Bachelor of Commerce - Distance Learning

We value your past post-secondary academic achievements!

Please see our Transfer Pathways for information about credits you may earn from your past post-secondary education: 

Click here to access the Office of the Registrar webpage and Transfer Student Guide.

Transferring from college | Nipissing University

Pathways to Transfer from Ontario Colleges | Nipissing University

We offer 3 full semesters per year, (Fall, Winter, Spring/Summer). You can take a maximum of 5 courses in a semester which means you can take up to 15 courses or 45 credits in a calendar year!

Click here for more information on advanced standing.

As a distance student, you have the option to take your courses in a variety of course delivery methods such as:

Courses could be offered in one delivery method or more. Some courses are offered several times a year, and some courses are offered less often. Make sure you check to see when the courses you want to take are offered during the academic year.

Courses that are offered through an in-class or synchronous online delivery method are scheduled on weekday evenings (Monday to Friday). If you register for a scheduled class, attendance is mandatory. Synchronous online courses are not recorded.

Asynchronous online courses are not recorded. There are written lecture notes and assigned readings, exercises, assignments, reports, weekly online discussions, quizzes and exams.

There are 3 semesters each year - fall, winter, spring/summer - and students have the option to complete the program on a full-time or part-time basis. Full-time students can take between 1 and 5 courses each semester and part-time students can take 1 or 2 courses per semester. The full-time option provides the most flexibility to your degree program.

Full-time study for the Fall intake, visit the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre (OUAC) website at www.ouac.on.ca. Use this application if you wish to take between 1 and 5 courses in a semester with a September intake.

Full-time study for the winter intake, visit the Nipissing website, Applications and Other Forms | Nipissing University, Full-time studies - January start. Use this application if you wish to take between 1 and 5 courses in a semester with a January intake. (Start your application on the Nipissing website and you will be redirected to OUAC in the process).

Full-time study for the summer intake, visit the Nipissing website, Applications and Other Forms | Nipissing University, Spring/Summer start (full-time or part-time) OR Part-time/Flex-time studies (all terms). Use this application if you wish to take between 1 and 5 courses in a semester with a May intake. (Start your application on the Nipissing website and you will be redirected to OUAC in the process).

Full time students can take between 1 and 5 courses in a semester. 

Part-time Basis:

Part-time study for any semester intake, visit the Nipissing website, Applications and Other Forms | Nipissing University, Spring/Summer start (full-time or part-time) OR Part-time/Flex-time studies (all terms). 

Part-time students can take 1 or 2 courses each semester.

All students will apply to enter the Bachelor of Commerce (4-year) program. Students who wish to graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce (3-year) degree can switch into the 3-year BComm program by emailing programchange@nipissingu.ca.

If you have any questions about the BComm application process, please contact our Admissions Office at admissions@nipissingu.ca.

For Students starting the BComm program in the Summer (May 2026): 

• Distance Student Guide, 2026-2027

• BComm Distance Program Welcome Letter - SS 2026

If you started the BComm degree in a different year or intake and didn't download your Student Guide and Registration Package, please email bcomm@nipissingu.ca and request a copy.

Course Codes:

801-809 you are taking an online course and there is no scheduled meeting time. Course readings and course work will be done by you during the week. 

841-849 you are taking a SYNC (synchronous) course. That course is scheduled during the week, in the evening and is streamed live. You choose the synchronous course, then it is mandatory that you attend the weekly lecture. 

822-Algonquin, 823-Lambton, 826-Centennial, 829-St. Clair you are taking an in-class course at the local college partners. If you choose to take the course at one of these campuses, then you are taking a Nipissing University Bachelor of Commerce degree course, not a college course. 

New Students with no prior post-secondary education will take all the program required courses in the Bachelor of Commerce degree + elective courses they will choose.

New students with past post-secondary education will receive a degree audit from an academic advisor. This assessment will match your transfer credits to BComm courses and indicate the program required courses that must be completed for your degree. You will choose your electives. Electives are any courses that are not degree required courses. To see the degree required courses, go to the Academic Calendar, ‘Commerce’. If you have questions about your academic plan, schedule an appointment with an Academic Advisor, advising@nipissingu.ca sometime in your first semester to ensure you start off on the right track! You can register for a live chat with an advisor. Please go to their webpage to see how to connect with them. 

Please register for your fall and winter courses as soon as you receive your degree audit assessment. To see when courses are offered over the academic year, please go to the menu, choose Degree Options, and the "How do I know when courses are offered" tab. This tab will also show you each program required course and the prerequisite course(s), if any, and when it is offered in the academic year. (A prerequisite course is a course that is required to be completed prior to taking the course.)

• BComm Distance Planning Guide 2026-2027

If you are adding an Accounting or Human Resources Concentration to your degree, then please send an email (using your Nipissing assigned email address and include your Student ID) to programchange@nipissingu.ca and indicate you wish to add the concentration to your degree. You will be able to access a chart of courses you need to take as electives for the CPA designation equivalencies and the HRPA designation courses. These are for students taking the 4-year Bachelor of Commerce, concentration in Accounting or Human Resources. The course charts will ensure you know the courses to take for your degree + concentration and the CPA or HR designation course requirements eligible from your undergrad degree.

Please schedule an appointment with an Academic Advisor, advising@nipissingu.ca sometime in your first semester to ensure you are taking the courses for degree completion.

If you did not take grade 12 U math courses in high school, or took grade 12 math a long time ago, we offer a FREE math PREP course in the summer.

This course is designed to teach you the math concepts from calculus, functions, algebra and data management that you will be using in your Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.

This course is NOT A CREDIT COURSE, so it doesn't count towards your Bachelor of Commerce degree. There is no testing or exam, except for self-testing. It is designed to assist with your math learning. This course runs on Wednesday evenings July - August from 6pm-9pm. It is delivered synchronous online or live-streamed.  

To register for this course, please log into WebAdvisor and select ADMN-0010-SU841 Math Prep course

To assist with your course planning, download the 2025-2026 guide.  

• Course Planning Guide, 2025-2026

To plan when you will take your courses, you can log into WebAdvisor and search for individual courses or see when all courses in a subject area (ACCT, ADMN, ECON, FINC, MKTG, ORGS, TMGT) are offered in the fall and winter semesters, (24FW).

The 2026 Spring/Summer (26SS) courses will open in March 2026 in WebAdvisor. If you wish to plan for the SS26 semester, it may be useful to look back to the SS25 semester course offerings for planning purposes. It will provide a good base to plan for the upcoming 26SS semester.

Elective courses other than the CPA equivalencies and the HRPA elective courses are not shown in the list of courses below.

Please note that courses with less than 15 students registered may be cancelled due to low enrolment.If a course is full, you may have to take the course in another semester.

If you are on a waitlist and you are not able to get into the course in the upcoming semester and you think it will affect your progression to graduation, please contact an academic advisor to discuss your options. (see the tab below on Waitlist Management)

Please see the chart below listing the courses offered in each semester. This chart can be used for course planning.

Please note, changes can be made to course offerings over the academic year and this chart may not remain accurate. Log into WebAdvisor to see the actual courses offered for each subject area.

Registering for courses early in the registration period will ensure you get into the courses you want to and need for academic progression. 

A course may be a prerequisite to another course. For example, ORGS 1136 Intro. to Organizational Behaviour must be taken before ADMN 2167 Business Decision Making.

Some courses may be prerequisites to multiple courses.ACCT 1107 Principles of Accounting II is a good example. It is a prerequisite to taking ACCT 2146 Management Accounting & Control I, ADMN 2167 Business Decision Making, FINC 3116 Financial Management I, ACCT 2106 Intermediate Accounting I, ACCT 3816 Personal Taxation.  

It is a good practice to take your program required courses with prerequisites at the beginning of your degree. 

To search for prerequisites, you can search for a course in WebAdvisor, then click on the name of the course and a popup window will show the course outline and the prerequisite courses if applicable.

When you should put yourself on a waitlist:

• If you need to take a program required course in the upcoming semester as it will delay your progression for earning your degree. (Example: you have two program required courses to take ADMN 4606 and ADMN 4607 and some electives to complete your degree. ADMN 4606 is full. By not taking ADMN 4606 in the upcoming semester, which is a prerequisite to taking ADMN 4607, you will have to delay your degree by a semester). This rule doesn't apply to electives that would not affect your ability to graduate, except for electives in a concentration (Accounting or HR).
• If you would like to take the course in the upcoming semester and want to see if a spot opens up.

What happens if you are allowed into the waitlisted course:

• You will receive an email from the Registrar's office, sent to your Nipissing assigned email account, giving you a specific amount of time to register for the course. If you do not register for the course in that set amount of time, the spot in the course will be offered to the next person on the waitlist.

What should you do if you are on the waitlist, and you need to take the course that semester:

• Contact an academic advisor and ask about your options. If they confirm you need to take the course in the upcoming semester, they will advise the Registrar's office and the School of Business, and you will be admitted into the course. 

What if you do not get a notification from the Registrar's office to be admitted into the course by the time the semester starts:

• If you do not need to take the course in the upcoming semester because it won't affect your degree progression and it is offered in another semester, remove yourself from the waitlist and register for another course. 

Please see the list of courses below needed for the Bachelor of Commerce 4-year Accounting Concentration and CPA courses:

You may have transfer credits from your past post-secondary education for courses on this chart. Some of the courses you will be required to take as program required courses and other courses on this chart will be electives that you will choose. Make sure that all the courses on the chart are represented as either transfer credits, program required courses or electives on your transcript before you graduate. 

The Data Analytics CPA competency is integrated into several Nipissing courses, but you are required to take the standalone course, ACCT 3906-Data Analytics for Accounting at Nipissing to get an equivalency transfer from CPA Ontario. 

Once you graduate from Nipissing University Bachelor of Commerce (4-year) degree, you can apply to CPA Ontario, transfer your courses, begin your work experience, and start the CPA PEP program to begin your journey to becoming a CPA. 

Always verify the CPA requirements with CPA Ontario. www.cpaontario.ca. 

CPA Ontario posts the Nipissing University CPA PREP equivalencies on their website. The updated course list is found at CPA Ontario | Academic Prerequisites at Post-Secondary Institutions. Scroll down and search for Nipissing University, Bachelor of Commerce.

Chart for the Bachelor of Commerce degree equivalencies:

Please see the list of courses on the chart needed for the Bachelor of Commerce 4-year Human Resources Concentration and HRPA courses.

• HRPA and HR Concentration Courses 2026-2027

You may have transfer credits from your past post-secondary education for courses on this chart. Some of the courses you will be required to take as degree program required courses and other courses on this chart will be electives that you will choose. Make sure that all the courses on the chart are represented as either transfer credits, program required courses or electives on your transcript before you graduate.

Once you graduate from Nipissing University Bachelor of Commerce degree, you can apply to HRPA Ontario, transfer your courses, begin your work experience, and start the CHRP program to begin your journey to becoming an HR professional.

Always verify the HRPA CHRP requirements through the HRPA website, School Search (hrpa.ca).

Nipissing University policy on Academic Integrity. (For the full statement on Academic Integrity, please go to the Academic Calendar, University Policies and Regulations, Academic Policies and Regulations). 

Academic Integrity is defined by the basic principles of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility (as articulated by the International Center for Academic Integrity, www.academicintegrity.org). These values serve as the foundation for the development and acquisition of knowledge, for students, adherence to these fundamental values is essential for earning academic credit in all courses, whether offered on- or off-campus, online, or as placements, practicums or internships.

Definition of Academic Misconduct:

Academic Misconduct is defined as any behaviour that undermines the University’s ability to evaluate students’ academic achievements fairly, or any behaviour that a student knew, or reasonably ought to have known, could gain them or others unfair academic advantage or benefit.

Included in Academic Misconduct are:

1. plagiarism, including self- plagiarism;
2. contract cheating;
3. cheating;
4. misrepresentation of personal identity or performance;
5. submission of false information;
6. contributing to Academic Misconduct;
7. damaging, tampering, or interfering with the scholarly environment;
8. unauthorized use of intellectual property;
9. misconduct in re-graded/re-submitted work.

While the above list characterizes the most common instances of Academic Misconduct, it is not intended to be exhaustive. A more comprehensive list of inclusions can be found in Appendix A of the policy found in the Academic Calendar.

As a student, you are required to understand the Academic Integrity policy and understand the penalties associated with committing academic misconduct. Please read and understand the penalties associated with academic misconduct found in the Academic Calendar. 

Can students use Generative AI?
It depends. Some instructors may allow you to use generative AI (or allow you to use it only in certain situations) and others may not.

If you are permitted to use generative AI in your course, and you choose to do so, it is important that you cite the tools you use. 

Please see the attached guide on Generative AI Guide for Students (example: ChatGPT)