Transportation between the five colleges is made easy by the Five College Buses. These buses are made available to students free of charge and travel frequently between campuses. Please see the PVTA website for more information.
At Hampshire and Mt. Holyoke colleges, you can park on campus. Go to their Registrar's Office for more information.
You must have a meal plan at UMass and be taking a course at another Five College campus that conflicts with your usual meal times. Students go through their home schools to arrange access. Contact the UMass Amherst Meal Plan Office to request the arrangement.
UMass students should follow UMass registration dates. You should pay attention to the academic calendar for the other schools. Important dates such at the first day of classes and holidays are listed there. These may or may not be the same as those at UMass.
For registration, UMass students should follow UMass registration dates. For attendance, you should follow the academic calendar of the other schools.
When pre-registration ends, you should wait 2 to 3 weeks. If you received your course, it will appear on your SPIRE schedule. If you have registration holds, or exceed our credit limit, the class will not appear on your schedule. Please resolve these issues. As always, be sure to check the accuracy of your course information. You should be sure to attend the first day of the course to check for any changes in enrollment. When in doubt about whether you were successfully enrolled in a course, please contact the Five College Interchange office at UMass.
If you are properly registered for your Five College course, it will be on your SPIRE schedule. As always, be sure to check the accuracy of your course information. You will also be registered for your course at the host school. Please note that registration for Blackboard, Ella, and other web-based learning programs at the other school does not necessarily imply registration for the course. If you have registration holds, or exceed our credit limit, the class will not appear on your schedule. It is your responsibility to ensure proper registration. When in doubt about whether you were successfully enrolled in a course, please contact the Five College Interchange office at UMass.
The Interchange does allow exceptions for first semester freshmen if the course they request is to fulfill a major requirement in a Five College Major, such as Astronomy, Dance, and to continue the study of a language.
Contact the UMass Registrar's Office at (413-545-0555).
When requests are submitted close to the end of Add/Drop, sometimes they are not added to your schedule until after Add/Drop ends. If you are concerned about enrollment, email the Five College Interchange Office at @email.
This website is part of Undergraduate Student Success. Undergraduate Student Success creates and supports a unified strategy for student success at the University of Massachusetts Amherst that increases student retention, supports timely progress to degree, and increases graduation rates and post-graduation outcomes through the advancement of high impact practices, collaborative campus partnerships, and the support of holistic student learning and development.