How do I join Lake Macquarie U3A?
Information about joining Lake Macquarie U3A is contained on the Membership and Enrolment page.
How can I get involved and help?
There are several ways you can become involved to make sure the organisation runs smoothly.
- Offer to lead a course. If you have a special interest or experiences to share, consider volunteering to become a Course Leader and share your knowledge with other members. Send an email to Program Development .
- Volunteer to be a Course Clerk. Course Clerks are vital to the smooth running of U3A courses as they mark the roll, open and set-up the room, pass on communications to attendees and assist the presenter as necessary. Indicate your willingness to become a Course Clerk on the Enrolment Form or send an email to Course Clerk Liaison.
Who can attend courses?
Anyone who is a financial member can attend courses.
Why provide an email address?
You will have advantages in timeliness and awareness if you provide us with an email address. Email is not essential, but is very beneficial.
Access to an email account, whether your own or shared, on any internet connected computer or device, will more quickly deliver our Programs, Newsletters, application acknowledgements and enrolment confirmations, plus other notifications and reminders. Some notifications are sent only by email.
You do not need a printer, though an ability to print email messages or attachments can be helpful in a variety of circumstances.
Is my privacy secure with online forms or emails?
Every web page and email account used by Lake Macquarie U3A for communication from members is securely encrypted.
Membership and enrolment information entered to an online form or email is not accessible by anyone else. Once submitted, the information is downloaded to a secure location for completely automatic processing into our offline database.
How are class and wait lists prepared?
Please apply for those courses in which you have an interest as soon as possible after receiving your Program each semester and taking the time to read the descriptions and session details of the variety of courses available. Carefully consider the days and times of the courses to avoid overlap. The process for preparing class and wait lists is:
- for courses with a class limit, applications received within an initial period of approximately two weeks after Program mailout are balloted if the limit is exceeded; sequencing is unimportant if there is no class limit
- applications received after the ballot period up to the published enrolment closing date are sequenced in order of receipt
- after initial construction of class lists, a Confirmation Letter is emailed or posted, and there is a period of approximately five days during which changes can be made freely to your course selections
- to minimize the revision and reprinting of class lists, to stabilize classes for course leaders and course clerks, and to encourage early enrolment, for Semester 1 a discretionary freeze is applied on applications from five days before until five days after the start of Term 1 sessions
- if you are enrolled in a continuing course in Semester 1 there is no need to re-apply mid-year as your place will carry through to Semester 2
- if you have a place during Semester 2 in a course that is continued as part of the following year’s Semester 1 Program you always need to renew membership and re-apply; a place may be reserved for you, though this will lapse if you are not re-enrolled by the formal Semester 1 closing date
These practices intend fairness to all members irrespective of enrolment method (online, post), and to our volunteers who manage applications and the formation of classes. Important dates are notified in the Program.
What if I cannot attend a course?
As a courtesy to the Course Leader, please notify your Course Clerk if you are unable to attend a course at any time. If you do not know who your Course Clerk is, please email Course Clerk Liaison for the Course Clerk’s contact details.
How do I withdraw from a course?
If you wish to withdraw from a course, please email Course Clerk Liaison as soon as possible.
If possible, also use our online Course Application form and ensure you select the purpose to be ‘Withdraw’.
What does the message mean about opening documents from a “trusted site”?
This message is generated for some browsers and is dependent of the security settings. You can trust documents we upload on this website as they are scanned for viruses before uploading. If you see this message followed by “Do you want to trust this site?”, answer “Yes” to continue to download the document.
