Credit Loads and Performance

Full-Time Enrollment

  1. For students on 20-hour per week assistantships, 6 credits is the minimum for full-time enrollment, and 10 credits is the maximum.
  2. For students with no assistantship, or whose assistantship is less than 20 hours per week, 6 credits is the minimum for full time enrollment and 13 is the maximum.
  3. For all students, once all formal coursework on the program of study is completed, 3 credits of dissertation or thesis research per semester is typically the maximum that the department will provide a tuition waiver for. To be officially considered a full-time student with a 3 credit load, you must submit a Full-Time at 3 credits (FT3) form. The FT3 form is useful for students who wish to defer payment on student loans and is generally required for international students to maintain their visa status (see below for detail). But it is not required by the department to maintain your assistantship. If you are unsure whether you need to complete a FT3 form, consult with the GPC or DGS. The FT3 form can be found on the graduate school web site.

Assistantship Work Requirements

Students on assistantship assignments cannot be required to work more hours than they have been contracted or paid to work. Normally this will not exceed an average of 20 hours a week for students on a full assistantship. For graduate students who are teaching their own course, teaching two courses a year will be counted as a full graduate assistantship work assignment. No other work is to be accepted during terms in which a graduate student is teaching except with prior approval from the Director of Graduate Studies. No more than two classes will be assigned during any given year, except under exceptional circumstances. Stipends for teaching will be at the level of a full graduate assistantship, at the rate applicable to the student's status at the time of assignment.

International Students

All international students are reminded that the U.S. government requires full-time student status to be maintained to retain your visa. This means that international graduate students must in most instances enroll for 6 or more credits, not including duties associated with assistantships. Exceptions can be allowed in the following cases:

  1. The student is serving as a lecturer or graduate instructor for the department.
  2. The student is at the end of coursework and needs only a few hours for graduation.
  3. The student is ill and has a doctor's statement of verification.

These circumstances should be cleared in advance with the Office of Global Engagement at Utah State to avoid any legal status problems. A form is available from the OGE to request a reduction in course load.

Registration and Performance Requirements

All students should discuss their plans for course registration with their advisors prior to registering for courses and prior to dropping or adding any courses. If a student has not selected a permanent advisor, approval should be secured from the DGS. Students are responsible for adding and dropping courses by the appropriate deadlines, and will assume the cost of any fees and tuition waiver penalties associated with late registration or changes.

Students must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0. A supervisory committee can approve no more than two courses with a grade below B towards the total number of credits required for any of the Program's graduate degrees.

Continuous Registration and Leaves of Absence

Graduate students using university facilities or faculty time must be registered for a minimum of 3 graduate credits every Fall and Spring semester until completion of all degree requirements, except, in some cases, the semester of final thesis or dissertation approval. Students employed as graduate assistants or graduate instructors during all semesters, excluding summer semester, must be registered as full-time matriculated students.

Continuous registration may be met with courses, seminars, independent study, research credit, or 6990 or 7990 (Continuing Graduate Advisement). The continuous registration requirement goes into effect the semester a student matriculates in the School of Graduate Studies.

A graduate student who is not using university facilities or faculty time may meet the continuous registration requirement by paying the Continuous Registration Fee of $100 per each fall and spring semester. Students should submit a continuous registration request each semester and contact the School of Graduate Studies the semester they intend to register for courses. Due to immigration regulations, international students usually do not qualify to pay the Continuous Registration Fee.

A leave of absence, during which neither continuous registration nor a $100 payment is applicable, may be granted under the following conditions:

  • Illness, required military service, and other extenuating circumstances acceptable to the department head and the Vice Provost of Graduate Studies.
  • Lack of availability of courses.

For the second condition to apply, the student must have an approved Program of Study. To request a leave of absence, a leave of absence request must be approved by the DGS and submitted to the School of Graduate Studies. A leave of absence may be the basis for extending the time limit to complete a degree, but not to extend the time limit for course validity.