Semester Course Load Information

What's your grad student status? Full-time, three-quarter-time, and half-time all have different credit requirements. Find out more below.

Course Loads

Most graduate students in the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) and Sawyer Business School (SBS) must be enrolled in at least 12 credits per semester to be considered full-time, between 9-11 credits per semester to be considered three-quarter-time, and at least 6 credits per semester to be considered half-time.

All international students are required to enroll in at least 12 credits per semester in residence.

SBS graduate students may take up to 15 credits in the fall and spring semesters with the exception of full-time students who may take 16-17 credits in the first semester based on their program requirements. Fully online SBS graduate students may take up to 3 credits per term (fall, spring or summer). Graduate CAS students, however, may not exceed 12 credits (nine for the PhD in Economics program) in the fall and spring semesters.

Summer Modules

SBS graduate students (except online MBA students) may take a maximum of 15 credits during an entire summer semester but may not exceed 7.5 credits in any one or combination of the following sets of summer modules: Module A, Module 1, and Module 3; or Module A, Module 2, and Module 3.

CAS graduate students may take a maximum of 12 credits during an entire summer semester but may not exceed six credits in any one or combination of the following sets of summer modules: Module A, Module 1, and Module 3; or Module A, Module 2, and Module 3.

Excess Course Petition

Students enrolled in a fully online Sawyer Business School graduate program must also receive permission to exceed the normal part-time course load in any term.

Permission is required to exceed the normal full-time course load in any one term for all graduate students in the College of Arts & Sciences and Sawyer Business School. Students enrolled in a fully online Sawyer Business School graduate program must also receive permission to exceed the normal part-time course load in any term.

Tuition Information

For a current listing of full-time, part-time, and excess tuition rates, please visit the Office of the Bursar.