Non-degree students and those awaiting admission to the master's degree program in MCIS are allowed to take a maximum of twelve credit hours from the courses listed below. These preparatory courses provide students with a basic background in CIS. These courses do not count toward the requirements for the MCIS degree and generally are waived for students with an undergraduate degree in CIS or a closely related field.

• CIS 500 Introduction to Programming (4 credits)
• CIS 506 Data Structures and Algorithms (4 credits)
• CIS 508 Internet Programming (4 credits)
• CIS 530 Database Systems and Processing (4 credits)
• CIS 535 Language Processors (4 credits)
• CIS 540 C/C++ for Systems Programming (2 credits)
• CIS 545 Architecture and Operating Systems (4 credits)
• CIS 568 Object-oriented Design and Programming (4 credits)

To register for more than twelve graduate credit hours, non-degree students are required to meet regular admission standards for the MCIS program. Students who have not been admitted to a graduate degree program may not take 600-level or above CIS or IST courses.