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Revised and Approved by Academic Senate, Sept. 13, 2005
GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
POLICY ON HOUR LOADS FOR GRADUATE
STUDENTS
Course Load Requirements
- Course
Selection
Guidelines for Registration of Doctoral
Dissertation Hours
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Responsibility
The following general policies are provided to serve as guidelines
for determining the hourly work loads of students who are pursuing
graduate degrees.
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Full-time graduate students are expected to give primary
attention to the pursuit of their degrees.
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Graduate students are expected to take semester work loads which
will contribute to substantial progress toward a degree.
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Graduate students shall register for a number of hours of
research which is consistent with a realistic appraisal of the
amount of work to be done on a project, thesis, or dissertation,
and the amount of faculty involvement and use of Institute
facilities required.
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Realistic accounting for graduate student credit hours helps
support a quality graduate program.
Transcript Recognition of Teaching and Research Activity
Students holding graduate teaching or graduate research
assistantships may register for courses in recognition of teaching
(8997) and research (8998) activities if these courses are
available for their school. The 8997 and 8998 courses are
audit-base courses. A student may not register for more than
a total of 9 of 8997 and 8998 during any semester.
Course Load Requirements
The following regulations shall govern the semester registration
requirements for students who are pursuing graduate degrees:
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Full-time students must be enrolled for at least 12 credit hours
on a letter grade or pass-fail basis. As an exception, the advisor and school
chair may allow up to 3 hours out of the 12 minimum to be taken on an audit basis in Fall and Spring semesters; in Summer semesters the advisor and school
chair may allow up to 6 hours out of the 12 minimum to be taken on an audit basis.
Hours in excess of the required 12 may be taken on any basis. Full-time students working exclusively on thesis research should
be registered for 18 or more hours of 7000 or 9000
(Master’s or Doctoral Thesis) in Fall and Spring semesters,
and for up to 16 hours during Summer semesters.
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The following students must register on a full-time basis as
defined above:
(a) graduate research and teaching assistants;
(b) students supported by fellowships, traineeships
or individual grants;
(c) students with out-of-state tuition waivers;
(d) students assigned to the institute by the Armed
Forces for the purpose of pursuing a degree;
(e) students on student visas;
(f) graduate co-op students on non-work semesters.
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Students involved in thesis research must register for an
appropriate number of 7000 or 9000 hours.
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The minimum load for part-time students is 3 credit hours.
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A student may register for only one hour of Master’s or
Doctoral Thesis (7000 or 9000) during the semester of
graduation. This exception may be used once for each
degree.
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The maximum allowable semester load for employed students other
than graduate assistants is reduced as a function of the number
of hours employed per week as follows:
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Work load per week
Full time (40 hours)
3/4 of full time (30 hours)
2/3 of full time (27 hours)
1/2 of full time (20 hours) 12
1/3 of full time (13 hours) 15
1/4 of full time (10 hours)
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Maximum semester hour load
6
9
10
12
15
18 (16 for Summer
semesters)
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The minimum load for these students is three hours, except as
described in Course Load Requirement #5 above, but such students
should be encouraged to take the maximum load they can handle in
order to progress toward completion of
the degree.
Course Selection
Full-time students are expected to enroll for a letter grade in
regular courses and thesis hours whenever possible. Registration
loads should reflect, as much as possible, the student and faculty
efforts involved in the program of study. Registration loads
each semester should be comprised of various hours from the areas
listed below:
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Regular courses; letter-grade, pass-fail and in special cases,
audit;
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7000 or 9000 courses for thesis students;
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Special problem or research project courses;
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Specific courses for teaching or research education;
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GTA/GRA courses 8997/8998 (up to a maximum of 9) if available in
the student’s major school and the
student has an assistantship.
Guidelines for Registration of Doctoral Dissertation Hours
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a.
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Beginning full-time doctoral students, especially those who
are research assistants, are encouraged to register for at
least 3 hours of 9000. This would allow, and encourage,
such students to maintain a lighter academic load to begin
laying the groundwork for Ph.D. research.
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b.
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Advanced full-time doctoral students who are working
primarily on their dissertation research should register for
18 or more hours of 9000 in Fall and Spring semesters, and
for up to 16 hours of 9000 for summer semesters. If
they are taking other coursework, the number of 9000 hours
would be reduced by the number of formal coursework
hours. Students who are required by their schools to
register for 8997 or 8998 would further reduce the number of
9000 hours, so that the total number of hours is at least 18
(no more than 16 in Summer). The advisor and/or school
determines whether the total is above 18 for Fall and Spring
semesters.
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c.
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Part-time doctoral students engaged in research for the Ph.D.
should register for the number of 9000 hours consistent with
their and their faculty advisor’s activity on the
dissertation research.
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d.
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All full-time students coded as Master’s students but
involved in preparation for the Ph.D. are encouraged to
register for 9000 hours consistent with the amount of work
involved.
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Academic units are encouraged to remove any in-school restrictions on
registering for 9000. For example, some schools will not allow
a graduate student to register for 9000 until after the student has
become a candidate for the Ph.D. degree. The reasoning behind
this restriction is not clear unless one takes a very restrictive
interpretation of what registering for 9000 means. Academic
units are encouraged to adopt a broader interpretation, so that
dissertation hours reflect all stages of the doctoral
dissertation--literature research, topic selection,
experimental/theoretical preparation, research performance, writing
and presentation. All of these stages require institute
facilities and faculty involvement.
Responsibility
The responsibility for advising graduate students properly, not
only in regard to programs of study, but also in regard to minimum
and maximum semester course loads, rests solely within the chain
from advisor/graduate coordinator to school chair to college
dean. Although each graduate student is responsible for
knowing the requirements for his or her degree and for insuring the
appropriate, steady progress is being made toward that degree, each
graduate student must have access to fair and equitable
advisement. Responsibility for scheduling the proper
requirements for a particular program of study and an appropriate
course load per semester rests with the student and advisor alike.
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