SDV Information

• NOVA requires that curricular students without a prior associate or bachelor’s degree take SDV 100 or 101 within their first semester of enrollment. Once you add one of those courses to your shopping cart, you will be able to enroll in the other courses.
• If you are not a first-time college student (ages 17–24), you can also take the SDV ABLE exam, earning a score of 38 or higher, to fulfill the SDV requirement. For information on this option, visit the Testing Center “Types of Tests” webpage and scroll to the bottom. Information on the SDV ABLE exam is listed under “Other Tests.”
• If you do not plan to complete a degree or certificate at NOVA and intend to take only a class or two, you should work with an academic advisor to update your profile status to “non-curricular student.” (Please note that only students in curricular programs are eligible for federal financial aid.)

• To enroll in classes without registering for SDV 100 or 101, you should work with an academic advisor or complete Course Prerequisite Waiver Form 125-041. When completing the form, remember to attach your unofficial transcript, which should indicate you earned a grade C or higher in the SDV-equivalent course.
• To formally transfer an SDV-equivalent course to NOVA (and have the credit applied to your NOVA degree), you will also need to complete the transcript evaluation process.

• To enroll in classes without registering for SDV 100 or 101, you should work with an academic advisor or complete Course Prerequisite Waiver Form 125-041. When completing the form, remember to attach your unofficial transcript, which should indicate you earned a grade of C or higher in the SDV-equivalent course.
• To use the SDV exemption to earn your NOVA degree, you will need to complete the transcript evaluation process.

• If you try to drop the class before the census date, you will receive an error message like the one below:

• To change to a different section of your SDV class, you will need to use the Swap feature — instead of the Drop feature —within the Enroll tab of your Student Center. This will allow you to change SDV sections without dropping any of your other classes.

• SIS will not let you withdraw from your SDV class (which means you are using the Drop feature AFTER the class census date) if you are enrolled in another NOVA class for which SDV is a corequisite unless you have already registered for another SDV section. If the enrollment deadline for the second 7-week or other later starting term has not already passed, you will be able to withdraw from the SDV course in which you are doing poorly only if you have registered for a later starting section of SDV 100 or 101. Note that you are responsible for tuition for both the SDV course you withdraw from AND the second SDV course.
• If all enrollment deadlines for the current semester have passed but enrollment for the next semester has begun, register for SDV 100 or 101 for the next semester. When you have done this, you should be able to withdraw from the SDV course in which you are doing poorly; SIS will recognize that you are enrolled in SDV for the next semester.
• If you have an unusual circumstance that prevents you from enrolling in another SDV class, you should work with academic advising to formulate a solution.

You will remain enrolled in all your other classes, which will not be dropped. If enrollment for the current semester is still open, you are encouraged to enroll in a different SDV section in the current semester. Otherwise, you will need to enroll in SDV for the next semester.

You will be prompted to enroll in SDV again the next time you enroll in a NOVA class.

• For students new to NOVA in Fall 2024, NOVA is able to set the SDV corequisite requirement for classes that do not already have a prerequisite or corequisite.
• Beginning in Spring 2025, all new students will be required to have either (1) taken SDV 100/101 or (2) enrolled in SDV to be able to enroll in any other classes.