I have added a field in CB which displays upon registration called "Registration Code". I would like to figure out a way to automatically upgrade a users access level to "Author" if they type in a code a reg. code that is on a specific list.

Any ideas on how to approach this? Is there a different forum I should be asking this question in?

I've been checking around for components that might do something similar and found JUGA. This seems like a promising addon and it doesn't hack core stuff, so it's a little safer than most.