Graduate Full-Time Status Exception

Requesting a Full-Time Status Exception pertains to higher contact hours for programs that are required to include a, practicum, clinical rotation or extended internship. Any program wishing to apply for an exception to the Full-Time Status criteria outlined in the Graduate Catalog must apply through the process outlined below. It is important to note the dates of the Enrollment Management Council (EMC) meetings, and the Graduate Curriculum Committee deadlines for catalog changes when drafting the Full-Time Status Exception proposal. The exception request will follow the curriculum process with the additional review from the Enrollment Management Council. Program faculty are invited to attend the Enrollment Management Council meeting if questions arise when the program proposal is reviewed.

Exception Approval Process

1. Department Curriculum Committee
2. College Curriculum Committee
3. Enrollment Management Council
4. Graduate Curriculum Committee

In regards to this Exception proposal, two questions will be added on the Program Change form available through Courseleaf. By answering ‘Yes’ to one of the questions, the proposal will be sent to EMC for review:

1. Are program capacity limitations involved in the approval?
2. If the program wishes to request a full-time status exception?

Full-Time Status Exception proposals must include:

• A justification for the exception (why is it necessary?)
• A degree map for the program that includes total credit hours and contact hours per semester
• If a higher number of contact hours is a part of the justification, an explanation for the need for these additional contact hours must be included (i.e. accreditation, licensure, or certification requirements)
• The number of students impacted by the proposed exception
• Impact analysis and accompanying mitigation strategies on the following:
  • Student progression and graduation
  • Student debt load
• Graduate assistantship availability.

Exception requests that primarily use the following justifications are more likely to be denied:

• Graduate assistants (requiring nine credit hours) being out of sync with a program cohort model based on six credit hours per semester
• Lowering the full time status requirement only in order for students to be eligible for federal financial aid with fewer credit hours
• Graduate programs degree maps intentionally structured where students are expected to take less than nine credit hours and are within normal contact hours (i.e. cohort model programs for working professionals)
• Graduate programs degree maps intentionally structured where students take fewer credit hours in the final semester, creating federal financial aid eligibility issues during that final semester.