and ADD PERIOD END dates on the registration's term include today. If section-registration-statuses-new is missing, DualEnroll falls back to the legacy single-status behavior.

Today is outside the Add period but DualEnroll is sending the Add status

Confirm section-registration-statuses-new is saved on the college with a valid GUID. If it is missing, DualEnroll uses the Add status for every registration (legacy single-status behavior).

I don't know my college's exact Add period dates

Ask your Registrar or SIS administrator for the dates your system transitions from accepting N to requiring A. These are often published on your academic calendar as the "Add deadline" or "Late registration period." Your SIS's registration control rules are the authoritative source.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: We already use section-registration-statuses-add and everything is working. Do we need to do anything?

A: No. If you are not currently receiving status-related errors from Colleague, you can leave your configuration as-is. Only add the New status and Add period dates when your college is ready to adopt the two-status workflow.

Q: Do the Add period dates need to be set on high school terms?

A: No. The fields only appear on college academic terms. Registration status selection uses the college term that owns the course section.

Q: What happens after the Add period ends? Does DualEnroll revert to sending the New status?

A: Yes. Once today is past ADD PERIOD END, DualEnroll goes back to sending the New status. New is the default for every date outside the Add window.

Q: We don't have a distinct Add period at our college. Can we still opt in?

A: Yes. If your college should always use the New status, configure section-registration-statuses-new and simply leave the ADD PERIOD dates blank. DualEnroll will send the New status for every registration.

Q: Will this affect existing registrations that are already in the SIS?

A: No. This feature only governs the status sent on new registration submissions (and on Add-period updates). Registrations already recorded in your SIS are unaffected.

Q: Who can I contact if I need help setting this up?

A: Reach out to your DualEnroll Implementation Manager or the DualEnroll Help Desk, and they will walk you through the configuration for your college.