Information for students
This page covers the following topics:
- Current COVID health requirements
- If you test positive for COVID
- Classes and instruction
- Housing and dining
- Returning from travel
- International students
- Fully remote and returning students
- Compliance with COVID protocols
- UCLA Ashe Center services
- Well-being resources
- COVID dashboards
COVID health checklist: What do I need to do?
For all current COVID-19–related heatlh requirements and recommendations — including information on vaccines and boosters, isolation and quarantine, and entry to campus events — please see:
Not required: Daily symptom monitoring, indoor masking and weekly surveillance testing are no longer required, although masking indoors remains strongly recommended.
If you test positive for COVID
If you test positive through UCLA campus testing, you’ll be contacted by campus health officials with instructions. Your close contacts — those who have been within 6 feet of you in an indoor setting for a total of 15 minutes over a 24-hour period — will be notified by contact tracers, who will instruct them on further steps.
If you test positive outside of UCLA or take an at-home test that comes back positive, you should upload the results of your test (whether PCR or rapid antigen) to the UCLA COVID-19 Action Center and contact the Ashe COVID Hotline below. Likewise, if you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and have been in contact with an infected person, call the hotline.
For students
Ashe COVID Hotline
310-206-6217
exposuremanagementteam@ashe.ucla.edu
Campus health officials will then advise you and any close contacts on how to proceed, per UCLA’s isolation and quarantine protocols or LACDPH’s isolation and quarantine instructions.
Classes and instruction
Nearly all courses are currently taught in person, and there are no caps on the number of students allowed in a classroom beyond normal room capacities.
While in-person learning is the norm, instructors also strive to create course structures that are flexible enough to accommodate students’ COVID-19–related absences, including assessments that can easily be completed by students who missed class and which can be transferred to a remote environment if remote instruction becomes necessary.
If you have to miss class
Some students may have to miss class due to COVID-19 isolation and quarantine protocols.
The prospect of missing class time, projects or assessments can be daunting, but your instructors are committed to accommodating students who can’t be in class through video or audio streaming or recordings, makeup assignments and assessments, alternative projects, or other means. Instructors have been informed that students’ absences due to isolation or quarantine should not factor into any attendance component of their final grade.
If you need to isolate or quarantine, you should notify your course instructors as soon as possible and explain your circumstances.
If you are severely sick with COVID-19, you may qualify as temporarily disabled and receive support from the Center for Accessible Education following an interactive process with your instructor.
If your instructor has to miss class
While instructors can’t switch an entire course from in-person to remote instruction, they may teach up to two consecutive classes remotely without prior authorization if they’re ill or experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, are temporarily isolating or quarantining, or are traveling for work or some other necessity.
Any shift to remote instruction that extends beyond two classes and lasts up to two weeks requires the approval of the department chair and/or dean; a change lasting longer than two weeks requires final approval from members of UCLA’s COVID-19 task force.
Rather than shifting to remote instruction, a fellow faculty member, co-instructor or teaching assistant may lead one or more classes if the primary instructor is not available.
Accessibility for students with disabilities
UCLA is committed to ensuring that students with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate in the rich academic experience UCLA offers. The UCLA Center for Accessible Education will work closely with students and instructors to determine appropriate accommodations and develop a plan tailored to the needs of students in each their courses.
The UCLA Office of Information Technology’s Disabilities and Computing Program also helps to ensure that faculty and students are aware of accessible best practices and that academic content is available and understandable to all.
Pivoting to hybrid or remote instruction
Significant changes in the public health landscape could require UCLA to make changes to instruction — including adjusting classroom density or enrollment limits or shifting to hybrid or completely remote instruction. Our COVID-19 Pivot Plan (PDF) describes the criteria that will inform possible changes in our operations.
Housing and dining
UCLA Housing
UCLA is offering primarily triple-capacity rooms in on-campus housing. All students living in university housing, whether on or off campus, will need to be compliant with the University of California’s current vaccination policy. For more information on UCLA’s COVID-19–related housing guidance, visit the UCLA Housing website and its COVID-19 information page.
If you need to isolate or quarantine
If you test positive for COVID-19 or are found to have been in close contact with an infected person — within 6 feet in an indoor setting for 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period — you may need to spend time in isolation or quarantine. If you’re a student living in UCLA housing, UCLA will provide appropriate accommodations for isolation, and you should bring along enough personal belongings for 10 days. UCLA will monitor your health, and staff will arrange for meal delivery three times a day. Students and employees living in non-UCLA housing should remain in a private room with a private bathroom, if possible, and arrange for meals and other essential needs.
To understand more about the process, including potential early release from isolation, please see our isolation and quarantine protocol.
UCLA Dining
UCLA Housing has modified some of its service methodology and activities to support student health and safety. Currently our residential restaurants and dining facilities are only open to those living in the on-campus residential halls located on the Hill; the Bruin Meal Plan is not being offered.
Please see the dining website for the most up-to-date hours of operation and menus.
Pivoting in response to COVID
Significant changes in the public health landscape could require UCLA to make changes to housing and dining, including adjusting housing density, restricting indoor dining and broadening COVID-19 surveillance testing. Our COVID-19 Pivot Plan (PDF) describes the criteria that will inform possible changes in our operations.
For more information on housing and dining, see:
Returning from travel
UCLA is following the travel advisory issued by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on returning from domestic and international travel.
Major points of that guidance are listed below. For full details, please visit the CDC’s travel page.
Returning from travel within the U.S.
If your travel involved situations with a greater risk of exposure to COVID-19, such as being in crowded places while not wearing a well-fitting mask, it is recommended that you:
- Take a COVID-19 test, either through a lab or at home, upon your return
- Self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms
If you test positive or develop symptoms, follow isolation and quarantine protocols.
For more information, see the CDC’s domestic travel page.
Returning from international travel
U.S. citizens are not required to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to reenter the United States from abroad; non–U.S. citizens, however, must show proof of having received a primary vaccination series, with limited exceptions.
It is recommended that all travelers, regardless of their vaccination status:
- Take a COVID-19 test within three to five days after their return to the U.S.
- Self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms
If you test positive or develop symptoms, follow isolation and quarantine protocols.
For more information, see the CDC’s international travel page.
International students
For detailed information about enrollment, F-1 and J-1 visa requirements, and international travel, please visit the UCLA Dashew Center for International Students. The center will continue to provide updated information about fall instruction via direct communications and their recent updates, travel updates, F-1 student FAQ, J-1 student FAQ and non-visa–related FAQ pages. Students should contact the center if they have any questions regarding enrollment or arrival in the U.S.
Vaccinations and boosters
International students are encouraged to get vaccinated as early as possible, including in their home countries. However, only vaccines that have been granted emergency use authorization by the World Health Organization meet the university’s vaccine requirement. (The CDC keeps a list of WHO-authorized vaccines, and you can follow the status of vaccines through the WHO EUL/PQ evaluation process.)
Those who have been vaccinated outside the U.S. with a WHO-authorized vaccine can also receive an FDA-approved booster in the U.S.
If you can’t get an authorized vaccine
International students who cannot obtain a vaccine that has been approved or granted emergency use authorization by the WHO are encouraged to plan ahead and schedule an appointment for a COVID vaccine upon arrival in the United States.
Some people may have already received a COVID-19 vaccine that is not currently authorized in the U.S. While data on the safety and efficacy of receiving an authorized vaccine after getting a non-authorized one are not available, in some circumstances people who have partially completed a vaccination series with a non-authorized vaccine may be offered revaccination with an FDA/WHO–authorized one in the U.S.
Coming to campus
Students who have been unable to obtain an authorized vaccine in their home countries will still be allowed to come to campus, but they will be referred to a vaccine site to get vaccinated immediately.
Until they are fully vaccinated, they may be subject to non-pharmaceutical interventions. Additional safety measures may be required, depending on the circumstances, by local health authorities.
If you have further questions about UCLA’s acceptance of international vaccines, please email covid19@ucla.edu.
Fully remote students and those returning for the first time
Students returning after being fully remote
If you have been learning completely remotely but are now returning to campus on a full-time or hybrid basis, you will need to update your status through the UCLA COVID-19 Action Center. If you have not yet done so, you will also need to upload proof of your vaccination and booster status or request an exception through the Action Center.
Fully remote students
If you are newly remote and will not be coming to campus at any point during the term, you will need to update the UCLA COVID-19 Action Center; indicate that you will be fully remote so that you’re not flagged for noncompliance with the vaccination policy. If you are fully remote but have already been vaccinated, you should upload proof of your vaccination through the Action Center.
Compliance with campus COVID protocols
There may be times when students or others, after being reminded, continue to ignore campus health and safety protocols. Repeated student violations should be reported to the Office of Student Conduct at dean@saonet.ucla.edu or 310-825-3871. In addition, reports of violations may be made anonymously through UCLA’s whistleblower hotline at 800-403-4744. Reports of violations will generally be processed within one business day, and a determination will be made whether the violation was willful or not.
Students with willful violations, repeated violations or violations believed to have resulted in COVID-19 infections will face disciplinary measures up to and including exclusion from campus.
If faculty members or TAs demonstrate repeated noncompliance with health and safety protocols, a complaint can be made to the instructor’s department chair, divisional dean, academic personnel officer or the dean of students.
For full details of UCLA’s protocol on compliance and violations, see Compliance With Safety Measures (PDF)
UCLA Arthur Ashe Student Health & Wellness Center
The Ashe Center is open the following hours (and closed on weekends):
- Monday, Tuesday and Thursday: 8 a.m.–1 p.m., 2 p.m.–4:30 p.m.
- Wednesday: 8 a.m.–12:30 p.m., 2 p.m.–4:30 p.m.
- Friday: 9 a.m.–1 p.m., 2 p.m.–4:30 p.m.
If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 or have been in contact with someone confirmed to have been infected, immediately call the Ashe Center’s COVID-19 Hotline at 310-206-6217.
More Ashe Center resources:
Well-being and counseling
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is open during regular business hours, providing all services through telehealth. In a crisis, 24/7 support is always available by phone at 310-825-0768.
Further resources are available on this site’s Emotional, Social and Physical Well-Being page.
COVID dashboards
Vaccination rates and confirmed COVID cases dashboard
UCLA provides regular updates on the number of students, faculty and staff — both on and off campus — who have been confirmed by medical professionals to have COVID-19. Consistent with the protocols for infectious disease response, anyone identified within our campus community as being at risk of COVID-19 as a result of exposure to an infected person will be notified if they need to quarantine and be tested.
COVID-19 case notification (PDF)
In accordance with California’s Assembly Bill 2693 (previously AB 685), UCLA’s case dashboard keeps those on campus informed when they have potentially been exposed to an individual believed to be infectious with COVID-19 in a UCLA building or workplace. For details, see UCLA’s Standard Operating Procedure for Responding to COVID-19 Cases.
