Effective Date Mar 10, 2017

(Graduate Policy 4.3)

Graduate students enrolled for a normal 16-week term will be considered full-time if registered for nine or more semester credit hours. In the case of shorter terms, this basis will be pro-rated according to the length of the term; e.g., for an eight-week term, a full-time student must be enrolled for at least five semester credit hours. Quantitative determinations of part-time status are based on the ratio of hours taken to full-time hours. For example, for a normal 16-week term, half-time status would be five semester credit hours; and for an eight-week term, half-time status would be three semester credit hours.

For graduate students taking English as a Second Language (ESL) courses, one ESL course will be considered equivalent to three academic credit hours in determining full-time status. Students taking a combination of ESL and academic courses may not enroll for a combined total of more than five courses in any one term. Any exception to this policy requires the approval of the director of graduate programs.

For graduate students taking undergraduate courses, full-time status will be determined without regard to the level of the course (one undergraduate hour equals one graduate hour).

A student registered for internship is considered to be full-time.

Thesis/design project/research/doctoral research project and dissertation or practicum students must be registered for three or more credit hours to be considered full time.