The categories of full-time students include:
- Graduate students taking eighteen or more graduate credits during the calendar year (nine credits in a regular semester, or 3 credits in a summer session).
- Graduate teaching and research assistants taking sixteen or more graduate credits during the calendar year (eight credits in regular semester or 3 credits in a summer session).
- Graduate students enrolled in any course numbered 700 or above, i.e., any 700-level course required for the completion of the degree.
The maximum number of credits allowed for full-time study is 12 for each semester and three for each summer session. Exception to this policy can only be made by the dean of the Graduate School or their designee and requires a signed recommendation from the graduate program director.
Full-time registration is required during the semester or summer session in which a candidate defends the thesis or dissertation. Students who wish to have this requirement waived must have a written request provided to the Graduate School by the Office of Graduate Studies. In this case the student must graduate within the same academic year.
No full-time faculty member may be a full-time student, whether or not working toward a degree. Nor may a full-time student be a full-time faculty member.
No full-time student will be a principal investigator in any grant or contract, whether in name or fact. And no principal investigator will be a full-time student.
Exceptions to these rules may be made in cases in which students are encouraged to apply individually for small research grants that are consistent with and contribute to their field of study and their dissertation work, and, in certain programs, in which students in a terminal degree status are obliged, as a part of their degree program, to teach as de facto faculty members.