ELWR Enrollment Hold

What is it?

The ELWR hold is an enrollment hold that is placed on students who do not satisfy ELWR by the end of their 3rd quarter and prevents future enrollment, per UC systemwide and UCSC Academic Senate policy. ELWR holds were paused in recent academic years, and now, based on Academic Senate mandate, are being resumed.

At the start of fall 2025, ELWR holds will be placed on students who meet ALL of the following criteria:

The student has completed their 3rd quarter at UCSC. (Students who begin in Writing 25 have until the end of their 4th quarter to satisfy ELWR.)
The student’s official ELWR milestone is NOT satisfied.
The student has not received an ELWR extension. (See below.)

The hold, once placed, will prevent any future enrollment action.

Petition for an ELWR Extension

Per the UCSC Academic Senate, any student who does not satisfy ELWR by the end of their third quarter must receive an ELWR extension via the CCI Petition process by the start of fall 2025, or an ELWR hold will be placed on their account, preventing them from continuing enrollment at UCSC.

If you are past your ELWR deadline, follow the steps below to petition for an ELWR extension as soon as possible.

Step 1: Writing Program Recommendation Letter

The CCI ELWR extension petition requires a recommendation letter from the Writing Program. Please refer to the ELWR Petition email you received from the Writing Program with instructions on how to obtain this letter. (Subject: “Action Required: You MUST petition for an ELWR deadline extension.”) If you did not receive this email, contact readizon@ucsc.edu.

Step 2: Submit CCI Petition

Submit the Petition via this Link (The petition name is Student Petition: Writing Requirement Extension 24-25)

You will need to upload the Writing Program recommendation letter as part of your petition submission.

Full information about CCI petitions here. Please reach out to WP Advising or your college advising for support on submitting the CCI petition.

You will be notified of the petition decision via email within 2 weeks of submission. Your ELWR extension is valid only for the specific timeline indicated and approved via petition. Upon approval, proceed to Step 3.

Step 3: Enroll in ELWR Course

Within the extension time period granted, enroll in WRIT 1/1E*. Steps for enrollment differ based on the number of prior attempts at WRIT 1/1E. Any term in which you received a W, NP, or letter grade counts as an attempt.

If you have 0 or 1 prior WRIT 1/1E attempts, you may self enroll into an open section. This can also be done prior to petition submission
If you have 2 prior WRIT 1/1E attempts, you will need to coordinate enrollment with your college to override the repeat error. Please note, that in this case a double repeat petition is NOT required. Colleges have agreed to pre-approve all double repeat (triple take) petitions for students who receive an ELWR extension through the CCI petition process.
If you have 3 or more prior WRIT 1/1E attempts, next steps will differ by case. You will have received advice from your college on this as part of the prior steps.

*Note: Writing 1 and Writing 1E are not interchangeable for enrollment. You must take the course indicated by your writing placement. View your placement in your UCSC portal (Select My Academic -> Test Scores -> View All). Students with a Writing 26 placement should take Writing 1E as the next course in the ELWR sequence.

Alternate Option: ELWR via transfer course. Within the extension time granted, you may use an articulated transfer course to satisfy ELWR so long as all of the following criteria are met:

The transfer course must be taken while you are not concurrently enrolled at UCSC (including summer quarter).
The course must be UC transferable and approved to articulate to WRIT 1. (More here).
Once the course is completed (grade of C or higher), you must submit your official transcript to UCSC admissions.

Special Case: Submit ELWR-satisfying test scores/credits (uncommon)

If you have ELWR-satisfying test scores or transfer credits from tests/courses that you took prior to starting at UCSC which you have not yet submitted, you may still submit them to receive ELWR satisfaction (no petition needed). Official scores must be sent to and processed by UCSC Admissions by the start of fall quarter or an ELWR enrollment hold will be placed on your account.

If you are in this situation, we highly recommend you reach out to writingprogram@ucsc.edu to let us know since the Writing Program does not review or post test scores directly. We can also verify that the scores/credits you have are in fact applicable for ELWR satisfaction.