Your first semester

Complete your FAFSA—the U.S. Department of Education's application for federal student aid—and have it sent to Metropolitan State University.

Here's a complete guide for submitting your application and accepting loans.

All official communication emailed to you by the university, faculty and staff will go to your student email account. Use your Minnesota State StarID and password to set up your account. (StarIDs are a string of two letters, four numbers and two letters, like "ab1234cd.")

If you attended another college or university in the Minnesota State system, you'll use the same StarID at Metropolitan State University.

If you're new to the Minnesota State system, your StarID was generated when you first applied for admission.

Academic advisors are assigned to students based on their major or program. Your academic advisor's name and contact information are included in a welcome letter you receive within three weeks of your acceptance to the university.

Your advisor will have lots of information and advice for planning your academic path, staying on track and navigating the university.

Many students have to complete an immunization form and return it to Gateway before they can register for classes.

All new students must complete orientation online. Register for new student orientation.

For freshmen with 16 or fewer credits: In addition to new student orientation online, you must attend an on-campus group advising and registration session. This gives you a chance to meet advisors and faculty face-to-face, see the campus, get your student ID card and get comfortable finding classrooms, the bookstore and the library.

Placement assessments gauge your math, reading and writing skills. They help you and your advisor select which courses are best for you.

Incoming students who have not completed college-level English composition and a college-level math course are required to take placement assessments—this includes all incoming freshmen or PSEO students who haven't earned any college credit. 

For other incoming students, including transfer and readmitted students, your degree auditing determines whether you're exempt from assessments. (If you see "Student Holds: 0006 — Assessment Test" on your degree audit report, you won't be able to register for any class until you take a placement assessment.)

For students receiving financial aid, you should check your aid status, accept your loans and manage your aid package.

For students who are paying their tuition in other ways (including veteran's benefits), here's how to set up different forms of tuition payment.

After you know what classes you're taking, you can find and buy the books you need online through Metropolitan State's bookstore.

If you want to pay for your books by charging them to your student account, you can set up bookstore credit.

For undergraduate students, your Degree Audit Report is available through eServices about 12 - 14 business days from your date of acceptance. This report shows how your previous courses/credits have been applied to your academic program, including graduation requirements and general education. It also shows what program requirements you've met and what requirements you still need to meet.

After you've reviewed your Degree Audit Report, if you have questions about the transfer of your courses/credits, connect with your advisor to discuss transfer course/credit decisions.

Online courses (and many in-person classes) use D2L Brightspace. Take the tutorial on how to access D2L.

You'll use your university ID to check out library books and access parking and other facilities. You can get your ID in person, through the mail or, for students who live outside the Twin Cities metro, by email.