Every graduate student is required to maintain continuous enrollment from the date of first registration until a degree program is completed, unless granted a leave of absence. The following is a summary of the enrollment regulations that apply to graduate students:
Enrollment Options
- Course requirements not completed: Student must register for at least three credits of graduate course work (or approved undergraduate remedial work) unless granted a leave of absence.
- Course requirements completed but two parts of the Graduate Reading Program Examination not passed: Student must register for additional course work, unless granted a leave of absence.
- Two parts of the Graduate Reading Program Examination passed but the PhD dissertation not completed: Student must register for Dissertation Guidance (three semester hours) each semester until the Ph.D. dissertation defense has taken place, unless a leave of absence status has been granted.
Approval for leave of absence requires documentation of sustained ill health, required military service, or other circumstances resulting in involuntary interruption of graduate studies. The cumulative total period may not normally exceed one year.
To request Academic Leave, a student must first discuss the possibility with the Dean. Following these discussions, the student must make a formal application prior to the first day of the semester in which the leave would be taken. Final approval of the request for an Academic Leave is made by the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies.
Continuous Enrollment
A student who fails to maintain continuous enrollment under one of the options available is presumed to have withdrawn from the university and must therefore petition for readmission.
Deadlines
An approved leave of absence period is not counted in determining deadlines.