Enrollment FAQs
What are the Full Time Enrollment requirements?
A graduate student (domestic or international) is considered full-time if he or she is registered for a minimum of:- 9 semester credit hours during a fall or spring semester
- 6 semester credit hours during a summer semester A Q grade or W grade does not count toward the certification of enrollment status.
Colleges and departments may impose additional semester credit hour requirements for a student holding an assistantship or fellowship which exceeds the minimum stated above. Special considerations relate to “full time status” for an international student. Please refer to the information on this subject in the Academic Expectation and Program Requirements section of the Graduate and Professional Catalog. A student who has financial assistance should consult the Tuition, Fees and Other Financial Information section of the Graduate and Professional Catalog, call (979) 845-3236 or visit the Financial Aid Website, for enrollment requirements.
What are the Half Time Enrollment requirements?
In order for domestic graduate students to be eligible for financial aid, they must be registered at least half-time. Half-time registration means:
- Fall/Spring Semester – 5 hours
- 10 Week Summer Semester – 3 hours
- 5 Week Summer Semester – 2 hours
What is Certification of Full-Time Enrollment?
Graduate students may be certified as full-time with registration of less than the number of hours required for full-time enrollment for two reasons:
- Students participating in student teaching, internships, and cooperative education programs who are enrolled in less than nine semester hours during a fall or spring semester or six hours during a summer semester may be eligible to be certified as a full-time student with the approval of the Dean of the College or his or her designee.
- During their last semester prior to graduation, graduate students enrolled at Texas A&M in all remaining hours needed to complete their degree who have applied for graduation and do not hold a graduate assistantship may be certified as full-time for that final semester even though they are enrolled in less than nine semester hours during a fall or spring semester or six hours in a summer semester.
What is Continuous Enrollment?
A student in a graduate degree program requiring a thesis, dissertation, internship or record of study, who has completed all coursework on his/her degree plans other than 691 (Research), 684 (Internship) or 692 (Professional Study) is required to be in continuous registration until all requirements for the degree have been completed. If a student is registered only for zero credit 681, 684 or 685 course, this registration does not satisfy the continuous registration requirement for students in graduate degree program requiring thesis, dissertation, internship or record of study. Other courses, including 691 research hours, are not eligible for zero credit. The continuous registration requirement may be satisfied by registering either In Absentia or In Residence. Please refer to the graduate catalog for more information.