A student’s enrollment status is determined by the number of credit hours for which the student is enrolled in residence in a semester.
Long-session semesters: For graduate students, nine credit hours is considered full-time status for long semester. All students that are supported by a research or teaching fellowship must enroll for a minimum of nine hours to maintain their student employee status. This is also the minimum that is required for all international students. Generally, research assistantships and teaching assistantships will pay for a maximum of nine hours, so virtually all full-time MS&E students take nine hours during long session semesters so that they do not incur additional costs. Anything under nine credit hours is considered part-time.
Summer session: For graduate students, nine credit hours is considered full-time status for long semester. The Graduate School requires registration during the summer if you are making use of any UT facilities except the library. Fellowship holders, AIs, TAs, or GRAs, must be registered for three hours in any summer session. Anything under three credit hours is considered part-time.
Grade Point Average: You must maintain at least a B (3.0) average in both your major and supporting courses in order to remain in good standing in the Graduate School. However, in order to qualify for PhD candidacy, you must have a GPA of 3.30 in Core courses.
