Auditing is a privilege extended to matriculated RISD students who wish to attend classes or other regular activities of a course, but not to receive grades or credit or to submit work to the instructor for criticism. Non-degree seeking students, including students visiting or here on exchange, are not eligible to audit.

In order to audit a course, instructor permission is required. Instructors may accept auditors only if class size and facilities permit. Registration for audit status is available during the Add/Drop period only and must be specifically approved by the instructor. Auditors are expected to obtain all required course materials akin to students enrolled for credit.

Auditors may change to regular enrollment (i.e. for credit and a grade) only during the Add/Drop period. Requests to audit a course after the Add/Drop period will not be accepted. For purposes of maintaining good academic standing, auditing is not counted toward the student’s required minimum credit load. However, audited credits do count toward the student's maximum courseload, so students must appeal for an exception for a credit overload if they are already at their maximum semester credit load. Students are eligible to audit a course as long as they are registered in at least 12 credits of graded coursework. There is a maximum of three audits in a student’s career and no more than one in a single semester.

When auditing, there is an attendance requirement of a minimum of two-thirds of the class meetings. The student’s satisfactory participation as an auditor will be indicated by “AU” on his or her transcript. Students who do not meet the attendance requirement may be withdrawn from the course by the instructor, in which case the grade of “W” will be recorded.