Cross-registration in United States higher education is a system allowing students at one university, college, or faculty within a university to take individual courses for credit at another institution or faculty, typically in the same region.
[1] Cross-registration gives students access to a wider variety of subject matter at a certain logistical cost: travel time, inconsistent academic calendars, etc.
[2][3] Among institutions, cross-registration is governed by agreements – bilateral or regional (often consortia).
Money may or may not flow between the institutions to compensate for the difference between inbound and outbound cross-registrants.
Cross-registration allows universities in a region to focus on their area of specialization at the cost of not having direct control of their students' academic experience.