Doctoral Degree Candidates — PhD and DE

1. All doctoral students are required to enroll for research. The total amount may vary, but students must register and complete a minimum of 24 hours (490).
2. A full-time load for graduate students is 9 hours for a semester and 4 hours for a summer session.
3. After completing the residency requirement and passing the comprehensive examination for the doctorate degree, the student must remain enrolled until the degree is completed or the candidacy is cancelled. A student actively engaged in work towards the degree must be enrolled for credit commensurate with this activity, but in no case less than three hours each semester or summer.
4. When all requirements except the dissertation have been completed and the candidate is away from the campus (beyond commuting range), he or she must enroll for at least one hour of credit each registration period until the degree is completed. Failure to do so may invalidate the candidacy.
5. Registration and billing for off-campus students will be automatic after passing the comprehensive, once application for continuous registration is made and approved on the appropriate form available from the appropriate dean's office. Appropriate billing procedures have been established to maintain such continuous registration.
6. Interruption of continuous registration due to failure to comply (e.g., non-payment) will result in the need for readmission under requirements then in effect.

Master's Degree Candidates — MA, MBA, ME and MS

All master's degree candidates on campus who are utilizing faculty and/or facilities (including library and computers) for the purpose of advisement, data gathering, courses, or examinations shall be enrolled for credit commensurate with this activity. But in no case shall they be enrolled for less than three hours each semester or summer.

Examination Only Fee

An examination fee is an appropriate substitute for the three-hour requirement only under either of the following conditions:

1. An on-campus student who submits a thesis/dissertation to the appropriate dean's office before the end of the semester may enroll for the final exam during inter-session.
2. An off-campus MS student (beyond commuting range) who has in a previous session completed all other requirements for the degree, returns at any time during the semester to defend the thesis or take the MS Comprehensive exam. School of Materials, Energy and Earth Resources (SoMEER) and School of Engineering (SoE) no longer require the MS Comprehensive Exam.

Other Considerations

• All graduate teaching and research assistants including graders, graduate instructors, and teaching fellows are required to be enrolled for at least nine hours each semester and three hours during the summer.
• Graduate students living beyond commuting distance of the campus will enroll for credits consistent with their use of campus resources as determined by their department and their own needs for credit. Off-campus research for credit must be approved, however, in advance by the Department and the appropriate dean's office. A form exists for that purpose.

Students enrolled in oral examination only during an inter-session and who fail to complete it before the next semester begins, must register for at least one hour of research (490) through the end of the fourth week of the semester or second week of the summer session. All non-resident students on appointment during the previous semester may enroll at the in-state educational fee rate. If the graduate form III/IX and the library copy of the thesis/dissertation are not submitted by that time, enrollment will increase to three credit hours for the semester or summer session

Permissible Schedules

A graduate student on a full-time academic program is limited to a maximum of 16 credit hours of work during any regular semester and to 9 credit hours in a summer term (eight-week session).

The combined teaching and academic load of any graduate student or instructor who is involved in both activities shall not exceed 18 credit hours per regular semester or 9 credit hours for the summer session.

In addition to the above schedule, any graduate student may enroll for not more than one credit hour in graduate seminar courses or for no credit as a "hearer" in a one-, two-, or three-hour foreign language course per semester.