ASU guide · Earned Admission

ASU Earned Admission: earning your way in through Universal Learner Courses

The short answer

Earned Admission is Arizona State University's way in for people who are not admitted yet: anyone not currently enrolled can take Universal Learner Courses (ULCs) online and, by completing them with a 2.75 GPA or higher, demonstrate they can succeed at ASU and earn admission. You pay a modest fee to start a course and only pay for the credit once you decide to keep it, so it is low-risk. The courses run on Canvas exactly like ASU Online courses, so the work is real ASU coursework that counts toward the degree.

ASU Earned Admission: earning your way in through Universal Learner Courses, a ASU student guide, from ASU Tutors
Admissions & cost at ASU, mapped by ASU Tutors.

How the Earned Admission pathway works

If you do not meet standard admission or are returning to school, you skip the traditional application and instead prove yourself in the coursework. You enroll in Universal Learner Courses, and completing them at a 2.75 GPA or better earns you admission to ASU. It is a performance-based door: your grades in real ASU courses are the application.

The low-risk, pay-later model

The reason this is low-stakes is the payment structure. You pay a small fee to begin a Universal Learner Course, take it, and only pay for the university credit once you have seen your grade and decide to keep it. If a course does not go the way you hoped, you are not locked into paying full credit tuition for it.

The credit is real ASU credit

This is not a separate lesser track. Universal Learner Courses are ASU courses delivered on Canvas, and the credit you keep counts toward your ASU degree. So time spent in Earned Admission is not a detour before your degree; it is the first part of it.

Where a tutor fits

Because your Earned Admission GPA is literally your admission, the coursework matters. We help you succeed in Universal Learner Courses the same way we help in any ASU course: understanding the assignments, building work to the rubric, and protecting the GPA that earns you in.

Sources and verification

Facts on this page come from official sources; confirm current details with ASU:

Keep going

Online now