Enrollment Requirements
Policies regarding enrollment for graduate students differ significantly from those for undergraduate students. This section defines and details policy and procedure regarding requirements for part-time, full-time, required enrollment, continuous enrollment, and graduate assistantship enrollment.
Continuous Enrollment
The continuous enrollment policy applies when a graduate student has completed all coursework but has not met other requirements. These students must be continuously registered for a minimum of one graduate credit hour during the fall semester and one credit hour during the following spring semester (or summer) until degree requirements are met. This requirement applies to students in one of the following circumstances.
- A non-thesis master's student who lacks only sitting for the comprehensive examination must be continuously enrolled after the coursework is completed until taking the comprehensive examination.
- A non-thesis educational specialist student who lacks only sitting for the comprehensive examination must be continuously enrolled after the coursework is completed until taking the comprehensive examination.
- A thesis-option master's student who has not submitted a thesis must be continuously enrolled after the coursework is completed until submitting the final approved thesis to the Library.
- A thesis-option educational specialist student who has not submitted a thesis must be continuously enrolled after the coursework is completed until submitting the final approved thesis to the Library.
- A doctoral student who has completed all coursework and passed preliminary/comprehensive examinations must be continuously enrolled until submitting the final approved dissertation to the Library.
A student who fails to be continuously registered is required to register retroactively and pay tuition and registration fees for missed terms at current rates.
Full-time Course Load
Fall and Spring
A full-time course load in fall and spring semesters is enrollment in 9-13 credit hours. A student may register for up to 16 hours only by submitting to the Registrar’s Office a Scheduling Overload Form approved by the student’s college dean. This form does not need approval or processing by the Office of the Graduate School. It should be completed in the student's department and sent directly to the Registrar.
Summer
The Summer maximum course load is:
- 3 credit hours for Maymester;
- 7 hours for a 5-week summer session;
- 13 hours for the 10-week term; or
- a total of 13 hours for the entire summer semester.
A total of 6 credit hours is considered full-time Summer enrollment.
A student may not schedule courses offered on campus and in external programs concurrently whereby the maximum number of credits that may be earned in a semester or term is exceeded.
Graduate Assistantship
A student who receives an assistantship appointment is required to maintain full-time enrollment throughout the full appointment period. A student holding a half-summer graduate assistantship must be registered during the term of the assistantship. Audit hours may not be used to satisfy the full-time enrollment requirement. See the Graduate Assistantship section of this publication for a description of enrollment and all requirements for holding an assistantship.
Required Enrollment
A student must enroll at MSU for at least one graduate credit hour in the semester that he/she meets any of the following degree requirements.
- Sits for an oral and/or written comprehensive examination
- Defends a thesis/dissertation
- Submits the initial thesis/dissertation manuscript to the Library
- Submits the final thesis/dissertation manuscript to the Library
A student who holds a graduate assistantship is required to maintain full-time enrollment. Other students may be required to be enrolled full-time for different reasons.