How to Complete the University of Kansas Change of Major Form: Costs and Aid

To change your major at KU, submit the University of Kansas change of major form online through the Registrar’s Office. There are two versions: the Change of Major/Minor/Certificate form if your new major is in the same school you’re already enrolled in, and the Change of School form if your new major lives in a different school. File by Census Day — the 20th day of classes — or your change won’t take effect until the next semester.¹

Which Form You Need

Picking the wrong form is the most common early mistake. Use the Change of Major/Minor/Certificate form when your new major sits in the same school or college you’re already in — switching from English to History inside the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, for example. The same form handles adding or dropping a minor or certificate.¹

Use the Change of School form when your new major is housed in a different school. The receiving schools include Arts, Architecture and Design, Business, Education and Human Sciences, Engineering, Journalism and Mass Communications, Music, Professional Studies, Social Welfare, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.¹ The School of Pharmacy runs its own separate application through its website and doesn’t use either form.

Not sure which school your current or prospective major belongs to? Log in to myKU, open the Academics drop-down, and choose My Progress. The Academics tab shows your current interest code and school affiliation.²

Filling Out the Change of Major Form

The form is hosted on the Registrar’s site and also linked from the College undergraduate forms page.³ You can add a new major, drop an existing one, or do both at once, and the same form handles minors and certificates.

If you’re building a double major, add the second major without dropping the first. The form treats these as separate actions, and removing your original major will clear those requirements from your degree audit.

Watch the catalog year field carefully. You follow a single catalog year across all your majors, minors, and certificates. If your new major is on a later catalog year, the form lets you opt forward, but doing so switches your entire set of degree requirements, general education included. Students who entered under the 2023–2024 catalog or earlier follow the original KU Core; opting forward to 2024–2025 or later moves you to KU Core 34, which is structured differently.¹ That can add courses you hadn’t planned on.

You don’t have to meet with an advisor before submitting, though KU recommends it if you’re unsure about concentration or degree type.² You can also skip the form entirely and ask your academic advisor to initiate the change on your behalf.⁴

Filling Out the Change of School Form

The Change of School form routes your request to the receiving school for review against their admission criteria, so processing takes longer than a within-school swap. Submitting the form doesn’t waive prerequisites. The school will check your transcript and reject the request if you fall short on GPA, prerequisite courses, or credit hours. For the School of Education and Human Sciences, the Registrar’s site specifically notes that current KU students must use this form rather than the major change form.⁵

Admission Requirements for Professional Schools

Switching majors within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is relatively simple — generally you just need good academic standing with a cumulative GPA of at least 2.0.⁶ Moving into a professional school is different. Each sets its own bar, and you have to meet it before the Change of School form will be approved.

School of Business: sophomore standing (30 credit hours), completion of three pre-admission courses (Financial Accounting 1, Statistics, and Principles of Microeconomics taken for a grade), and a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher across four separate GPA calculations — overall, overall professional, KU overall, and KU professional.⁷
School of Engineering: a 2.5 KU GPA, a grade of C- or better in MATH 125 or its direct equivalent, and a C or better in all math, science, and engineering courses.⁸
School of Journalism: a 2.5 KU GPA, a 2.5 Journalism GPA, and a grade of C or higher in JMC 101. Students who drop below those thresholds after admission are placed on academic probation for one semester and dismissed if they don’t recover.⁹
School of Education and Human Sciences: a combined KU and transfer cumulative GPA of at least 2.75.⁵
School of Health Professions: students don’t enter these programs before junior year. Some require an associate’s degree in a specific field, and all have their own prerequisites and minimum GPAs.¹⁰

If you’re aiming at a professional school, talk to that school’s advising office early. Prerequisites alone can take two or three semesters to finish, and discovering a missing course only after you’ve submitted the form will cost you a term.

The Census Day Deadline

Census Day — the 20th day of classes in each fall and spring semester — is the hard cutoff for making your change effective in the current term. Anything submitted after that date gets future-dated to the next semester automatically. For spring 2026, Census Day is Monday, February 16.¹¹

Census Day also locks in your tuition and fees. Your major determines which school-specific course fees hit your account, and those charges are set as of that day. A change submitted on day 21 won’t adjust the current semester’s bill — it takes effect the following term.¹ Retroactive changes to a prior semester are not allowed.

What It Will Cost

KU charges a base tuition rate plus a per-credit-hour fee that varies by school. Switching schools can meaningfully change your semester bill. On the Lawrence and Edwards campuses, the school-specific per-credit-hour fees are:¹²

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: $10.00
College Arts: $40.00
Education and Human Sciences: $33.35
Journalism: $35.00
Music: $55.00
Engineering: $95.00
Architecture and Design: $120.45
Business: $126.30

A student taking 15 credit hours who switches from the College ($10.00) to Engineering ($95.00) would see an additional $1,275 per semester in school-specific fees alone. Work that into your planning before you submit.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

Changing majors doesn’t automatically cancel your financial aid, but it can cause trouble in two places: scholarships and your maximum attempted hours.

If you hold a merit scholarship tied to your current school or department, a switch could jeopardize it. KU’s financial aid office is direct about this: appeals for lost merit scholarships will not be granted for major changes or the academic rigor of your chosen major.¹³ Before filing paperwork, check whether your scholarship has school- or department-specific conditions and call the awarding office if you’re unsure.

The second issue is the maximum attempted hours rule. Undergraduates must finish their degree within 180 attempted hours, counting all KU coursework, transfer credits, and test credits, regardless of whether aid paid for any of them. Every course counts, including ones that were academically forgiven or retroactively withdrawn. If a major change pushes you past 180 hours, you lose financial aid eligibility immediately with no warning semester.¹⁴ You can file a Satisfactory Academic Progress appeal, but approval isn’t guaranteed.

Previewing and Confirming the Change

Before you submit anything, use the Degree Progress Report’s What-If feature. It generates a hypothetical report for any field of study without touching your record, so you can see exactly which existing credits carry over and how many additional courses the new major would require.

After the change is processed, go back to myKU and generate a fresh Degree Progress Report for your updated major. The report pulls the new required coursework and shows how your completed credits apply.¹⁵ It’s a self-serve tool that tracks your progress toward degree completion and will reflect your new major, updated requirements, and any remaining courses.¹⁶ If something looks wrong on the updated report, contact your advisor before registering for the next term.

1
Office of the University Registrar. Program and Plan Changes
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University of Kansas. Ready to Declare and Major Changes
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The University of Kansas. Forms
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Jayhawk Academic Advising. Update Your Major
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University of Kansas. Admission – School of Education and Human Sciences
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University of Kansas. Minimum Graduation GPA, Academic Probation
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University of Kansas. Admissions Requirements for Current KU Students
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The University of Kansas. Undergraduate Admission
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William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Undergraduate Admission Requirements
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The University of Kansas. School of Health Professions
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Office of the University Registrar. Spring 2026 Academic Calendar
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Office of the University Registrar. On-Campus Tuition and Fees
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University of Kansas. Scholarships
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University of Kansas. Satisfactory Academic Progress
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University of Kansas. Generating a Degree Progress Report
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University of Kansas. Degree Progress Report Overview